Devvy Kidd -- The State of Georgia's control of their own water

THE STATE OF GEORGIA'S CONTROL OF THEIR OWN WATER

By: Devvy
October 22, 2007

� 2007 - NewsWithViews.com

"Each State, in ratifying the Constitution, is considered as a sovereign body, independent of all others, and only to be bound by its own voluntary act. In this relation, then, the new Constitution will, if established, be a FEDERAL, and not a NATIONAL constitution." James Madison, Father of the Constitution, Federalist No. 39, January 1788

The State of Georgia is drying up along with several other states because of extreme drought conditions. While the political squabbling has gone on, at the heart of the matter is whether or not Georgia has the right to control their own water, its allocation and the fish in its lakes and rivers:

CUMMING, Ga. (AP) "Georgia officials warn that Lake Lanier, a 38,000-acre reservoir that supplies more than 3 million residents with water, is less than three months from depletion. Smaller reservoirs are dropping even lower. Perdue asked the president to exempt Georgia from complying with federal regulations that dictate the amount of water released from Georgia's reservoirs to protect federally protected mussel species downstream. "We need to cut through the tangle of unnecessary bureaucracy to manage our resources prudently - so that in the long term, all species may have access to life-sustaining water," he said."

Governor Sonny Perdue appears to be fed up with the Army Corps of Engineers:

LAKE LANIER, Georgia (CNN) -- Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue declared a water supply emergency in north Georgia on Saturday as its water resources dwindled to a dangerously low level after months of drought.....Perdue blasted what he called the "silly rules" governing the water supplies, noting that even if the state got replenishing rains, it could not by law conserve those, but must release 3.2 billion gallons a day downstream.

"The actions of the Corps of Engineers and Fish and Wildlife Service are not only irresponsible, I believe they're downright dangerous and Georgia cannot stand for this negligence," Perdue said. The Army Corps of Engineers, however, presented a different assessment. If there were nine months without rain, water supplies still would be adequate, said Maj. Daren Payne, the Army Corps' deputy commander for the Mobile, Alabama, District.

"The corps sent a letter to Perdue assessing the situation and pointing out that they are "not going to run out [of water] any time soon," Payne said. The corps -- under an agreement reached in the 1980s with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the state and downstream users -- releases 5,000 feet of water per second from the dam between Lake Lanier and the Chattahoochee River. The figure was based on a Florida hydroelectric power plant's needs, as well as concern for endangered species in the river, including mussels and sturgeon. On Friday, Georgia filed a motion seeking to require the Army Corps of Engineers to restrict water flows from the lake and other north Georgia reservoirs."

The rain falls from the skies and lands in reservoirs located in the sovereign republic of the State of Georgia. These reservoirs do not belong to the U.S. government. Nor does the rain that falls into them. The Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are now stomping the State of Georgia and its elected government in order to protect mussels and sturgeon - or so it's claimed; note the decision below for Klamath Falls. This is all being done under the Endangered Species Act and international treaties. But, did the government ever have legal authority over fish, game and wildlife within the sovereign states of the Union? Here's an analysis by constitutional attorney and treaty expert, Larry Becraft:

"For example, the United States Constitution does not provide that Congress has any authority concerning the fish and wildlife within this country and this has been previously litigated with obvious results. In McCready v. Virginia, 94 U.S. 391, 394- 95 (1877), the Supreme Court held regarding the fish within the oceans:

"[T]he States own the tidewaters themselves and the fish in them, so far as they are capable of ownership while running." The title thus held is subject to the paramount right of navigation, the regulation of which, in respect to foreign and interstate commerce, has been granted to the United States. There has been, however, no such grant of power over the fisheries. These remain under the exclusive control of the state.....

"Like fish, the Constitution simply grants no authority to the federal government to control the wildlife within the states of this nation and this has been noted in several cases. A ready example of such a case is United States v. Shauver, 214 F. 154, 160 (E.D.Ark. 1914), which concerned the issue of where the Migratory Bird Act of March, 1913, could apply.

"Through this act, Congress sought to extend protection to migratory birds by limiting the hunting season and otherwise placing restrictions upon hunting of these birds. As is only natural, upon adoption of this act federal officials started enforcing it and here they had arrested Shauver in Arkansas for shooting migratory birds.

"Shauver moved to dismiss the charges filed against him on the grounds that the act contravened the Tenth Amendment by invading the jurisdiction of the states upon a matter historically reserved for legislation by the states. In deciding that this act was unconstitutional, Judge Trieber noted that the common law provided that the states essentially owned the birds within their borders and state legislation was the sole source by which hunting could be controlled. In so concluding, he held:

"All the courts are authorized to do when the constitutionality of a legislative act is questioned is to determine whether Congress, under the Constitution as it is, possesses the power to enact the legislation in controversy; their power does not extend to the matter of expediency. If Congress has not the power, the duty of the court is to declare the act void. The court is unable to find any provision in the Constitution authorizing Congress, either expressly or by necessary implication, to protect or regulate the shooting of migratory wild game in a state, and is therefore forced to the conclusion that the act is unconstitutional."

"Notwithstanding Judge Trieber's decision, enforcement of the act did not stop and it was thereafter enforced within Kansas, where another man arrested for killing migratory birds. In United States v. McCullagh, 221 F. 288, 293 (D. Kan. 1915), the issue of the Migratory Bird Act of 1913 was again before a different court and it, relying upon its own research of the law as well as the decision in Shauver, likewise concluded that this act was unconstitutional:

"[T]he exclusive title and power to control the taking and ultimate disposition of the wild game in this country resides in the states, to be parted with and exercised by the state for the common good of all the people of the state, as in its wisdom may seem best."

"The above decisions have never been overruled and they stand today as valid authority for the proposition that Congress under the Constitution does not have any direct grant of power to regulate and control fish and wildlife within our country."

Perhaps the words from Jefferson will drive home the point:

"The best general key for the solution of questions of power between our governments is the fact that 'every foreign and federal power is given to the Federal Government, and to the States every power purely domestic.' I recollect but one instance of control vested in the Federal over the State authorities in a matter purely domestic, which is that of metallic tenders. The Federal is, in truth, our foreign government, which department alone is taken from the sovereignty of the separate States." --Thomas Jefferson to Robert J. Garnett, 1824. ME 16:15

When Congress wants to go around the U.S. Constitution, they do it through treaties and this also applies to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Treaties are the domain of the U.S. Senate and all 100 currently serve in office unlawfully during their terms have sold us out for decades. All of this goes way back in the blueprint for destroying our constitutional republic with one of the major goals being a massive, blanket environmental agenda fueled by hysteria and lies. I highly recommend you read two books: (1) Environmental Overkill by Dixy Lee Ray and, (2) Set Up and Sold Out. Environmental Overkill is the quintessential work on the Rio Summit and the hijacking of common sense on this issue. Set Up and Sold Out is Holly Swanson's fully documented work about how your children are being fully indoctrinated into the extremist greenie movement in the government's propaganda centers they call public schools.

Perhaps now the State of Georgia just might begin to realize why it's so important to expose and challenge the fraudulent ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment. Arizona should have done this years ago to eject McCain and Kyl over the illegals invasion. When the framers of the Constitution were hashing out the documents to birth this republic, of paramount importance was the appointment by the state legislatures of two U.S. Senators per state to represent the rights of the state. With the fraudulent ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment, the states lost their rights and have been under the boot of the federal machine ever since:

Klamath Falls, Oregon, is another perfect example of our fellow Americans were crushed by federal dragoons acting under the color of law to protect a junk fish the feds had previously decided to wipe out two decades before! In the end, a federal judge ruled the fish listing was bogus, but tens of thousands of lives were ruined. Most Americans didn't care because it didn't affect them. Now Georgians are being hurt. When are the states going to learn? The solutions to these problems are right there within your grasp, and yet it seems, no one wants to kill the cancer. In the meantime, Gov. Perdue can stomp and huff and puff, but until his state legislature decides they've had enough and reclaim their right to full representation in Congress, nothing will change except the amount of wasted money and resources fighting off federal tyranny.

In 2003, Montana State Senator Jerry O'Neil introduced SJ 10 which was a resolution to restore states rights. Full bill here. While it was a good step in recognizing the problem with election of U.S. Senators, I would not have supported that legislation as written because it called for an amendment to the Seventeenth Amendment. How can you amend an amendment that was never ratified? Go for the truth because it is the best way. Not to mention the fact that you would never in this climate of absolute political corruption in Washington, DC, get an amendment to the U.S. Constitution out to the states. Time grows short with the NAU breathing down our necks. The states must act in January.

Campaign finance reform will never become a reality until the States of the Union reclaim their power and that means acknowledging through incontrovertible proof the Seventeenth Amendment was never ratified and asserting their rights; see here.

The fraud of the Seventeenth Amendment has been one of my top issues I've thundered about since 1993. I have given Bill Benson's Proof the Seventeenth Amendment Was Never Ratified, to several members of state legislatures that I feel are perfect for this challenge. In order to provide our fellow citizens easier access to this material, I have convinced Bill to put it up on the Internet for a very small donation. It's now scanned and my web master is working with Bill's to get it activated; this should be soon and I'll let my readers know right away. This will allow you to print it out and get to your state rep and senator and demand that in opening session this January, they take the necessary steps to reclaim their constitutional right to appoint two U.S. Senators who will go to Washington, DC, and get these problems solved instead of more endless belly bumping between state and federal agencies while Americans suffer.

State legislators, representatives or senators, take an oath to uphold, preserve and protect the Constitution of these united States of America as well as their own state constitutions. They are supposed to protect their citizens and safeguard their rights as a sovereign state. It's long past time for this concept that worked so well until 1913 is restored.

Please get on the phone this week to your counterfeit U.S. Senator and demand a NO vote on the Law of the Sea Treaty. It looks to come up for a vote on Wednesday of this week, so please call. Get on the phone to your House member in Congress and demand a YES vote on H.R. 2755 to abolish the privately owned Federal Reserve, H. Con. Res. 22 to get US out of the insidious, destructive NAFTA treaty and H.R. 300. Call on your cell phone in commute traffic, at lunch, but find time. If you can't get through on their DC number, use a district office because they're there to help! This is our government and we must participate or see all we hold dear flushed down the rat hole of one world government.

I hope you can take the time to read the links below because they deal directly with this issue.

Links to learn from:

1 - Treaties: A Source for Federal Municipal Power
2 - Why the EPA Must be Abolished
3 - The gray wolf, the ESA & the 17th Amendment
4 - Quit repeating the big lie: We are not a democracy
5 - State jurisdiction cases

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Devvy Kidd authored the booklets, Why A Bankrupt America and Blind Loyalty; 2 million copies sold. Devvy appears on radio shows all over the country, ran for Congress and is a highly sought after public speaker. Devvy belongs to no organization.

She left the Republican Party in 1996 and has been an independent voter ever since. Devvy isn't left, right or in the middle; she is a constitutionalist who believes in the supreme law of the land, not some political party. Her web site (www.devvy.com) contains a tremendous amount of information, solutions and a vast Reading Room.

Devvy's website: www.devvy.com

Before you send Devvy e-mail, please take the time to check the FAQ section on her web site. It is filled with answers to frequently asked questions and links to reliable research sources.

E-mail is: devvyk@earthlink.net

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"The actions of the Corps of Engineers and Fish and Wildlife Service are not only irresponsible, I believe they're downright dangerous and Georgia cannot stand for this negligence,"