Posted on 07/09/2014 1:57:01 PM PDT by george76
Gary Harrington, the Oregon man convicted of collecting rainwater and snow runoff on his rural property, went to jail today.
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Gary Harrington will be serving in jail until September 2014 for collecting rainwater.
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“I’m sacrificing my liberty so we can stand up as a country and stand for our liberty,” Harrington told a small crowd of people gathered outside of the Jackson County (Ore.) Jail.
(Excerpt) Read more at thegatewaypundit.com ...
People down stream.
If this man wants 30-million gallons of water he should have that right.
Water is a renewable resource and his pond caused nobody any harm what-so-ever.
No cattle died of dehydration, no dam eruptions mowing down homes, nothing.
To call somebody a thief is purely irrational in this situation.
You must have a reason for this attack on somebody using
his property as he sees fit. Care to share that reason?
Grand theft of what is FALLING on his property?
That’s retarded. Even from you...
Do they have a receipt for rain water that fell on someone else’s property?
No?
Guess it isn’t theirs then.
This is no different from damming up a creek, or digging a watercourse on your property that drains another person's pond onto your property.
And spare us the ridiculous argument that his crime "hurt no one."
If I went onto a farm and stole a bushel of corn, could I argue "Hey, this farm produces 3.4mm bushels each season, they probably lose dozens of bushels to wastage when they harvest."
He broke the law, he took 13 million gallons of water he had no legal title to, and he paid the price.
He’s not arrested for rain water. He’s arrested for diverting stream water:
The Oregon Water Resources Department, claims that Harrington has been violating the state’s water use law by diverting water from streams running into the Big Butte River.
HE keeps insisting it’s just rain water and snow melt, which I suppose has some level of technical accuracy since that’s what streams are made of. But when a stream originate OFF your property and continues OFF your property you don’t get to take it. It’s a public property stream. These are old laws, and he broke them.
I’m sorry, but unsurprised, that you know absolutely nothing about how water rights work.
Does he have a receipt for the water he’s holding? No? Then I guess it isn’t his then, and anyone else can just take it.
He built reservoirs on his own property.
And? It still only catches the water that falls on his land to begin with.
Interesting you are only taking the governments word as gospel.
Long track record of telling the truth from the government... Right?
I’m sorry you’ve never seen a government “law” you wouldn’t cheerlead for...
The problem is the reservoirs were filled from a stream that didn’t belong to him. It does NOT only catch water that falls on his land. He even sideways admits that:
But Harrington says he is not diverting the state’s water — merely collecting rainwater and snow melt that falls or flows on his own property.
Notice the important word there “flows”. That’s the stuff he’s not allowed to take, at least not unlimited access. He can collect the rain water, he can’t collect the stream water.
Who would he get a receipt from? God? Which Deity? Odin? Zeus? Jehovah?
Since it’s water, maybe Posideon?
Here — educate yourself on Water Rights:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_right
Our forefathers understood it and lived by it and passed it on to us — and Harrington is breaking it.
You are clearly not a big fan of the Founders. They pledged their lives to create a system of laws to defend citizens’ rights from the depredations of thieves.
And who would those downstream get a receipt from? The god of rivers?
Sorry Gary but you're gonna have to stand alone on this one. This is the heart of little league and soccer season and the patriots have their hands full with practices and weekend games with their kids. Not to mention mortgages and payments on their new trucks and boats
Maybe they can get something together in September..........Hang in there Gary!
I get it, you love big Government. Good for you. But I doubt in this case
the supreme court would see it as stealing water from others.
I believe that the case was based on his not having a purpose for the pond.
His permit was revoked for not having a purpose for the storage, their mindset.
Even his fire use only sign wasn't looked on as a reason even though it's just as good as any.
It is my belief that he was a good target to bully and they stuck it to him,
and by their bully tactics alone created the need to fight this further. AKA Entrapment,
or catch 22 by their own forcing of compliance.
And the founders have nothing to do with this situation. This is about Bored water
just standing around, and by god, it must be used or-else!
No law is just if it's unjust to begin with. Guilty until proven innocent,
and just plainly changing the rules to create a criminal.
Pulling his permit made him a criminal.
Right, but he didn't have a 6-thousand foot garden hose at night siphoning
his neighbors swimming pool to fill his bathtub.
That's OK.
The world needs ditchdiggers too.
Bundy is a “free rider?” That says all we need to know about you. As if your nasty attitude weren’t enough.
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