Posted on 07/08/2002 10:18:11 AM PDT by Jean S
Congress is gearing up to vote on a very dangerous bill.
The National Heritage Areas Act (HR 2388), sponsored by liberal Republican Rep. Joel Hefley (Colo.) and liberal Democrat Rep. Nick Rahall (W.Va.), would do for land grabs what the assembly line did for automobiles. It would speed up the process to a point where private property would be the equivalent of the horse and buggy.
The Heritage Areas Act proposes to extend federal control over local land use in exchange for federal grant money going to local communities. Politicians see it as a pork-barrel spending program to benefit their districts.
However, with the federal money comes federal land-use requirements, duplicity and land seizure, as is happening right now in several counties in West Virginia.
There is NO notification to landowners when their property comes within the boundaries of a Heritage Area. You just find out when you try to get a road fixed, install a swimming pool, re-gravel your driveway or repair your fences.
HR 2388 claims to be a program for local communities to encourage the promotion of economic development and tourism. However, communities are in for a rude surprise, because here is what is NOT in the Heritage Areas Act: the words "economic development" or "tourism."
Here is an example of how the National Park Service hides its intentions from local landowners, uses them to gain funds and then dumps them when it no longer needs them. All in the name of a National Heritage Area, of course.
The people of Hinton, West Virginia wanted funds to repair a local road. They lobbied their legislators for several years, and finally gained funding.
After they got the federal funds, the National Park Service announced that, because it was a Heritage Area, the money would be used to create a Scenic Parkway, and dozens of people's properties would be condemned and they would be forced out of their homes! These are the very same people who lobbied for the road repairs in the first place!
This bill creates a "Heritage Area" program that will be run by the National Park Service. This is the same agency that, among other things:
1. allows forest fires to run wild;
2. condemns private property whenever possible; and
3. claims huge areas as endangered species habitat so it can eliminate commercial and recreational use of public lands, prohibiting everything from off-road vehicles to mining and logging.
The National Park Service also has a five billion dollar maintenance backlog, everything from potholes in roads to overflowing sewer systems fouling the rivers. Yet this agency is constantly grabbing for new land and power, when it plainly cannot handle the empire it already controls.
Here are four reasons to oppose HR 2388:
1. It is federal land use zoning;
2. It is run by the anti-property-owner National Park Service;
3. It will damage economic development; and
4. It doesn't let people know what is going on, until it is too late!
The Heritage Areas Act was passed by the House Resources Committee in May 2002. It will likely come up for a vote before the entire House sometime in July. There is no time to lose in letting your Representative know you oppose it.
(Tom DeWeese is the publisher/editor of The DeWeese Report and president of the Virginia-based American Policy Center.)
In other words, the problem is not the National Park Service or the Federal Government in general, but a third-rate politician who is willing to trade the rights of the people he represents in exchange for some Federal cash.
The answer to this is simple: Vote the bastard out of office. And if you can't do that, then your most serious concern is not your government but your next-door neighbor.
Anything with the word "Heritage" is a UN Program! All National Parks are under the control of the UN! Slick bastards aren't they?
If you say this to some otherwise normal people, they begin to redden and call you names. No! Impossible!
Nevertheless, it is true.
countrydummy, thanks so much for the ping. I may have never known about it otherwise. I am so sorry for the troubles the people of Hinton are having. Please, can you explain more about how the gov't is going about this in your area?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.