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Posted on 08/17/2012 5:56:23 PM PDT by Lorianne
While the Obama administration is busy eviscerating private property rights at the federal level, Republican-controlled Fauquier County, Va., has decided to follow suit in its own way. Fauquier's Board of Supervisors recently passed a winery ordinance that tramples private property rights and some fundamental civil liberties.
Most of the wineries are mom and pop operations. Some, though, have been more creative in marketing, employing more people, and generating revenue. The county thinks such success must be punished.
At the center of all this is the county zoning administrator, a bureaucratic czar named Kimberley Johnson, whose bullying and heavy-handed enforcement tactics have resulted in calls for her dismissal by county farmers and residents. Johnson was recently the subject of a citizen-farmer "pitchfork protest" in a matter in which she fined one farmer for conducting a pumpkin carving and and a birthday party for eight little girls without the proper permit.
The winery ordinance is Obama-esque, passed under the pretext that it protects the health, safety and welfare of the public. It forces wineries to close at 6 p.m. and prohibits sale of food -- something that goes quite safely with a taste of wine -- unless the wineries obtain special permits from the zoning administrator.
The ordinance lists prohibited winery activities such as hot air balloon rides, farmers' markets, and mini-golf, which assuredly threaten the health, safety and welfare of the public, right?
Among the prohibited activities, the ordinance includes anything else determined by the zoning administrator "to be similar in nature or in impact to" the listed activities. That's the equivalent allowing police officers to ticket drivers for nearly anything they wish.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...
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The regulators, bureaucrats, and administrators are a law unto themselves. The normal system of checks and balances does not apply to them. The constitution doesn’t apply to them. They have the power to issue any regulation they like and then bankrupt you in court if you fight it.
They are monarchs. They are the real seat of power and against them there is no appeal.
Ha ha, VA was one of the bedrocks of moonshining.
I have to think there’s enough of the old gene pool still there to make this a laughingstock.
PING to the nanny State for the Homebrewers List!
The BTK murderer took a long break in his murderous rampage.
Why you ask?
He was deriving enough pleasure administratively torturing people as a code enforcer that he didn’t feel the need to Bind, Torture and Kill young women.
What does that tell you?
Agrarian Unrest comes to America
A farmer zoning matter involving a bullying, lawbreaking bureaucrat, and featuring the "pitchfork protest" in Northern Virginia's Fauquier County on August 2 has gained an unusual amount of national attention, and for good reason...
Had the same situation in (Very Red) El Dorado County Kalifornia where our planning dept. was taken over by over zealous bureaucrats.
As I owned both commercial and farm property I watched as
Commercial was required to have paved parking, farms not, Farms started having weddings, live bands, serving food and did so with less restriction than commercial.
Retailing goods and services on farms was cheaper than on commercial - lower property taxes etc.
I could go on with long and involved comparisons of what was allowed by one zoning and not another but farmers wanted the right to use their land as though it was commercial but with less restrictions or the advantages of being a rural farm.
I’m all about everyone having a chance to make $$$ but saw much disregard for the other problems that went along with farm land use anarchy
Sound Ordinances, traffic restrictions, health dept oversight
At the end of years of arguing I feel our county did a good job of airing out most of these problems in a fair way to all. It has resulted in more freedoms for all our land users here and a fun place to live.
El Dorado County took over 25 1st place ribbons at the state fair this year and we have distinguished ourselves by allowing our people to prosper and build a proud wine drinking community
What is odd is that we did it in Kalifornia but then again our county seat is still called
HANGTOWN !!!
Republicans + conservatives across this land must understand that the game has changed since O has taken big govt to an monstrous level. The liberals and some Repubs follow the momentum and do things like ban kids from having lemonade stands. The decks are set against us so heavily now that all conservatives must band together against this tyranny. Or they should be hounded from office.
” “pitchfork protest” “
I’m guessing the petty bureaucrats were completely oblivious to the symbolism here...
(Otherwise, the local cops would have gotten involved, shooting pets and tasering children...)
I am in Fauquier county. At the risk of getting flamed, the wineries are abusing the laws a bit. Unregulated, any one can move into a rural area, open a ‘vineyard’, bring in tubs of cheap california wine, have little ‘woodstocks’ every weekend and make a pretty good killing. The neighbors have traffic jams, amplified music at high volumes and going on until the wee hours, drunk drivers. Since it is an ‘agricultural’ business, any buildings are exempt from building inspections. You ought to see the structures that these yoyos are erecting for the city folk to waddle thru..I am not allowed to spray the weeds on my fence along the road because of the vines, yet the wineries are applying as many as 36 spraying a season of God-knows-what on the ground. This ‘chemical $hit-storm washing into my ground water, the streams that my livestock uses. The livestock that you eat. It is so dangerous that the people applying it wear the white bunny suits then shower in a special detox stall.
I agree, pumpkin carvings and birthday parties for little girls top the list of things that are crying out for more gov't regulation. I mean the first that springs to my mind when I wake up in the morning is that we don't have enough gov't regulations.
Thanks for sharing. I feel a whole lot better about stopping those eight little girls from having a birthday party now.
That whole civil rights thing is a real pain in the ass, ain't it? Getting rid of government oversight and kneeling to bureaucratic masters is the perfect solution. As you've clearly pointed out, look at what happens without it!
Counties controlled by both Democrats and Republicans are doing the same all over the country (although sooner in the West): stopping all potential competition against a few politically approved individuals and even regulating against certain downscale property owners without businesses (fake environmentalism, animal worship, property values). Some of you see the results all around us (economy, hysterical politics, threats from political groups, etc.).
Just a matter of time before these MARXISTS meet their mark.
Just keep pushin.
My wife’s parents live right next door in Placer County. El Dorado is producing some excellent wines. I love visiting there. You can almost forget that San Fran is in the same State.
Just what we need...more regulation. That's the crux of your present problem.......ill thought out regulations.
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