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For specific examples of county ordinances infringing on private property rights please consider the video I produced from Richland County SC www.libvp.com

In Response to left hand Column Editorials NW AR Times 12/8 &12/10/05

John Lennon & Communism

In the past I have been impressed with the editors who have put together this column. But devoting space to John Lennon’s song "Imagine" in memory of his death while nary a word about the many that died at Pearl Harbor was a mistake. But I will say having his words on paper to analyze and discuss was valuable. This song was extant in my youth so its melody is very familiar. Yet amazingly enough I never focused on the words. So since you brought it up let’s imagine or better yet consider actual situations which mirror his questions. "Imagine there’s no heaven, It’s easy if you try. No hell below us, Above us only sky. Imagine all the people living for today…"

We don’t have to imagine such a world just walk history’s brief path back over the last 80 or so years and look closely at the experience of those who lived under the "utopian" boot of communism and fascism. Their experience was a government that sought to remove all vestiges of honor and respect for transcendent truth. What was the result? Public official corruption along with disintegrating private morals. The use of heavy-handed authoritarianism became the rule. Worker output plummeted along with their morale as most voluntary social structures (family and community) collapsed. People just "living for today" correlated with increasing alcohol and drug use. Any compulsion to do right by your neighbor, employer, or government is lost when my only motivation is self-centered.

Remove God, his revealed word, hope for eternal blessings and you have effectively dislodged enlivening factors for successful personal, social, and corporate life. The rest of the quoted song sings the praises of Communism and Socialism. How have those ideologies worked out in real life experience? Are France and modern Europe examples of where we should be headed as a nation? I think not.

Now to the Times Editorial of 12-10-05.

Help my thinking since you headlined your column "Communism?" what is communism to you? What does it look like in theory and reality?

I think I understand why no one person accepted credit for these Saturday ramblings. Perhaps your Christmas party went too late and the copy boys were left to write this column. Journalistically it should be embarrassing to state "Zoning fears strain credibility". Was any research done into these assertions? Did you all do any investigation of the PARA task force recommendation and what the opponents are contending?

As for most of us PARA opponents, we believe in limited government period! We look to our nation’s founding documents and the writings of those who magnificently labored to produce the blueprint for the world’s best hope for mankind’s governance. We understand from whence we came and we also can see what the rest of the world looks like. Doesn’t an ability to discern historical precedents have a place in editorial writ? We accept the role and restrictions of our Representative Republic. Ours is not top down control but power emanating from the people’s private property rights and therein-specific controls on the government to keep them from violating integral rights. The AR. State Constitution notes private property rights are before other rights.

My primary question is: "Where’s the Beef?" Wendy’s restaurant gave us that visualization in the 1970’s. I am unable to find any examples of developers run wild in Washington County, or services and infrastructure stretched to the breaking point. You state "…despite the grave damage that inaction likely means to the people’s interest,…" then ramble on about attention to non-consequential concerns such as sporting events. How can you put together the words "grave damage" and "inaction likely" in the same sentence? Are we to infer New Orleans pre-Katrina is comparable to Washington County? Again, where’s the beef? You go on to embarrass your paper, editorial acumen, and the concerned county residents by intimating we are even the least bit concerned by the UA sports program. The folks that pay the bills for the Hogs by enlarge are city residents with minimal needs beyond the yard care service coming out once a week and are generally not owners of rural property. We rural folks have too many chores to do to be wasting time thinking about sports beyond a passing glance. I only consider the sports page briefly so I can access a conversation starter with citified folks who think eggs and milk come from factories.

Where’s the beef in your pointing to the PARA ordinance suggesting "handful of measures designed to give unincorporated areas a more powerful voice"? I do not see such in the PARA recommendations. Well paid County Judge Jerry Hunton (that hard-working guy) rambled about this on Thursday but we had no idea what he was talking about. What we do know is Washington County has been moving along fine. Except some cities who are over-extending by proclaiming control over "growth areas" and diminishing land owner’s exercise of private property rights.

Developments are not strangling us. Yes, change in the make-up of the county’s rural areas is sad but progress inheritantly will be somewhat uncomfortable. As growing pains to youth.

Paul Davis had it right. "The laws to protect us are already present. We do not need more layering."

PARA is the camel with its nose under the tent and soon completely inside.

PARA insights didn’t appear unaided out of the machinations of these 44 task force members. The blue print and fingerprints of these ideas are showing up all over this nation. Similar plans have been enacted and the consequences are available for the investigative mind to consider. Did any one on the editorial staff actually interview some of us that are concerned with the PARA recommendations? Have you all looked into the facts and evidence behind our assertions? Or is the broad brush of editorial opinion able too sufficiently obscure so you can confidently go on without full knowledge and understanding? If you think this is just a knee jerk response you have not listened to our concerns or investigated our claims.

Why is Joe Citizen angry? Because we understand when rights become privileges, freedom and liberty, which this nation was founded on, become scarce. As Paul Davis noted, "you add laws and they become very difficult to remove."

We see the PARA groups’ work as a copy from a script with changes here and there. We can point to similar plans that have been enacted and what the negative consequences have been. We are not inventing the wheel here. This is top down control over property rights. Monopolies and perpetuities are specifically prohibited in the AR State Constitution. To use governmental power to put land into conservation areas and conservation easements violates that provision.

Quarries and strip clubs are facts of life. The quarry owner has responsibilities outlined in law for his property. I would not be thrilled by one next door but I cannot infringe on his rights and expect mine to remain intact. The strip club will not survive in the rural setting as we are mostly grounded in Biblical values and would not fund the owner’s greed sufficiently for them to remain open. You need a city and a populace that is largely without private property ownership or equity concerns along with excess time and money and moral character no longer inviolate to keep a strip club open.

Just because a resident complains doesn’t mean a JP must act. JP’s need to do homework to find and enforce the extant laws or say to the complainant that they are wrong for wanting to infringe on another’s rights. Tough work for a public representative especially in an election year!

Show us the beef!

Where are all the dire problems acting as the springboard for new ordinances?

Government, give an inch they’ll take a mile.

Timothy R Smith

www.libvp.com 527-2782 home 479-761-3560 work

 

 

 

 

Times Editorial : Imagine

— John Lennon, October 9, 1940 December 8, 1980

Posted on Thursday, December 8, 2005

Imagine there’s no heaven It’s easy if you try No hell below us Above us only sky Imagine all the people living for today... Imagine there’s no countries It isn’t hard to do Nothing to kill or die for

No religion too Imagine all the people living life in peace... You may say I’m a dreamer but I’m not the only one I hope some day you’ll join us And the world will be as one. Imagine no possesions I wonder if you can No need for greed or hunger A brotherhood of man Imagine all the people Sharing all the world... You may say I’m a dreamer but I’m not the only one I hope some day you’ll join us And the world will live as one.

Times Editorial : Communism?

Northwest Arkansas Times

Posted on Saturday, December 10, 2005

The Washington County Quorum Court has now begun considering the results of

months of serious study by the Protecting Agriculture and Rural Areas Task Force. As the Times noted two months ago, PARA’s suggestions are the real deal. Rules regarding zoning, protecting agricultural areas, land use and others are among the proposals. Before PARA delivered its final report to the JP’s, though, a final public listening session took place Monday night at the county courthouse. Almost 100 residents (plenty by government standards) came to speak their piece. And they spoke passionately in defense of the do-nothing stance. Wayne Fincher, lieutenant commander of the Militia of Washington County: "I’m not programmed to let someone come on my property and tell me what to do with it.... Everything our soldiers have died for is wrapped up in the right to own a piece of property. Are you going to obey our Constitution or obey the Communist Party? Paul Davis, a county resident:" By your very existence, you have begun a war against property owners in the unincorporated areas of the county. As citizens, you should know what you are doing is wrong. "What if county residents decide to ignore the problem, agree to do nothing, and pat themselves on the back for keeping Big Brother from infringing any further into our lives? After all, we’re all overtaxed and dearly annoyed by government at all levels already. Surely everyone agrees that increased county intervention can only mean a loss of property rights and increased taxes, among other complications. Therefore, despite the grave damage that inaction likely means to the people’s interest, let’s drop all these complicated suggestions like a hot potato. Besides, doing nothing has the added interest of freeing up extra time to discuss really important issues, like where Mitch Mustain may end up playing college ball, or those freezing temperatures outdoors. On the other hand... Everyone could come to their senses and realize that County Judge Jerry Hunton and Co. aren’t trying to overthrow society as we know it and establish a socialist state by implementing a handful of measures designed to give unincorporated areas a more powerful voice in opposing nuisance developments. If anything, Hunton is trying to protect the current residents of the county by protecting rural areas before they become ruined with untamed growth." We’re not going to allow anything to be placed on citizens that is harmful to them, "Hunton told the Times on Wednesday." We’re not going to take away their property rights. " Indeed, we can’t see the Quorum Court turning anything the PARA group offers up into an example of strong-arm government tactics. In fact, whatever becomes law might only be strong enough to keep the most egregious of violators from harming the majority’s sensibilities. The PARA Task Force represents an important first step in the right direction, and if the JPs believe in its fundamental purpose for being (to manage the county’s needs), then they must find some way to accommodate the intent behind the suggestions headed their way. They must — or else the comments of Angry Joe Citizen Monday night will win out. And good public officials who believe in protecting people who have made lifetime investments in property will see the usefulness in this, and stand up for the group’s work. It seems many rural residents hate the idea of government intervention anywhere. But, what would be their opinion if a quarry or a strip club suddenly began operations next door to their homes? Would that be a celebration of their property rights, or would they look to county officials for help? Many residents have done so in the past, only to face the realization that the county can’t do anything about the problem. Should the task force’s efforts fail, we hope those complaining the loudest keep quiet should such a development ever border their property. The PARA Task Force hasn’t begun a war against property owners. It has no interest in heaping communist propaganda onto the minds of county residents. They’re searching for moderation. A growing county needs to have reasonable measures in place that give the public some ability to address land-use proposals that don’t work with their surroundings. That doesn’t exist now, but it…

(The ending was missing from the website)

The goofiness of the following defied response:

IN FOCUS : The forces of darkness?

Don Elkins done@nwarktimes.com

Posted on Friday, December 9, 2005

 

So, my snow day probably didn’t turn out as nice as yours. I didn’t get to stay home, but the kids had the day off. I didn’t go shopping, but I’m pretty certain someone else at home may have had that opportunity. Perhaps that dusting of snow has left my brain a little more scrambled than usual. I’m wracking my pathetic excuse for gray matter trying to figure out the trouble that seems to have spread like wildfire through the rural parts of Washington County. Let me recount how the story unfolded for me, and perhaps you’ll have a different version, and maybe those of you who like to write letters as a hobby will take the liberty of taking me to school on this topic.

First, I read about the "PARA" task force, which ostensibly has the task of examining the rural part of the county with an eye toward coming up with policies intended to manage rapid growth. After all, how many subdivisions do we have outside Fayetteville, and for that matter, outside Bentonville farther north? I can’t pick up a paper without reading more about the annexation battles between Centerton and Bentonville, without reading more about usage fees and lagging water and sewer services. It barely drew a yawn from me when I first heard about it because the story seemed so matter-of-fact. Of course, who would disagree with managed growth and policies aimed at providing basic services to those who live in the hinterland?

Ah, but not so fast — next thing I know, local gadfly Don Bright has paid a local television station a visit to talk about why he decided to whip up his very own "cease and desist" order aimed at that task force and the Quorum Court. Seems Bright and others consider the PARA idea a threat to the very concept of property ownership in America, or so he told a television news crew.

Generally, when I hear of people whipping up their very own court orders or making citizens arrests or claiming they have the legal power to avoid paying the IRS anything, I run for the hills (or rural areas) because in my mind that tends to raise a red flag about that particular person’s "stability" — you can interpret that any way you’d like. I’ve spent a good deal of time in the world of talk radio, and have met my share of people with like ideas, and I can honestly say most of them ended up behind bars or facing federal legal action. That does not, however, make those people necessarily wrong when they choose sides on any given issue — just highly suspect.

It also doesn’t necessarily make Bright wrong on the issue.

The next thing I know, a fine color photograph of a crowd of people crammed into a public meeting stared up at me from the printed pages of this publication. I learned that these people did not appreciate the PARA group, and didn’t want the Quorum Court to interfere with their property rights in any way.

They complain that the county didn’t allow any of the farmers and rural residents any representation on the task force. They complain that the county wants to violate rural property rights by buying easements and enforcing green space rules. In short, they told the task force and reporters that they’d decided to move into the rural parts of the county to have some space, to get away from all the rules faced by "city dwellers."

OK, so far, I can follow that, and can understand those concerns. Why not? Who doesn’t want to get away from the hustle and bustle of the college-town "ghetto"?

But things started getting really weird after that. I wanted to understand, but the more I started to listen, the stranger the one-way discourse became.

Some of those opposing PARA want to say the group has ties to nefarious (communist?) organizations, to the United Nations (oooooh!) and to people who just simply don’t believe in private property, the American way of life or any kind of freedom.

Some of those opposing PARA say their managed growth opponents have joined a pre-designed, international conspiracy, run by the forces of darkness. Whispers have started, conspiracy theories hatched... it all seems so strange. Perhaps those infamous" black helicopters" might soon land behind someone’s farm, with troops from Belgium or France dressed as Ninjas storming the barn to plant the flag of the European Union near the horses!

My point? Everyone in America has a good reason to worry about private property rights. Many felt alarmed by the Supreme Court decision this year allowing greater eminent domain powers to local governments with an interest in expanding the business community. That never seemed like a wise decision. But bringing in members of the "militia" and screaming about international conspiracies to take over rural Washington County seem a tad over-the-top to many of us.

What’s worse?

Those pointing to non-existent monsters under the bed don’t really do too much to further their side of what should be a logical and sane discussion of property rights — and yes, the future of development — in the place we live.

Like it or not, that development will come, and more of those living in rural areas close to the cities will sell property for a decent windfall, and move someplace else. That doesn’t mean those living in the outlying areas need to go without basic services, and it doesn’t mean the Quorum Court has deep dark motives for trying to manage the public’s business — something you might imagine the judges feel a charge to successfully accomplish.

I’m not sure who has the right side of this issue — but trying to scare people with overheated rhetoric will surely make it much easier for people to hear only one side of the issue.

Don Elkins is lead anchor at KNWA-TV in Fayetteville. His column appears on Fridays.

 

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Last updated: September 15, 2006.