Oregon Man Sentenced to 30 Days in Jail for Collecting Rainwater on His Property

Run_to_da_hills

I could understand if there was a serious problem with stagnation in an area where mosquitoes could breed or he didn't have them fenced off for children but dose this seem to be a bit ott.

I gather with the roll out of surveylance drones in the near future by US state departments we will be hearing plenty more of these stories.

"A rural Oregon man was sentenced Wednesday to 30 days in jail and over $1,500 in fines because he had three reservoirs on his property to collect and use rainwater.

Gary Harrington of Eagle Point, Ore., says he plans to appeal his conviction in Jackson County (Ore.) Circuit Court on nine misdemeanor charges under a 1925 law for having what state water managers called “three illegal reservoirs” on his property – and for filling the reservoirs with rainwater and snow runoff".

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/oregon-man-sentenced-30-days-jail-collecting-rainwater-his-property

matthew8

This is retarded, the US is in its biggest drought since the early 1930s and people can't collect whatever rain comes. Reservoirs need to be encouraged on people's property, not shut down.

charlemont

The saying "going to hell in a handcart" comes to mind.

Run_to_da_hills

matthew8 wrote: »

This is retarded, the US is in its biggest drought since the early 1930s and people can't collect whatever rain comes. Reservoirs need to be encouraged on people's property, not shut down.

In some parts of Australia you are encouraged to have your own pond or reservoir in case of bush fires.

golden lane

was he blocking watercourses or not.....?

the rainwater or snowmelt that goes into the watercourses is not his......

no authority should allow watercourses to become private property, just because it crosses their land...

Overheal

read enough in that article to see it's not as completely absurd as it first sounded. Let the lawyers have their fun with this one I say.

southsiderosie

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

I could understand if there was a serious problem with stagnation in an area where mosquitoes could breed or he didn't have them fenced off for children but dose this seem to be a bit ott.

I gather with the roll out of surveylance drones in the near future by US state departments we will be hearing plenty more of these stories.

"A rural Oregon man was sentenced Wednesday to 30 days in jail and over $1,500 in fines because he had three reservoirs on his property to collect and use rainwater.

Gary Harrington of Eagle Point, Ore., says he plans to appeal his conviction in Jackson County (Ore.) Circuit Court on nine misdemeanor charges under a 1925 law for having what state water managers called “three illegal reservoirs” on his property – and for filling the reservoirs with rainwater and snow runoff".

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/oregon-man-sentenced-30-days-jail-collecting-rainwater-his-property

Are you serious? The article you cited says that he is diverting water through dams he built on public waterways to replenish his reservoirs.

“There are dams across channels, water channels where the water would normally flow if it were not for the dam and so those dams are stopping the water from flowing in the channel and storing it- holding it so it cannot flow downstream,” Paul told CNSNews.com.

Harrington, however, argued in court that that he is not diverting water from Big Butte Creek, but the dams capturing the rainwater and snow runoff – or “diffused water” – are on his own property and that therefore the runoff does not fall under the jurisdiction of the state water managers, nor does it not violate the 1925 act.

In 2007, a Jackson County Circuit Court judge denied Harrington’s permits and found that he had illegally “withdrawn the water at issue from appropriation other than for the City of Medford.”

According to Paul, Harrington entered a guilty plea at the time, received three years probation and was ordered to open up the water gates.

“A very short period of time following the expiration of his probation, he once again closed the gates and re-filled the reservoirs,” Paul told CNSNews.com. “So, this has been going on for some time and I think frankly the court felt that Mr. Harrington was not getting the message and decided that they’d already given him probation once and required him to open the gates and he refilled his reservoirs and it was business as usual for him, so I think the court wanted -- it felt it needed -- to give a stiffer penalty to get Mr. Harrington’s attention.”

I can easily imagine an article in the same publication with the headline "Local man diverting city water supply for private use".

Sheesh.

Run_to_da_hills

southsiderosie wrote: »

Are you serious? The article you cited says that he is diverting water through dams he built on public waterways to replenish his reservoirs.


I can easily imagine an article in the same publication with the headline "Local man diverting city water supply for private use".

Sheesh.

Oregon criminalizes permaculture; claims state ownership over all rainwater - ponds and swales restricted - jail time for violators

The only reason I could see for this is that smart meters are on the way in and the State wants to have total control at the touch of a button over the most fundamental requirement for survival. Next they will be charging a tax on sunlight.

southsiderosie

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

Oregon criminalizes permaculture; claims state ownership over all rainwater - ponds and swales restricted - jail time for violators

The only reason I could see for this is that smart meters are on the way in and the State wants to have total control at the touch of a button over the most fundamental requirement for survival. Next they will be charging a tax on sunlight.

Would you stop with this conspiracy theorist nonsense?

Waterways in the U.S. are PUBLIC - i.e. you cannot divert them at will, nor can you block them off at will. This means that you can't decide to fill your private pond or pool or whatever with diverted water, nor can you buy 200 acres of land and then try to stop local canoeists from paddling down the stretch of river that runs through your property.

On top of that, water in Western states is an EXTREMELY contentious issue. While Portland and Seattle are infamously rainy, the other side of the Cascade Mountains is actually quite dry, so a great deal of water is used for agricultural production (especially in Washington State). In addition, the Pacific Northwest has long been dotted with dams which generated power for the paper mills and fish processing plants that used to form the backbone of the regional economy.

The whole point of water regulations, particular in Western states, is to insure that a) the public drinking supply is protected, b) there is enough water to power dams and agriculture, and c) that people upstream won't sop it all up. The article NOT written by the 'victim' in this case made it clear that this was not simply an issue of rainwater collection; he was diverting water from public waterways for private use.

These tin foil hat conspiracy theories are beyond farcical at this point; seriously, reading this stuff is like reading an article from The Onion.

Mjollnir

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

I could understand if there was a serious problem with stagnation in an area where mosquitoes could breed or he didn't have them fenced off for children but dose this seem to be a bit ott.

I gather with the roll out of surveylance drones in the near future by US state departments we will be hearing plenty more of these stories.

"A rural Oregon man was sentenced Wednesday to 30 days in jail and over $1,500 in fines because he had three reservoirs on his property to collect and use rainwater.

Gary Harrington of Eagle Point, Ore., says he plans to appeal his conviction in Jackson County (Ore.) Circuit Court on nine misdemeanor charges under a 1925 law for having what state water managers called “three illegal reservoirs” on his property – and for filling the reservoirs with rainwater and snow runoff".

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/oregon-man-sentenced-30-days-jail-collecting-rainwater-his-property

This 'story' is hyperbolic nonsense and the headline is utterly dishonest.

He didn't get sentenced 30 days for simple violation of
the applicable water use laws. The article says that he got 30 days in jail for defying the judge's orders and re-closing his dam(s).

He was also diverting public water away from those downstream from
him, illegally, and stocking them with fish, for his own (supposedly)
recreational purposes.

http://www.statesmanjournal.com/viewart/20120727/UPDATE/120727030/Jackson-County-man-sentenced-water-diversion?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|News

For the record, Oregon also allows collecting rainwater for both potable and non-potable uses. The headline is at best a misrepresentation of what was actually happening, at at worst a baldfaced lie.

Run_to_da_hills

Only a few weeks ago the state of Oregon jailed a guy for collecting rainwater.

http://www.naturalnews.com/036615_Oregon_rainwater_permaculture.html

Now the state of Oregon is spending millions of dollars poisoning those that obey the law.

Portland, Oregon to spend $5 million to poison its residents with toxic fluoride

Jonny7

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

Only a few weeks ago the state of Oregon jailed a guy for collecting rainwater.

http://www.naturalnews.com/036615_Oregon_rainwater_permaculture.html

Now the state of Oregon is spending millions of dollars poisoning those that obey the law.

Portland, Oregon to spend $5 million to poison its residents with toxic fluoride

And Biden just endorsed Romney for president

Biden endorses Romney

Mjollnir

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

Only a few weeks ago the state of Oregon jailed a guy for collecting rainwater.

http://www.naturalnews.com/036615_Oregon_rainwater_permaculture.html

Now the state of Oregon is spending millions of dollars poisoning those that obey the law.

Portland, Oregon to spend $5 million to poison its residents with toxic fluoride

No, the state of Oregon has never jailed anyone for collecting rainwater.

Sorry to ruin the fantasy.

asherbassad

What ARE the laws regarding collecting rainwater?

I read that collecting rainwater was illegal in Utah, Colorado and Washington.
But I don't know the specific details.

It seems that the big issue is "diverting" rainwater....but what does that mean? It's a fairly ambiguous term that could be applied to anything. Put a large barrel under a drainpipe at the side of your house and you are technically diverting rainwater that would otherwise find it's way into a local stream or river. Does that make you guilty of some pathetic infraction because you're depriving some downstreamers of a few gallons out of the millions that are available from the rain?

Mjollnir

asherbassad wrote: »

What ARE the laws regarding collecting rainwater?

I read that collecting rainwater was illegal in Utah, Colorado and Washington.
But I don't know the specific details.

It seems that the big issue is "diverting" rainwater....but what does that mean? It's a fairly ambiguous term that could be applied to anything. Put a large barrel under a drainpipe at the side of your house and you are technically diverting rainwater that would otherwise find it's way into a local stream or river. Does that make you guilty of some pathetic infraction because you're depriving some downstreamers of a few gallons out of the millions that are available from the rain?

The links I supplied earlier in this thread will make clear that what the man in question was doing wasn't ambiguous in the least. Creating large dams, etc...

Dr Galen

OP - No more of this kind of CT stuff anywhere across the Politics forum please and thanks.

Cheers

DrG