Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Government Gone Wild: Man Sentenced To 30 Days For Hoarding "The People's Water"

Gary Harrington will be spending the next 30 days in jail and faces up to $1500.00 in fines over a pond which has been on his family property for 37 years. What's going on? According to Tom Paul of the Oregon Water Resources Department, "all of the water in the state of Oregon is public water" and yes, that includes the water that fills Harrington's pond and two other ponds on Harrington's property.

You read that right, Harrington is in violation of the law because the water in his ponds belongs to the people and Harrington doesn't have the required permits to hoard the people's water on his private property.
Of course, Harrington actually applied to the People's Republic of Oregon for the required permits back in 2002, and the state Water Resources Department actually approved the permits; but soon thereafter, a state court reversed the ruling approving the permits.

In essence, Harrington's plight appears to be a variation on the old "government wet-lands" shell game. The state of Oregon is saying, we'll give lip-service to the outdated concept that your private property belongs to you, because the water on that property belongs to the people (translation: the government).

If you're confused, you can check out the rest of the story at CNSNews.com, but be forewarned, having more information won't necessarily clarify the matter. Consider it just another case of Government Gone Wild.
Posted By: Chris Carmouche