Posted on 05/18/2012 4:37:55 PM PDT by Kaslin
In Arizona, it's no surprise that water can be hard to come by, but why is the federal government is cutting off the water supply to the famous Old West town of Tombstone?
Nearly a year ago, Tombstone's water supply lines were heavily damaged in a flood after a heavy rain due to a massive wildfire leaving loose soil in the area. (Read this article to find out why we can thank the Forest Service for catastrophic wildfires)
Since the damage, Tombstone residents have been fighting to repair the water lines, but because they run through a wilderness area, the feds are saying the only option they have is to literally dig up miles and miles of water lines by hand. Why? Machine use in wilderness areas is prohibited by federal law.
More from the Goldwater Institute:
Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Frank Zapata denied Tombstone, Arizona’s emergency request to restore its Huachuca Mountain municipal water supply. Over nine months ago, the historic town’s 130-year-old water system was destroyed by massive flooding resulting from torrential rains and the destruction of surrounding forests in the Monument Fire.
Despite the burial of water reservoirs and water lines under boulders the size of Volkswagens and as much as 12 feet of mud, the Court denied Tombstone’s request to allow it to use mechanized and motorized equipment to restore its water system. In denying the request, the Court ruled that the town did not exhaust efforts to obtain federal permits to use the equipment despite nine months of continuous efforts by the town to secure the U.S. Forest Service’s cooperation. The Court was not moved by a state of emergency declared specifically for Tombstone by Arizona Governor Jan Brewer.
The Goldwater Institute has already filed an emergency appeal of the decision.
“Requiring Tombstone to seek federal permits to repair its municipal water supply is like demanding a federal permit before the City can make repairs to a fire truck,” said Nick Dranias, Goldwater Institute director of constitutional studies and lead attorney in the case. “Under the Tenth Amendment, the federal government has no power during a state of emergency to stop a local government from repairing its own municipal property, which is essential to providing safe drinking water and adequate fire protection.”
The Goldwater Institute is representing the City of Tombstone in this clash with the federal government. Tombstone has property rights to 25 mountain spring heads and all of the water rising and flowing in two canyons in the Huachuca Mountains. Bundled with those rights are access roads and pipeline rights of way. Until last year, the U.S. Forest Service recognized and respected those rights, which date back to the days of Wyatt Earp. Today, the federal government denies they exist and refuses to allow Tombstone to restore more than three of its spring water catchments.
"Tombstone (1993)" Theatrical Trailer
Water is one of the most important tools they have and abundance or scarcity doesn’t matter a bit to them.
.
Under all the BS -
- It is all reparations and redistribution
Soon The One will mandate a plan to allegedly rent out foreclosed homes and subsidize the rent payments for minorities
But you already knew that - Right?
.
Not many do.
Oh, BTW: U.S. District Court Judge Frank Zapata is a Clinton appointee. Zapata was a Staff attorney of Pima County Legal Aid Society, Arizona from 1973 to 1974 (Pima cuonty is home to Tucson and Sheriff Blahblah that let that Loughner kid rum rampant until he shot that Congresschick in the face).
It is interesting water rights of the old west is the issue again.
Beer is good.
And people are crazy.
Agreed. The regime wants the vile excesses of “Reconstruction” to be thrown on the whole of this Republic, and as, (in their minds) a perpetuity...
Went through Gleeson a couple of years ago. Looked like the town motto was "And awaaay we go!"
Tombstone has its problems. One of the worst is that it is a very small town with abandoned mines under at least part of it. This means that without warning, the ground could collapse.
There are many places like Tombstone in Arizona, though in much worse condition, and you have to be careful around them because they can be deadly. Abandoned mines are some of the most dangerous places you can go, and have more ways of killing a person than you might imagine. Experienced miners treat them like they are booby-trapped.
Tombstone is where the Minutemen started.
The Kenyan is going to start something else if he doesn’t be careful.
You have the coordinates?
The people of Tomstone and Arizona need to resist. You can’t deny the people of a town access to water it is a direct threat on thier lives.
Gee, I didn’t think any one knew about Gleeson..I was raised in Elfrida....
The game plan from the beginning was to let the entire mountain burn. Local fire crews tried to control the initial burn and were abandoned by the Incident Commander; the local crews were forced to retreat.
A friend of my son bent my ear for over an hour with his complaints about how the fire was handled and the amount of unnecessary damage we sustained.
Arizona ping
Even simpler. Because they can.
Yep, the Feds seem to forget that their “Federal Lands” are completely encased in the territory of the state. That’s not a good strategic position to be in when you are provoking a real life and death conflict. Now, if the state or the locals actually had any cojones to stand up to the Feds, highway dollars and school funding be damned, then it wouldn’t even be an issue.
No, I don’t have them. Sorry.
To top it off, there are so many mineshafts in AZ, nobody knows where they all are. Seems like every year, they swallow a few unlucky off-roaders who drive over the wrong patch of desert.
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