Ron Ewart
“WE must protect OUR rural lands.” Stated numerous times by an environmentalist on a radio talk show in a debate with this author. His “WE” means all people and his “OUR rural lands” means all public and PRIVATE land.
That’s right, environmentalists and even those that live in urban areas, have been so brainwashed by the government through education and outright propaganda, that they actually believe that it is OK for government to regulate rural lands with draconian environmental protection ordinances, without regard to the fact that those rural lands are owned by real people and are supposed to be protected by the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution that states in part:
“….. nor shall any person ….. be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.”
Any protection provided to rural landowners from the U. S. Constitution has been so watered down and perverted by U. S. Supreme Court and lower court decisions, as to render the 5th Amendment virtually null and void. International and national environmentalism trumps the Constitution in America, by tens of thousands of local, state and federal laws.
Our organization, the National Association of Rural Landowners (NARLO) was formed as a result of discovering that these environmental laws, regulations, restrictions and ordinances apply disproportionately to rural landowners, such that the rural landowner is being forced to bear almost the entire burden of environmental protection, while their city cousins get off almost scot-free. Since it became apparent that rural landowners are disenfranchised from having a say in environmental protection ordinances, due to the cities having the majority representation and the votes, we decided that the rural landowner needed someone to speak on their behalf, on a national scale. Although we write about issues affecting every American, our primary goal is to provide a voice to the vicious assault on rural landowners by the government, aided and abetted by national and international environmentalists through the United Nations Agenda 21 policies of smart growth and sustainable development. On their behalf, NARLO has developed specific tools that a rural landowner can use against these assaults by government.
But this isn’t the real story. The real stories are the tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of rural landowner stories, all across America, who find themselves in the iron grip of an intransigent local, state or federal agency for some infraction of the “code” that the landowner knew nothing about, or had no application in rural areas. Every week we receive a couple of phone calls or e-mails from landowners who are having to pay thousands of dollars that they don’t have, to rectify some irrational, senseless code violation. These violations, fines and penalties are even occurring in the most remotest parts of the U. S.
A gentleman in rural Colorado couldn’t get a permit to build his cabin because the “code” says he MUST hook up to the power grid and he can’t have an outhouse. The power grid is miles and miles away from his rural property and would cost him tens of thousands of dollars to bring power to his property. Is it any wonder that some folks just ignore the law and hope they don’t get caught? Unfortunately, many do get caught and pay a terrible price.
A woman landowner who lives on acreage that fronts a river that flows into the Columbia River in Washington state, had her property and home flooded eleven times because a couple of NGO’s (Non Governmental Organization) and the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Agency took out the tide gates that were protecting her property from the incoming tide and the flooding river. The tide gates had been there for several generations. The reason? The NGO’s and the U. S. Fish and Wildlife, with millions of dollars of federal money and the law on their side, were returning the river to its pristine condition for the restoration of salmon runs. Fish were left dead and dying in her fields as the tide came in and out. She had no recourse, ran out of money and hope and had to abandon her home and her land. She now lives in Idaho. The government drove her from her land without compunction and without liability.
Another landowner in Washington State went to jail for over 150 days and fined thousands of dollars for cleaning out a ditch on his property in a wetland, a wetland that was declared a wetland after the event. In other words, the government manufactured a crime where there was none, to send home a message to all other landowners, that the environment had a greater priority over their land than they did and they better comply ….. or else. The landowner made the mistake of trying to defend himself and act as his own attorney, in a corrupt court.
In Antelope Valley, a very rural area of Los Angeles County, the rural landowners are being faced with fully armed SWAT teams that haul the landowner off to jail or court, if they haven’t moved fast enough in clearing up a code violation. Los Angeles County calls the SWAT team a “nuisance abatement team“. A SWAT team for nuisance abatement? You’ve got to be kidding! Is America now a police state? It would seem so!
A man and his wife in California bought some rural acreage that had a home and outbuildings on it. After they bought the land, the local Land Use Agency said that one of their buildings was not in code and filed a code violation against them. But it turns out that the Land Use Agency had filed a code violation on the property 12 years ago against the previous owner for the same reason, but the code violation did not show up on the Title Report for the new purchaser. Nevertheless, the new owners were still responsible for the old code violation and had to fork over $28,000 in fees and fines to bring the property in compliance. They also discovered that there is no statute of limitations on land use code violations. Here is what the property owner told us as part of her story.
“You are not given the credit to have common sense intelligence to make your own decisions. Government will make those decisions for you. Remember that, in the future, when land use agents, septic, or well inspectors appear, demanding you put in $$ to retrofit to their standards.”
“Your fence or locked gate, does not prevent, inspectors from entering. They are seen climbing over fences, carrying cameras, on their revenue hunt expeditions. Make no mistake, regardless of the noble story they spin, it is all about money, power and control over you. Retired people on fixed incomes risk losing their homes, if county shows up. Our freedoms are eroded, by bondage regulations.”
A man and his son had all the permits necessary to fill in a portion of the waterfront property in an East Coast state. Along came the Army Corps of Engineers and hit them with a criminal violation of filling in a wetland and took them to Federal Court. The judge would not allow the landowners to enter into evidence their permits and sentenced the man and his son to 21 months in a federal prison, with the further requirement to restore the property when they were released.
A rural Ohio family, with a going family business, faced the same dilemma with the Army Corps of Engineers and were also criminally charged with filling in a wetland. The Corps took them to Federal Court. But the hitch was, they hadn’t filled in a wetland. However, that didn’t stop the Army Corps from pursuing the case. The family first tried to defend themselves in court and quickly used up their savings in the process. They were then approached by the Ohio Farm Bureau who offered to help them with their case. All they had to do was to put up their land as collateral for the Farm Bureau loan. The Farm Bureau lost the case and then took the farm from the family to repay the loan, including most of their possessions on the farm. This proud Ohio family, with a going business, was left penniless.
It gets even worse than that. An Idaho couple bought a lot in a completed subdivision with homes all around them and applied for a building permit to build their dream home. The lot was over 500 feet from the nearest body of water. That didn’t stop the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) who came on their property as the couple was clearing and leveling the lot for the foundation and slapped them with a non-compliance order for, you guessed it, filling in a wetland. The EPA then told them that they would have to restore the property to its original condition, at great cost, they couldn’t build on it and if they didn’t comply, they would be faced with a $37,500 per day fine.
Upon investigating their legal options against this flagrant violation of their 5th Amendment rights, they found they had no recourse in any court and they had to deal directly with the EPA ….. or else. The couple contacted the Pacific Legal Foundation and this case is now being heard by the U. S. Supreme Court with a decision due out by this coming June. You can read about this case HERE. [Link for publisher]
The Federal Government, under the Department of Justice and/or the Department of Agriculture, are going after farmers who have the audacity to produce their own un-pasteurized milk and sell it to people in the local area. There were no cases of people being sickened by un-pasteurized milk. The government just decided to raid these farmers unilaterally. Again, another example of a police state, with rural landowners as the target.
Many of our readers know of the Kelo vs. New London, CT decision where the Supreme Court ruled that it was OK for local or state governments to take property under eminent domain for an economic use, when the Constitution clearly says a public use. The Supreme Court decision in the Kelo case left it up to the states to strengthen their eminent domain laws, at the state’s discretion. Over half of the states have done just that. Oh and in the Kelo case, the company that was going to buy and use the land that was condemned under eminent domain by the city of New London for economic purposes, backed out of the deal and the property, that included the Kelo home, has been bulldozed and the land sits idle. No one wants it. The city owns it and the property is now off the tax rolls.
These few stories we have chronicled here are a drop in the ocean. The American rural landowner is forced to endure this government assault quietly and without complaint ….. or else! The response from the government or the urban folk is, in the French vernacular, “Qu’ils mangent de la brioche“. The English translation is, “….. let ’em eat cake!”
The fact is, the rural landowner has very little recourse against these land use and environmental laws and are held hostage by them because government refuses to be bound by the Constitution. To defend themselves they literally have to “give up the farm” as it were and many lose their farms and ranches to this assault by government. The court system is a stacked deck and the cost to pursue a case in court is out of reach of most landowners because of exorbitant attorney fees and court costs. Further, there is no sympathy from the city folk because they are being told that the rural folk have to “give more” to protect the city folk’s environment. This “giving more” is not only a violation of the 5th Amendment, it is a clear violation of the equal protection clause in the U. S. Constitution.
Rural landowners are an independent lot and up until now, have taken this vicious assault on their land and their rights, with stoicism and uncommon restraint. However, we predict that as the assault continues and it will, fewer and fewer landowners are going to take it lying down as they have been. There have been and will continue to be consequences and they won’t be pretty.
As an example, a man in Colorado, mad at a zoning decision on his property, outfitted his large bulldozer with steel plates and peepholes. He then drove the bulldozer on his lowboy truck into town, unloaded it and completely destroyed the zoning office, before officers finally shot and killed him. Some landowners, in rage over stupid government decisions, have taken the law into their own hands and have taken the lives of some politicians in response.
Let us be clear. We do not condone taking the law into your own hands for any reason, for the simple pragmatic fact that you will eventually lose and lose big time. The long arm of the law will pursue you until you have been caught and punished and they have all the resources to do just that. You will have been martyred and it will have served no purpose.
The only thing we are saying, human nature being what it is, these violent events will continue to escalate as government increases the pressure on rural landowners through draconian environmental laws and the vigorous enforcement of those laws. As the police state rises, so to will the opposition to that police state. We are, after all, Americans and as Americans we don’t bow down to the continual abuse of un-authorized and un-constitutional power. The sad part is, none of this would be happening if the government had stayed within the bounds of the Constitution. The government and those that lobby them will be and are, solely responsible for these un-intended consequences of their actions.
KNOW YOUR ENEMY:
On a side note, we have included some links from credible sources about the United Nations, Agenda 21, global governance and the U. S. Senate that need to be read and understood by as many Americans as possible, so that they are aware of the draconian forces that are at work to destroy American freedom and sovereignty. If you don’t know the enemy, who he is and where he hides, you cannot deploy your forces to defeat him.
We encourage you to read or watch these links and share them with as many others as you can.
On the connection between the United Nations and the Bill and Melinda Gates philanthropic foundation, by Tom DeWeese of the American Policy Center.
A stunning, if not very disturbing allegation, in a video by Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina, on the absolute corrupt and arrogant behavior of the U. S. Senate. This will blow your mind if you do not know it and you will have no doubt as to why we are in so much trouble. It gives meaning to the words, “ABSOLUTE POWER CORRUPTS ABSOLUTELY!” Representative government is essentially dead, if what Senator DeMint says is true and we have no reason to doubt that it is!
And the following link will show why America is broke and will eventually go bankrupt! If this doesn’t burn your bacon and get you off the couch, nothing will! Greece is written all over this revelation.
Ladies and gentlemen, restoring freedom is going to be anything but easy and, in the end, might be impossible because we have gone way past the tipping point! Only absolute unification of American conservatives, on a broad spectrum of conservative principles, without division, and eternal vigilance will make it possible. We can expect that we will be vigorously resisted by intransigent and un-yielding opposing forces, along with those voters that allowed themselves to be bought off by government ….. every step of the way.
Read more powerful conservative articles like this one HERE.
© 2020 Ron Ewart – All Rights Reserved
E-Mail Ron Ewart: info@narlo.org
