This is an example of how a news story can be presented in such a way as to completely obscure the facts. Read this story and form an opinion, then come back and read my explanation: ------------------Have you read it? OK!------------------------- I was shocked, it seemed at best an overreach and worst something downright conspiratorial so I had to research this more. He deserves jail. He probably deserves MORE jail and a much larger fine than what he was given. He isnt just using a rain barrel to collect water from his roof. Thats perfectly legal in Oregon. What hes doing is so severe that it could conceivable damage the Big Butte river and the local environment. He is the reason they have such laws. Hes constructed his own little private lake by building a 20 foot tall earthen dam, stocked with fish and a boat dock. Hes been cited for this in the past and plead guilty. This dispute has been going on since 2008 but he hasnt drained the thing and is now playing legal games in regards to the technical ownership of the land. He claims that the land is now owned by some fishing club or something, but in truth he lives on the land and maintains it so legal ownership is irrelevant. Hes a knucklehead, perhaps not unlike Mr. Bundy in Nevada. He claims that the water has been used in the past by fire fighters to draft from, if thats the case he should have applied for the right permits to keep his PLAYTHING, but he didnt so it has to be drained. He has THREE ponds, the largest of which is one acre and thirteen feet deep in the middle. An acre of water 1 foot deep is 43,560 gallons. His pond probably isnt exactly one acre and almost certainly not consistently 13 feet deep, but it wouldnt be an exaggeration to say that his three ponds combined contain well over half a million gallons of water that rightfully belong to the general public. Hes STEALING community water, its because of guys like this that we have water rights laws. He doesnt care that people downstream pull their drinking water from the Big Butte, he wants his artificial fishing hole.
Posted on: Mon, 30 Jun 2014 09:36:11 +0000
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