Liberty
Matters News Service
December 17, 2007
Homes Along Border Not So Secure
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said border landowners have thirty days to decide if they will allow federal agents onto their property to survey for the border fence. After that, the government will get a court order to gain access. "The door is still open to talk, but it's not open for endless talk," Chertoff said. He added, "We won't pay more than market price for the land." The administration (under pressure to enforce immigration laws) plans to complete 370 miles of border fencing by the end of 2008, as well as 300 miles of vehicle barriers. "I tell you, on this one issue… everybody is against the border fence," said Juan D. Salinas, Hidalgo Texas County Judge. "It's a disappointment that again the Department of Homeland Security is not listening to local taxpayers," he continued. The border fence is supposed to restrict illegal access to the U.S. from the Pacific Ocean to Texas. But there is a lot of resistance from Texans who are reluctant to allow the fence to cut off access to the Rio Grande, the only source of fresh water. Business groups also oppose it, charging the fence would delay cross-border traffic that is essential for local economies. Ten percent of Texans contacted refused to allow access to their land. Chertoff remarked the objections stem from "the problem of what we sometimes call 'not in my backyard.'"
Border Issue Moves Into Landowner's
Yards
It's Not Our Money
The U.S. Forest Service, which hasn't enough money to meet its obligations, recently spent $600,000 on new toys for its agents. The Service bought the "Electronic Control Devices," better known as Tasers, without any training program, rules for use or even a written explanation as to why the devices are needed. The Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) obtained USFS records under the Freedom of Information Act that showed the Service bought 700 weapons and "related accessories" from Aardvark Tactical, Inc. That means that each USFS special agent and law enforcement officer will be packing an $857 human control device. Following another year of calamitous forest fires, the Forest Service has a quarter-billion dollar deficit and can't fund necessary programs. There is not enough money left to draw up new timber sales, although at the rate the forests are burning there may not be much timber left. "There must have been a fire sale on Tasers, otherwise why would an agency buy 700 of them without a program, protocol or need?" asked PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch. Citing an increase in criminal activity in the national forests, Forest Service Director of Law Enforcement, John Twiss said in October that the Tasers would give officers an option short of deadly force. But Ruch said Forest Service officers rarely use deadly force, and how effective would they be against armed drug smugglers anyway?
Cash Starved Forest Service Spends
$600,000 to Buy Tasers
The Polar Bears Are Cool, Thank You
In their never-ending efforts to fan the flames of global warming, Al Gore followers are warning that polar bears could starve and die if their frozen habitat continues to melt away. Many people have been convinced that within a few years the polar bear will have gone the way of the Dodo Bird and are flocking to the Arctic to have a look before it's too late. The little town of Churchill, Manitoba is reaping the benefits of the farce as wealthy tourists pack the guesthouses to view the 1,000 or so bears that "lollop around for months on the shore." Environmentalists and climatologists throng to Churchill as well, and gloomily predict disaster. "If we lose the sea ice, we're going to lose the bears," says Dr. Andrew, who serves on Polar Bears International scientific advisory council. The true believers cite as proof of their prophecy a picture showing two bears stranded on a melting ice floe in mid-winter. Trouble is, the picture was taken in summer. Dennis Compayre, a Churchill native, thinks the "experts" are full of hops. "They say the numbers [of polar bears] are down from 1,200 to around 900, but I think I know as much about polar bears as anyone and I tell you there are as many bears here now as there were when I was a kid. I think climate change is happening, but as far as the polar bear disappearing is concerned, I have never been more convinced that this is just scaremongering," Compayre continued.
Polar Bears on the Brink? Don't You Believe It
Judge Orders New York to Cease Payments
Acting Supreme Court Judge Timothy J. Walker has dropped a lump of coal in Adirondack communities' stockings this Christmas. In response to a lawsuit by John C. Dillenburg III, supervisor of the town of Arkwright, Judge Walker "enjoined" the state of New York from "paying taxes and /or PILOTs (Payments in Lieu of Taxes) on state-owned land to counties, municipalities, school districts, or special districts while not making payments on state-owned land situated elsewhere in New York State." In his decision, Walker said the current land taxation system is a "Hodge Podge of statutory provisions devoid of any consistent rationale for taxation." Attorney Michael Bobseine said the town of Arkwright had been trying to get some relief from the "Rube-Goldbergian [tax] system for some time. We came back this third time and the state told us we could not ask just for relief - it's all or nothing." The Adirondack Council is outraged at the loss of tax payment, which is about $170 million for the total forest preserve. Towns within the boundaries of the park would not survive without the state's tax payments, officials fear. "It would put an insurmountable burden on the private landowners in the park," said Noel Merrihew III, chairman of the Essex County Board of Supervisors. "The Attorney General's office has appealed the decision," Bobseine said. "We encouraged the Attorney General to appeal," said John Sheehan, spokesman for the Adirondack Council. "Certainly we don't want to see the chair pulled out from the economy of towns in the park."