Property Rights & Land issues

The continuing war against Tobacco farmers and smoking can no longer be tolerated by rural Ontario Landowners. Your governments escalating attack against personal freedoms, choice and our ability to earn a livelihood from legal crops is an affront to justice and democracy.

Reaction to the National Animal Identification System is shining a light on a growing problem that independent producers believe is threatening the entire livestock industry. Vertical marketing practices in the meat processing industry, combined with the industrys access to, and influence on, the Department of Agriculture and Congress, has the small producer against the ropes. The NAIS may be the final blow that puts independent ranchers and small farmers down for the count.

The United States of America is founded on the principles that "just government" power arises from "the consent of the governed;" that government is instituted to secure the "unalienable rights" to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Almost since its inception, government has tried to escape from the limitations of power imposed by the "consent of the governed."

It's unfortunate for property owners that the battle for the right to own and control their land has fallen on the shrugging shoulders of Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA). The Senator is Chairman of the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee, which will decide the fate of the Property Rights Protection Act, (S.1313). That's why the bill's future doesn't look promising.

The Southern Appalachian Biosphere Reserve (SAMAB) began in the 1970s when UNESCO recognized the 571,000-acre Great Smoky Mountains National Park as a site worthy to be included in its growing global network of Biosphere Reserves. Neither Congress, nor the legislatures of either affected state, reviewed, debated, or approved the designation.

The Founding Convention of the Ontario Landowners Association (OLA) took place in Belleville on Saturday, February 25th.

One hundred and forty delegates representing 24 counties gathered in the Legion Hall to ratify the constitution of the organization which, scarcely three years ago, had erupted on to the scene as a single county entity, The Lanark Landowners Association, with the basic goal of preserving and protecting the rights of property owners.

A letter signed by 85 major national and state policy organizations was delivered to Senators on the Environment and Public Works Committee. The letter warns Senators that any Endangered Species Act reform effort must include strong private property rights protections. The coalition letter was spearheaded by The National Center for Public Policy Research.

Government is to be feared because it has the power to enforce its will on its citizens. It has guns. It has jails. It has money. The average citizen lacks all of these, making it difficult to fight back. The ballot box and the court of public opinion are about our only weapons. Yet, government has grown so large, so distant from the voters, that it frankly fears little from either.

Imagine for a moment that you have just saved up enough money to purchase some land and a home of your own. This land and the house arent in the best shape, but you know with hard work and years of effort you can make it into something beautiful.

Finally a politician who has the courage to do what is RIGHT.

Why are rural landowners under attack? Why do we need property rights entrenched in our Constitution? Here is the Liberal governments plan and strategy to attack rural landowners and their economy. TAKING our land-For their use.

The federal government is launching a National Animal Identification System that will, by 2009, require that every agricultural animal in the nation be equipped with an identification device through which its movement can be traced from birth to slaughter. At the moment, the program is voluntary; by 2009, non-compliance can result in fines of up to $1,000 per day.

Eminent domain occurs when government takes private property. The Constitution requires that government pay "just compensation" to the owner when eminent domain is exercised.

A town-hall meeting will be held at the Fenelon Township Community Centre, Cambray, Ontario on Sunday, January 8th, 2006 at 1 p.m.

The meeting is open to all residents of the City of Kawartha Lakes, and will be of particular interest to residents of the Carden plain, which covers parts of the former townships of Carden, Bexley, Eldon and Laxton, in the City's north end.

Lester Holmes' weathered face, with its deep lines and hardened features, betrays his occupation.

He's a dairy farmer.

For years he's toiled rain or shine on his 800-acre farm outside Winchester, looking after a herd of 50 cows. So have his children, Dereck, Warren, Clinton and Kelly. 

Holmes says government regulations have made it difficult to support his family.

The first actions of the newly created Ontario Landowners Association are on Wednesday December 14, 2005. Major property rights rallies will be held in Woodstock and Ottawa.

Stop the Destruction convoys comprised of tractors and other vehicles will enter the 400 series highways in the morning of Dec 14 and proceed to their destination points. The rallies will converge at 11:00 am in Ottawas central experimental farm and others sites (TBA).

The American dream that has motivated generations is the hope of owning a home, a sanctuary where the family is safe, and the future secure. Millions of people who have scrimped and saved to realize this dream, are now faced with a nightmare, as sustainable development is imposed upon them.

In the United States of America, where private property was considered to be sacred by the founders, and where the right to private property is guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment, your private property is not in jeopardy - unless: (1) your property lies within a municipality; (2) your property lies within a county; or, (3) your property lies within federal land.

"Sustainable Development" is a term used to justify new policies that, inevitably, erode private property rights. Proponents of sustainable development are convinced that the collective benefits of these policies far outweigh the value of any individuals private property rights that may be lost. Apparently, most Americans are willing to accept this reasoning.

The nation remains outraged over the Supreme Court’s Kelo Vs New London, CT decision, which ruled that local governments can evict homeowners and demolish their homes to make way for wealthy, politically connected developers who promise to use the property to funnel money into government coffers under the excuse of community development. Polls show that 89% of citizens in Connecticut (where the Kelo case was born) fear the use of Eminent Domain and want it stopped. Justice Sandra Day O”Conner has called the decision by her colleagues “pretty scary

In typical fashion the federal government is using a real disaster to scare us into giving it more power in case an unrelated, perhaps man-made (terrorist-related), disaster might possibly occur. President Bush has announced that he wants to federalize emergency responses. When does it stop?

In response to the growing abuse from the Lanark, Leeds & Grenville Health Unit regarding farmers markets, the united landowners and farmers markets have scheduled a Thanksgiving Farmers Rally. After a year of intimidating letters, intrusive and heavy handed inspections, stupid edicts and excessive fines deemed educational. The farmers markets have harvested a cornucopia of bureaucratic incompetence and injustice. This horn of plenty is full, and will be emptied with the determination and resolve of the community.

Endangered Species Act (ESA) is the worst, most destructive, and most powerful law ever to come out of Congress (with the possible exception of the federal income tax law). For 32 years the ESA has robbed property owners of their land; killed The jobs; destroyed whole industries, and created a government tyranny that would have had our founding fathers in the trenches, locked and loaded.

Thunderstorms were forecast for most of Northern Kentucky last Saturday. The temperature was in the 90s and the humidity was dripping. At a little restaurant at an exit off I-75, about 40 miles South of Cincinnati, people began to assemble from across the state. A businessman from Louisville, another from Lexington, an elderly couple from downstate, and, by noon, more than 20 leaders of a statewide coalition called Take Back Kentucky, settled in, to do the business of a great nation.

By John Lawrence
Saturday, August 13, 2005

Just recently, Oshawa city council passed a bylaw known as an "anti-bunker" bylaw. It is meant to prevent organized crime groups from moving into the city and setting up shop. I have never, well almost never, heard of anything so blatantly stupid. While on the surface the law seems practical, it is a clear violation of the rights of the homeowner.

Justice John Paul Stevens. Justice Anthony Kennedy. Justice David Souter. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Justice Stephen Breyer.

These four men and one woman have ruled that the United States Constitution truly is a meaningless document. Their ruling in the Kelo case declared that Americans own nothing.

It began in 1994. All the attention was focused on the new WTO, emerging from the Uruguay round of GATT negotiations. Little attention was paid to the Summit of the Americas meeting in Miami. The assembled ministers agreed to create a Free Trade Agreement of the Americas, and that it would be completed by January, 2005, and would enter into force by December, 2005.

Washington, D.C.--Today, the American Policy Center joined several organizations concerned with property rights to help form "Property Rights First!," a coalition designed to push property rights to the center of the debate over the Endangered Species Act.  APC is warning that draft legislation released by Congressman Richard Pombo (R-CA) titled "The Threatened and Endangered Species Recovery Act of 2005" (TESRA 2005) would do more harm than good to American property owners.  The Center has dubbed Pombos draft bill "Kelo II," as it represents a massive sellout to landowners.

"Im from the government; Im here to help," is a phrase that should raise warning flags for individuals and for elected officials in every community. But what is the reaction when a private, not-for-profit foundation appears, and says "we want to help improve your town."

This is how it begins. In 2002, the Magi Foundation formed the Pacific Partnership to "preserve and develop Old Town Pacific." Pacific, Missouri is a small town of about 6,000 people (5.4 square miles), situated southwest of St. Louis. The project has now grown to encompass 154 square miles, crossing into three counties, into a "sustainable community" known as the Pacific Ring.

By Alexander Rubin
Thursday, July 7, 2005

In the true spirit of Americas Independence Day, the 4th of July saw battle joined as homeowners, concerned citizens and upholders of the American constitution from all sides of the political spectrum joined forces to defend the now threatened 5th amendment and to protect hard-earned property from municipal governments recently accorded sweeping new powers of eminent domain.

The Supreme Courts decision on Kelo vs. City of New London, erases the principle of private property from 200 years of American history. There can be no question that the founders intended private property to be secure from the arbitrary reach of government. The Constitution sets forth the legitimate purposes for which the government may own property (Article I, Section 8), and it stipulates the process by which private property must be acquired. Moreover, the Fifth Amendment requires that just compensation be paid, when private property is taken for public use.

I dont think that I would be too off the mark if I said the Founding Fathers and their compatriots would have stormed the Supreme Court Building, torches and pitchforks in hand, looking for the five justices who championed the Kelo v. City of New London ruling. I have no doubt they would have found the courts decision tyrannical, the ruling more consistent with the court of the King than those charged with upholding the Constitution of free men.

Put yourself in the homeowners shoes. You buy a home for your family. Perhaps its even handed down from your father or grandfather. Its a place you can afford in a neighborhood you like. The children have made friends. You intend to stay for the rest of your life.

As you plant your garden, landscape the yard, put up a swing set for the kids, and mold your land into a home, unknown to you, certain city officials are meeting around a table with developers. In front of them are maps, plats and photographs of your home. They talk of dollars big dollars. Tax revenues for the city, huge profits for the developer. A shopping center with all the trimmings begins to take shape. Youre not asked for input or permission. Youre not even notified until the whole project is finalized and the only minor detail is to get rid of you.

John Prescott, Deputy Prime Minister, told the House of Commons that 10,000 homes would be demolished in a $2 billion program to create "sustainable communities." This massive "Pathfinder" program has been adopted to transform the nation into sustainable communities, a major step toward compliance with goal seven of the U.N.s Millennium Development Goals, and further implementation of the U.N.s Agenda 21.

That little bell that just went off in your head this week is a warning you had better heed& When eminent domain becomes absolute dominion, as it just has, not a single citizen is safe from the insatiable greed of its government.

Rural Issues and Farming

The LLA has learned that the Lanark, Leeds & Grenville Health unit has requested and will receive police participation during theirİraids on the Perth & Carleton Place Farmers markets this Saturday (September 24).

Whileİthe health unit has stated they seek dialogue on one hand andİ there is a task force studying the extension of the farm gate salesİto farmers markets: on the other hand they set out to intimidate farmers and vendors. The doublespeak and double standards of the health unit is further evidence of unaccountablity and incompetence.

The following letter was distributed by the Health unit to local Farm Markets and their vendors. It is now appropriate to sell bubblegum, canned pop and potato chips, at farm markets; but not farm fresheggs, apple cider,  meat, poultry, or dairy products, unless they are commercially pre-packaged. A demonstration against this bureacratic stupidity and the recent charges laid in Gannanoque against market vendors will take place on Saturday September 10 at the Perth Farmers Market (Crystal Palace, downtown Perth) between 8:00 and noon.

On September 7, 2005 the landowners will once again demonstrate our opposition to injustice. In an effort to discredit farmers and deflect the bureaucracys incompetence the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) has charged two farmers and Landowners while protecting their property. These frivolous charges are a bureaucratic abuse of the legal system. John Vanderspank has been charged with hunting groundhogs, hunting deer without a license and transferring deer removal authorizations.

The City of Ottawa has recently designated 650 acres of private land as protected wetlands. The City does not intend to compensate the private landowners for the loss of use or enjoyment, or the loss of monetary value resulting from this act. This designation amounts to theft of private land for the publics benefit.

Due to the continued success and momentum against excessive government intrusion and over regulation of private rural landowners; The Lanark Landowners Association (LLA) has received numerous requests from rural groups and people wishing to join the Rural Revolution.

At 10:00 AM on Tuesday April 19, 2005, a Hearing initiated by Hal MacGregor was convened by the Animal Care Review Board of the Ontario Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services at the Montague Municipal Hall near Smiths Falls, Ontario under the Chairmanship of a Mr. Hawkins.

The latest gathering of The Rural Revolution , Stop the Destruction Convoy, showed up at Queen's park on February 1^st. This group is making its way to Prescott, Ontario, where they plan to shut the International bridge on Friday.

It is the ongoing and growing campaign against the Ontario government's laws and policies that are strangling the small farmer.
Complete Story...

All Four One - Rural Revolution: Prescott demonstration & Tillsonburg Convoy Randy Hillier
Friday, January 28, 2005
On Monday January 31 2005, a tractor convoy will leave Tillsonburg Ontario. Leaving from the tobacco marketing board office at approx. 8: 00 am and taking Highway 2 en route to Prescott Ontario.

The convoy will stop at Queens Park on Tuesday February 1, to discuss the problems facing rural Ontario, with members of the Ontario legislature. The Itinerary is enclosed below.
Complete Story...

All Four One - Rural Revolution: Stop the Destruction Convoy Randy Hillier
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
 Due to the overwhelming success and explosive growth in support and participation in the Rural revolution; the " Stop the destruction Convoy " schedule has been altered.
Complete Story...

'Rural revolution' takes to the road Andy Lloyd, Ottawa Citizen
Monday, January 24, 2005
TILLSONBURG, Ont. - It was 5:30 a.m. when the bus came to an abrupt stop outside the darkened windows of the Putnam Community Centre, just east of Ingersoll, Ont.
A golden sliver of light was growing on the horizon, silhouetting the grain silos that dot the landscape. A regiment of 36 people, some farmers and some rural residents, disembarked from the bus they had boarded in Carleton Place exactly eight hours earlier. They had travelled through the night on a cramped coach to take part in the latest incarnation of the "rural revolution," a cause championed by the Lanark Land Owners' Association to which they belong.
Complete Story...

Property tax crisis for horse farms Leslie Brooks & Jim Waechter, Chairs of ARE Committee re. Taxation of Horse Farms
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
On August 18, 2004, the Association of Riding Establishments of Ontario formed a committee to address the property tax issues surrounding horse farms and riding establishments. In the absence of clear policy direction or due regard for the largely agricultural nature of the land use, Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) is arbitrarily assessing riding establishments in their entirety as commercial rather than agricultural. This results in an increase in property taxes from, depending on the municipality, an agricultural rate of 0.3% to a commercial rate of 4%, an increase in excess of 1300%. The financial impact is so severe that some horse barns have already gone out of business and many others are sure to follow.
Complete Story...

Stop the Destruction Convoy by Randy Hillier, President, Lanark Landowners Association
Monday January 10, 2005
On January 3, 2005 the united rural landowners of Ontario delivered a plea for justice to your offices. As with all our previous pleas and requests the only response has been silence. Historically your government responds only to civil disobedience and is deaf and mute to requests for justice. January 14 is the deadline for your response and timeline to enact our solutions.
Complete Story...

Rural Revolution Sweeps South by Randy Hillier, President, Lanark Landowners Association
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
The next stage of the rural revolution is set for Wednesday January 5 in Tilsonburg, Ontario, spearheaded by Ontario tobacco Farmers. Tobacco farmers will be joined by groups from across Ontario including; The Lanark Landowners, the Ontario Cream Producers Association, The Deer & Elk Farmers association, Ontario Property & Environmental Rights Alliance, Grey (county) Democracy & Growth.
Complete Story...

ADV:

Place Your Ad Here!