MAN SENTENCED TO JAIL FOR COLLECTING RAIN WATER ON HIS OWN PROPERTY.

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pianotm
The TM is for Totally Magical.
32347
Is there anyone who agrees with the state on this.

Should people be incarcerated for collecting rainwater? I'm asking now because the last time I sided with a civilian against the state on this forum, I got reamed. Now, I'm only asking an opinion.
Corfaisus
"It's frustrating because - as much as Corf is otherwise an irredeemable person - his 2k/3 mapping is on point." ~ psy_wombats
7874
If everyone started storing water, how could the everyman get billed on their water consumption? It would ruin the entire economy. That's jobs lost.

Dude has a bucket. I say we let him use it.
So is he collecting rainwater, or diverting a creek he's not supposed to? The accusation seems to jump back and forth between that.

But I think it is either nefarious corporatism or excessive environmentalism guiding the city council going after the guy, especially if it is just a tailings pond (or 3) that every farm ever has (source: I live in Saskatchewan). I mean, they granted the permits, and then rescinded them, why?
pianotm
The TM is for Totally Magical.
32347
No, he's collecting rainwater. Period. At no point is he accused of diverting a creek. Sorry, this isn't the best article. No, the comments about diverting creeks and such don't relate to anything Harrington's done. That comes from a questionable 2007 claim.(I really should have linked to Huff Post's article.)

Harrington is specifically accused of illegally collecting rainwater in reservoirs on his property. He is to drain them and then turn himself in to serve a 30 day jail sentence, which he has already done.
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
Man. Some places have some stupid laws.

Just. Why. The dude has barrels in his back yard, and they've been there for 37 years.

I actually feel kind of bad for the police, who I'm guessing know the situation is beyond idiotic, but are bound to enforce an outdated law because they're not judges. The police didn't go out of their way to do this; the article says they investigated after receiving multiple complaints about it. So the real question is, which asshole neighbor felt the need to complain about this to the authorities three times until they were forced to actually look into it and enforce the stupid law? How did the neighbor even know this law existed? How long did they spend looking up obscure Oregon laws until they found some bizarre thing they could get this guy arrested for? What did this farmer really do to piss his neighbors off this badly?
nhubi
Liberté, égalité, fraternité
11099
More than likely there has been some kind of property dispute going on for a while between this poor guy and someone in the neighbourhood and they've gone and found some way to get back at him via this law. The number of obscure and outdated laws on the books of just about everywhere gives people with a grudge a way to exercise it anonymously.

Luckily in Australia not only are you allowed to collect rainwater for private use, you are encouraged to do so, but there are plenty of other bizarre and obsolete laws that allow people to infringe on others at their leisure.

Ratty524
The 524 is for 524 Stone Crabs
12986
But Tom Paul, administrator of 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.

“The law that he is actually violating is not the 1925 provision, but it’s Oregon law that says all of the water in the state of Oregon is public water and if you want to use that water, either to divert it or to store it, you have to acquire a water right from the state of Oregon before doing that activity,” Paul told CNSNews.com.


So water that could have come from miles abroad suddenly belongs to Oregon? And you can magically redirect water that falls from the sky away from public reservoirs?

Seriously, what type of backwards shit is this!?
What the actual nutbars is this madness?

Dude. It's RAIN. WATER. It falls from the sky. On EVERYONE. Why shouldn't you be allowed to collect it?

What kind of asinine law prevents that?

That's just as dumb as that law in...Florida, I think which states "No man may be seen in any kind of strapless gown". So...Having straps on it makes it ok, but if it doesn't have any, sorry, that's illegal?

Who WRITES these laws and then doesn't axe them when they clearly become outdated and stupid?
pianotm
The TM is for Totally Magical.
32347
Actually, there are now 28 states that outlaw collecting rainwater and ironically, the state where this happened is not one of them. They're complaining about the size of the reservoir he used. I read up on the previous 2007 incident. He was accused of diverting a creek. He denied it and the state dropped the water diverting charge, but still ordered him to empty the reservoirs, which he didn't.
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