Free Republic

No historical evidence locates Confederate Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson on what is now Liberty Farm in Fauquier County, Virginia, on the evening of July 18, 1861, three days before the First Battle of Bull Run. So why would a prestigious state preservation group represent that as a fact? The current owner of the farm, Martha Boneta, has sued the Piedmont Environmental Council, a nonprofit land trust, accusing the organization of knowingly making a false historical claim when selling her the property. The environmental council, Boneta claims in the lawsuit, told her the celebrated Civil War general bivouacked on the open...

Liberty Farm, Virginia: A determined American is fighting for her farming rights and indirectly ours against a well-funded environmental Goliath Virginia, like many other states, offers land preservation tax credits of $100 million a year. Land preservation tax credits are tied to conservation easements which are binding agreements between a land preservation trust (usually a NGO) and a farmer who receives tax breaks in exchange for “legally restricting future development of their property” for a number of years or in perpetuity, as specified in the contract. Martha Boneta, who was instrumental in passing the two bills now dubbed Boneta Bill-1...

A Virginia farmer is claiming that an environmental group is trying to drive her off her property with overzealous zoning enforcement and invasive inspections. Martha Boneta explained to Steve Doocy on “Fox and Friends” this week that when she bought the 64-acre farm eight years ago, she agreed to an easement, which allows the Piedmont Environmental Council to visit the property to make sure no laws are being broken. “We never dreamed in a million years that we would encounter so much abuse of power,” Boneta said. “It’s been eight years of invasive, abusive inspections that go far beyond what’s...

Conservative critics of government are “freaks,” are “in for a pretty rough ride,” and “will need their Kevlar,” i.e., bullet-proof vests. These statements didn’t come from the Obama administration or some radical leftwing organization. They are Facebook posts of a Republican elected official in Virginia’s Fauquier County. Fauquier drew national attention in 2012 for charging farmer Martha Boneta with violating the law by having a birthday party for eight little girls without a permit and zoning site plan. The highly charged posts of county supervisor Holder Trumbo came shortly after two recent events, and are emblematic of the civil war...

Farming comprises less than three percent of an American labor force that feeds 307 million Americans and many other millions around the world yet government regulations are making it harder and harder for small farms to operate and bring wholesome foods to the market. Why should farmers be subjected to “annual property monitoring visits and inspections” by environmental groups, environmental councils, and local supervisors beholden to international agencies, groups that have no idea how their food gets to the table nor do they care? Virginians have fought back the NGO environmentalist assaults on their land, private property rights, and the...

Fauquier County is only about an hour from the nation’s capital but it feels like a different world— rolling hills dotted with vineyards, idyllic horse farms, and stifling regulations and ridiculous penalties meted out by capricious bureaucrats. Wait, what? Well, I guess it’s not that easy to get away from it all. Martha Boneta, who owns a small local farm, found that out the hard way when she was threatened with $5,000 in fines for not getting the proper permit to sell produce and host 10-year-old’s birthday party on her property. "Boneta already had a business license the county issued...