Oregon man jailed for collecting rainwater

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ChesusRice

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beenthere said:
No not at all, navigable waters are waters deep enough and wide enough for navigation by the public.
Private ponds or lakes that are not part of a navigable river are not subject to this federal law.
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A Jackson County man with a 10-year history of illegally diverting water with homemade dams was sentenced this week to 30 days in jail and fined $1,500.

Gary A. Harrington was convicted earlier this month of nine counts of unauthorized water use. Under Oregon law, all water is publicly owned and a permit is required to divert or store it for personal use.

State Water Resources Department officials said Harrington has three dams across channels that cross his property outside of Medford and feed into Big Butte Creek. The creek is a tributary of the Rogue River.

Two of the dams stand about 10 feet high and the third is about 20 feet tall. Harrington stocked the reservoirs that formed behind the dams with trout and bluegill, built boat docks and used the ponds for fishing.

State officials estimated 40 acre-feet of water collected behind the dams, enough to fill nearly 20 Olympic-sized swimming pools. Officials are uncertain whether Harrington built the dams himself, ordered their construction, or if they were on the property when he bought it. At any rate, it is illegal to divert and store waters of the state without a permit.

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beenthere

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ChesusRice said:
A Jackson County man with a 10-year history of illegally diverting water with homemade dams was sentenced this week to 30 days in jail and fined $1,500.

Gary A. Harrington was convicted earlier this month of nine counts of unauthorized water use. Under Oregon law, all water is publicly owned and a permit is required to divert or store it for personal use.

State Water Resources Department officials said Harrington has three dams across channels that cross his property outside of Medford and feed into Big Butte Creek. The creek is a tributary of the Rogue River.

Two of the dams stand about 10 feet high and the third is about 20 feet tall. Harrington stocked the reservoirs that formed behind the dams with trout and bluegill, built boat docks and used the ponds for fishing.

State officials estimated 40 acre-feet of water collected behind the dams, enough to fill nearly 20 Olympic-sized swimming pools. Officials are uncertain whether Harrington built the dams himself, ordered their construction, or if they were on the property when he bought it. At any rate, it is illegal to divert and store waters of the state without a permit.

End of Discussion
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LMAO You can end your part of the discussion all you want, the fact of the matter is, he's not damming up navigable water, comprende?
 
OLD DUDE

OLD DUDE

Active Member
I wanna sit around a camp fire, smoke some bowls, drink some whiskey and argue politics with you guys:)
 
OLD DUDE

OLD DUDE

Active Member
I'm one of those idiots that sits in the middle and argues on the side of anything that makes common sense!! I know, I'm no fun:)
 
Samwell Seed Well

Samwell Seed Well

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to blindly follow every rule just becuase it exist is moronic. .you follow laws that make sense like dont rape or steal or kill, this law is obviously not constitutional as it infringes on his civil rights to use the reasorces of his land and prperty . .idk . . . seems silly, maybe its time to update that law
 
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beenthere

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OLD DUDE said:
I wanna sit around a camp fire, smoke some bowls, drink some whiskey and argue politics with you guys:)
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Might be hard for us to do in good ole California, camp fires in most places are against the law, the state of California owns all the fire rights! LOL
 
UncleBuck

UncleBuck

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beenthere said:
LMAO You can end your part of the discussion all you want, the fact of the matter is, he's not damming up navigable water, comprende?
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he's damming water that others have an existing claim to, beennowhere.

it seems like you never pick a fight you can actually win.
 
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ChesusRice

Well-Known Member
OLD DUDE said:
I'm one of those idiots that sits in the middle and argues on the side of anything that makes common sense!! I know, I'm no fun:)
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if you sit in the middle
You would be geographically sitting in the fire
and you are gonna get burned
but that's ok both side will enjoy your screams and add wood
 
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beenthere

New Member
UncleBuck said:
google "1876 crowfoot road, eagle point, oregon" and then shut the fuck up.
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Nice catch moron, you just gave proof that his property has NO river, streams or any other kind of tributary flowing into any of the ponds!

Where are these rivers or channels you claimed he was damming up? LOL

Learn how to use the elevation and measuring tool on Google Earth, zoom in and the proof is right in front of your face, compliments of Google Earth and the internet.

BTW, the two smaller ponds are less than 20yrs old, Google Earth confirmed that also, thanks for the info Bucky.
 
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ChesusRice

Well-Known Member
beenthere said:
Nice catch moron, you just gave proof that his property has NO river, streams or any other kind of tributary flowing into any of the ponds!

Where are these rivers or channels you claimed he was damming up? LOL

Learn how to use the elevation and measuring tool on Google Earth, zoom in and the proof is right in front of your face, compliments of Google Earth and the internet.

BTW, the two smaller ponds are less than 20yrs old, Google Earth confirmed that also, thanks for the info Bucky.
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At issue is the fact that Harrington is going to jail for 30 days for having 3 ponds on his property which he apparently fills from rainwater runoff and snow melt from a dam (designed to capture only the excess rainwater runoff) on Big Butte Creek, which happens to be on his property. The state is now apparently enforcing a 1925 law which states that you have to acquire a water right from the state of Oregon before doing that activity. Does this also mean roof runoff into rain barrels is also “illegal water” in the Bug Butte system? Apparently, yes.
 
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ChesusRice

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Yet Paul admitted the 1925 law does apply because, he said, Harrington constructed dams to block a tributary to the Big Butte, which Medford uses for its water supply.
“There are dams across channels, water channels where the water would normally flow if it were not for the dam and so those dams are stopping the water from flowing in the channel and storing it- holding it so it cannot flow downstream,” Paul told CNSNews.com.
Harrington, however, argued in court that that he is not diverting water from Big Butte Creek, but the dams capturing the rainwater and snow runoff – or “diffused water” – are on his own property and that therefore the runoff does not fall under the jurisdiction of the state water managers, nor does it not violate the 1925 act.
In 2007, a Jackson County Circuit Court judge denied Harrington’s permits and found that he had illegally “withdrawn the water at issue from appropriation other than for the City of Medford.”
According to Paul, Harrington entered a guilty plea at the time, received three years probation and was ordered to open up the water gates.
“A very short period of time following the expiration of his probation, he once again closed the gates and re-filled the reservoirs,” Paul told CNSNews.com. “So, this has been going on for some time and I think frankly the court felt that Mr. Harrington was not getting the message and decided that they’d already given him probation once and required him to open the gates and he refilled his reservoirs and it was business as usual for him, so I think the court wanted -- it felt it needed -- to give a stiffer penalty to get Mr. Harrington’s attention.”
 
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beenthere

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ChesusRice said:
At issue is the fact that Harrington is going to jail for 30 days for having 3 ponds on his property which he apparently fills from rainwater runoff and snow melt from a dam (designed to capture only the excess rainwater runoff) on Big Butte Creek, which happens to be on his property. The state is now apparently enforcing a 1925 law which states that you have to acquire a water right from the state of Oregon before doing that activity. Does this also mean roof runoff into rain barrels is also “illegal water” in the Bug Butte system? Apparently, yes.
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Here's a couple of pics of Big Butte Creek



Now here is 1876 Crowfoot Rd, Eagle Point, OR. on Google Earth
show me Big Butte Creek on his property! LMAO


This is a closeup of the two ponds with the highest elevation, where are those creeks? LOL
 
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ChesusRice

Well-Known Member
Lower pond
Approximatly quarter to one position is Dam number 1 he has it camoflauged with boulders but you can see it anyways
 
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redivider

Well-Known Member
this guy was not following the law, he was caught, and now he has to own up to his decisions.

as much as you want to get all political this is pretty simple: dude doesn't think he needs a permit... well he does... just because he doesn't agree with it doesn't mean he gets to do what he wants....

i thought neo-cons were all about personal responsibility... guy's personally responsible for his actions... time to man up...
 
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