22 replies to this topic 2 votes

[Hum]

(CNSNews.com) – Gary Harrington, the Oregon man convicted of collecting rainwater and snow runoff on his rural property surrendered Wednesday morning to begin serving his 30-day, jail sentence in Medford, Oregon.

“I’m sacrificing my liberty so we can stand up as a country and stand for our liberty,” Harrington told a small crowd of people gathered outside of the Jackson County (Oregon) Jail.

Several people held signs that showed support for Harrington as he was taken inside the jail.

Harrington was found guilty two weeks ago of breaking a 1925 law for having, what state water managers called “three illegal reservoirs” on his property. He was convicted of nine misdemeanors, sentenced to 30 days in jail and fined over $1500 for collecting rainwater and snow runoff on his property.

The Oregon Water Resources Department, claims that Harrington has been violating the state’s water use law by diverting water from streams running into the Big Butte River.

But Harrington says he is not diverting the state's water -- merely collecting rainwater and snow melt that falls or flows on his own property.

Harrington has vowed to continue to fight the penalty, stating that the government has become “big bullies” and that “from here on in, I’m going to fight it.”

“They’ve just gotten to be big bullies and if you just lay over and die and give up, that just makes them bigger bullies, Harrington said in an interview two weeks ago with CNSNews.com.

"We as Americans, we need to stand on our constitutional rights, on our rights as citizens and hang tough. This is a good country, we’ll prevail,” he said.

His release is expected in early September.

source

[DKAngel]

lol out here in australia ud be a hero for collecting rain water as we have none

[jnelsoninjax]

Quote

Harrington was found guilty two weeks ago of breaking a 1925 law for having, what state water managers called “three illegal reservoirs” on his property. He was convicted of nine misdemeanors, sentenced to 30 days in jail and fined over $1500 for collecting rainwater and snow runoff on his property.

WTF? 30 days in jail for catching rainwater? Seems that they might want to update a law that is almost 90 years old...

[Patrick831]

That is a dumb law! Although it could be worse i guess. He could have eaten Ice Cream on Sunday! (Yes, there is a law in Oregon about not eating Ice Cream on Sundays) 0-o

[+Lingwo]

My dad would be doing life if they saw the amount of rain water he has collected over the past year

[psionicinversion]

these old ass laws need to be scrapped cus there bloody stupid. Maybe it was illegal in 1925 due to ppl catching disease off untreated stuff or someat. Its all a big pile of BS

[Hum]

Sad when governments own the water that falls from the sky.

[z0phi3l]

Hum, on 10 August 2012 - 14:27, said:

Sad when governments own the water that falls from the sky.

Well all you really own is the top foot or so of your property, anything past that belongs to the government, hence why you have no say if they come drilling on your property

[CW-88]

Patrick831, on 10 August 2012 - 14:06, said:

That is a dumb law! Although it could be worse i guess. He could have eaten Ice Cream on Sunday! (Yes, there is a law in Oregon about not eating Ice Cream on Sundays) 0-o

lol there are tonnes of random laws like that all around the world. Crazy stuff.

[threetonesun]

I feel like there must be more to this. I mean, the law is still relevant, if you were a private land owner who owned a large piece of land that fed a public reservoir, and you decided to build your own reservoirs to capture that water before it made it to the public one, that would (could) be pretty detrimental to a large number of people.

[ahhell]

threetonesun, on 10 August 2012 - 14:34, said:

I feel like there must be more to this. I mean, the law is still relevant, if you were a private land owner who owned a large piece of land that fed a public reservoir, and you decided to build your own reservoirs to capture that water before it made it to the public one, that would (could) be pretty detrimental to a large number of people.

Most likely he was sacrificing his "liberty" by being a complete *******. There's always far more to a story like than what is reported. He's probably serving time for contempt of court.

Also, WTF kind of bias **** for a source is that?!?! That is probably most biased site that I've ever had the displeasure of visiting.

This "story" is looking more and more like complete BS.

Update: I can't find a single source that doesn't come from some biased rant/agenda site.

[Hum]

z0phi3l, on 10 August 2012 - 14:29, said:

Well all you really own is the top foot or so of your property, anything past that belongs to the government, hence why you have no say if they come drilling on your property

That oil is all mine mine mine !

[KingCracker]

z0phi3l, on 10 August 2012 - 14:29, said:

Well all you really own is the top foot or so of your property, anything past that belongs to the government, hence why you have no say if they come drilling on your property

That's right, you can own the property but someone else can own the mineral rights. Would suck to own some land then all the sudden people come in and start digging away, its happened though.

[FlintyV]

Quote

"We as Americans, we need to stand on our constitutional rights, on our rights as citizens and hang tough. This is a good country, we’ll prevail,” he said.

There's a right to collect water?

[Hum]

FlintyV, on 10 August 2012 - 15:57, said:

There's a right to collect water?

That would fall under 'certain unalienable rights' -- as in human survival.