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ZeroHedge.com<\/p>\n
With each passing year, SHTFPlan.com’s Mac Slavo notes <\/a>there are more and more challenges to personal property and individual sovereignty.<\/strong><\/p>\n Despite the resilience it lends to our national security, the government has proven again and again that it wishes to clamp down<\/strong> on the ability to prep, survive and self-sustain off grid, and without the need for the system\u2019s supply chain.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n You can hardly build your own place, grow your own food, collect your own water or take care of yourself without the intervention of those in authority. There is need to push back against this continued intrusion of our lives<\/strong>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Authored by Claire Bernish via The Free Thought Project<\/em><\/a>,<\/p>\n An Oregon couple has been told they must destroy a 2-acre pond on their land \u2014 the property\u2019s most attractive feature \u2014 because the government said so.<\/strong><\/p>\n Although Jon and Sabrina Carey purchased the 10-acre property near Butte Falls two and a half years ago, the pond has been in place for 40 years \u2014 but that fact doesn\u2019t matter to the Jackson County Watermaster\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n \u201cI basically bought a lemon,\u201d<\/strong> said Jon, who became teary-eyed at the edge of the partially ice-covered body of water being targeted by government, in an interview<\/a> with the Mail Tribune<\/em>. \u201cThat\u2019s how they explained it to me.\u201d<\/p>\n But the couple desperately wants to keep the stunning longstanding feature in tact, so, as the Mail Tribune<\/i> reports, the Careys have \u201cpleaded with the Medford Water Commission to adopt the pond and treat it as a municipal water source, something Jackson County Watermaster Larry Menteer has opposed because of the precedent it would set.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Water Commission has rights to the watershed around the Careys\u2019 property, where dozens, if not hundreds, of ponds are located, as well as Medford\u2019s primary source of water, Big Butte Springs.\u201d<\/p>\n And the Careys aren\u2019t the only people in the watershed who\u2019ve had difficulties with, well, \u2018the government\u2019s\u2019 water.<\/strong><\/p>\n Eagle Point resident Gary Harrington spent 90 days in jail for illegally harboring some 13 million gallons of illicit rainwater \u2014 that\u2019s enough rain to fill around 20 Olympic-sized swimming pools.<\/p>\n Harrington masterfully crafted several ponds on his property \u2014 even building docks for one, and stocking it with largemouth bass \u2014 but his insistence the water would assist in fire control and prevention didn\u2019t satisfy the government, since a \u201c1925 state law dictates that the water belongs to the Medford Water Commission.\u201d<\/p>\n As Mother Nature Network<\/em>\u2019s Matt Hickman reported<\/a> in 2012,<\/p>\n The bigger story here is that rainwater collection is indeed kosher in Oregon<\/strong>, provided that you\u2019re capturing it from an artificial, impervious surface such as a rooftop with the assistance of rainwater barrels. But an extensive reservoir set-up complete with 10- and 20-foot-tall dams is verboten without the proper, state-issued water-right permits \u2014 after all, Oregon law dictates that water is a publicly owned resource \u2014 and Harrington did not possess said permits.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Harrington and the Oregon Water Resources Department waged an extended battle<\/a> over the ponds, and at one point, it was ruled he would be allowed to keep everything in place \u2014 but that decision was backtracked in less than one year.<\/p>\n Ultimately, \u201cRain Man,\u201d as he came to be called, found himself charged with nine misdemeanors, spent three months behind bars, and had to shell out $1,500 in fines \u2014 and was ordered to destroy the dams and drain all the ponds.<\/strong><\/p>\n Harrington\u2019s case might have been infinitely more complex than the Careys\u2019 \u2014 considering the large volume of water and infrastructure he\u2019d put in place \u2014 but they share the same theme of overbearing government and arguably wholly unnecessary law versus the right of people to do as they please with their property.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you\u2019re honest, they take everything away from you,\u201d<\/strong> said Sabrina Carey, who inspected country records \u2014 which plainly showed the pond \u2014 before they purchased the property.<\/p>\n Going by the book might have been the \u2018fatal\u2019 error for the couple, however, since the county didn\u2019t take issue with the pond until Jon sought to grow legal medical cannabis on the land and had to prove there was a viable source of water for the grow operation.<\/p>\n According to the Watermaster\u2019s Office, the previous owners had not received a permit for the pond, so the Careys were now in violation of Oregon regulations \u2014 and they would have to shoulder the cost of draining the water.<\/p>\n In an effort to prove the pond is legitimate and persuade county government to allow it to remain on the property, the couple stopped using it \u2014 even though the well on their land had run dry \u2014 and began shipping in the water for daily living and gardening from nearly Butte Falls.<\/p>\n They\u2019ve also had no choice but to hire attorney Sarah Liljefelt, who filed a request with Jackson County to provide a permit for them to store water, stating, \u201cThe reservoir on Ms. Carey\u2019s property, though small, is one of the largest in the area.\u201d<\/p>\n As the Mail Tribune<\/em> notes, \u201cLiljefelt said the pond is an important source of water for beavers, otters, elk, deer, bear, mountain lion, bobcat, bald eagle osprey, great blue heron, snowy egret, Canada geese and the western pond turtle.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n By all appearances, the large pool of water does more good for the environment than if it weren\u2019t there at all \u2014 during their fight with the State, the Careys even suggested it be used for fire control and prevention, like Harrington did, as the pond is easily accessible by fire crews.<\/p>\n But the county has displayed only nonsensical obstinance on the issue.<\/p>\n \u201cThis pond seems to be doing way more public good than not being here. Why, now, is it so important to be removed?\u201d <\/strong>Jon lamented.<\/p>\n Indeed, the 40-year-old man doesn\u2019t even profit from the medical cannabis grown on the land he and his wife own, as he literally gives the crop \u2014 free of charge \u2014 to friends.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t make anything out of this,\u201d he said.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Members of the Water Commission disagree on whether this is an issue worth fighting over at all, but as the Mail Tribune<\/i> reports,<\/p>\n Water Commission staff found several problems with the Careys\u2019 request, including setting a precedent that could prompt similar requests and weaken state statutes while not meeting the definition of \u2018municipal water source.\u2019 The staff found it would be very difficult to access the water stored in the pond for municipal reasons, and further monitoring and following up on compliance issues would be difficult and costly for the commission.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n However, the commission also failed to state why this should be a matter for the government in the first place \u2014 why punitive bureaucracy needs to meddle with a pond on private property, serving as a valuable ecosystem, that poses no threat to anyone or anything, and isn\u2019t even an eyesore, must be destroyed.<\/p>\n Besides a trailer home and dilapidated house, the pond is the only thing of value on their acreage, and, obviously, as Sabrina said, \u201cWe didn\u2019t buy it for the double-wide.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n She told the Mail Tribune <\/em>the pond should have been registered with the Oregon Water Resources Department nine years ago, but the owners at that time did not reside on the property and didn\u2019t do so.<\/p>\n They have even offered to reduce the pond\u2019s size, allow officials to inspect it when necessary, and have provided a draft easement to the commission in hopes of allowing the prized water feature to remain intact \u2014 thus far to no avail.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re just trying to do it by the rules,\u201d Sabrina explained. \u201cI\u2019m trying to cooperate.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n In 2012, Gary Harrington had already been through years of conflict with government officials over illicit water \u2014 and provided CNSNews <\/em>with stronger sentiment<\/a> on the topic:<\/p>\n When something is wrong, you just, as an American citizen, you have to put your foot down and say, \u2018This is wrong; you just can\u2019t take away anymore of my rights and from here on in, I\u2019m going to fight it.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n That government feels entitled to not only something located on private property, but that people should not be allowed to collect rain, is everything wrong with excessive government \u2014 and the overregulation of daily life.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n
Couple Forced to Destroy 40-Year-Old Pond On Their Own Property Because Govt Owns The Rainwater<\/u><\/h3>\n
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