| Klamath Falls Farmers Destroyed by Illegal Specis Listing Klamath Farmers and Businesses Driven to Bankruptcy - for Fish That Should Never Have Been Listed
By: Devvy
Kidd January 14, 2005
Very few things render me speechless anymore, but the press release yesterday from the Pacific Legal Foundation left me mute: "EUGENE, OR; January 12, 2005: Coho salmon in the Klamath River Basin region have been illegally listed under the Endangered Species Act as a threatened species, a federal judge declared yesterday. Ruling from the bench, Judge Michael Hogan agreed with Pacific Legal Foundation that the federal government violated the ESA when it failed to consider hatchery fish in its assessment of coho in southern Oregon and northern California rivers. ESA protection of coho in the Klamath River was a significant factor in the government's devastating decision to shut off irrigation water to Klamath Basin farmers in the spring of 2001. "This victory came too late for the farmers who where pushed into bankruptcy and the businesses that were forced to close to protect fish that were never endangered," said Pacific Legal Foundation attorney Russ Brooks. "Our rivers and streams are teeming with salmon, yet the Klamath community was practically destroyed because of environmental politics run amok." "The case, Grange v. National Marine Fisheries Service, had been stayed by Judge Hogan pending environmentalists’ attempts to appeal PLF’s landmark victory in Alsea Valley Alliance v. Evans (2001). In that case, Judge Hogan held that the government had illegally listed coho along the Oregon coast as threatened when it excluded hatchery coho from fish counts. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the appeal in February, 2004. "In yesterday's ruling, however, Judge Hogan did not set aside the illegal listing, but left it in place while the agency completes the review of 26 west coast salmon listings, which it agreed to undertake as a result of its loss in Alsea. In June, 2004, NOAA proposed a new hatchery policy, but simultaneously announced that it would result in the relisting—not delisting—of west coast salmon and steelhead populations. "However, Judge Hogan also indicated that if a federal agency took a specific enforcement action on behalf of the illegal listing which caused harm, those harmed could go to court and ask to have the federal action stopped. "In other words, as long as the federal government complies with Judge Hogan’s ruling that the listing is illegal, there won't be a problem. But if they try to cut off the water again or take some other similar action, we'll be back in court," Brooks said. "In November, 2004, PLF announced it will file a sweeping lawsuit challenging all 26 listings if NOAA enacts the proposed policy and continues to distinguish between hatchery and naturally spawned fish. The final rule is scheduled to be published in June, 2005." Due to the corporate media apparatus censoring real news, very few people in this country even had a clue about the dire situation which hit the decent men and women of the Klamath Basin in early 2001. Out of the blue, and in violation of water rights agreements that had been in effect for a hundred years, the feds shut off life giving water to the Klamath Basin driving farmers into bankruptcy and an entire community into dire financial straits over what now turns out to be an illegal action by government employees. The desperate folks in that area immediately sought help from the federal court which denied their desperate pleas on April 27, 2001. The court said "..the Endangered Species Act clearly gives threatened and endangered fish the highest priority during this drought." Humans would just have to suffer. Some fish was more important than the livelihood of decent Americans. I went to Klamath Falls in July 2001. It was a shocking experience. I stood face to face with armed federal coppers standing guard over the canal denying the precious water to our farmers. It was quite chilling. I saw a federal sniper sitting up on the hill just watching to make certain these desperate people - and desperate they were - didn't attempt to tear down the barbed wire fence and measures the federal coppers had taken to keep anyone from getting to the canal controls. I looked into the faces of my fellow country men and women and saw despair and rage beyond anything I had ever experienced in my life. Words cannot describe what I saw and never would I have ever thought I would see this type of deliberate government destruction against her own people in these united States of America. During the entire time this despicable situation was happening, George Bush, Jr., didn't lift a finger. Didn't direct Congress to act. He sat back and did nothing. I went back up there September 7-9, 2001 with constitutional attorney Larry Becraft to talk with some of these farmers who had lost everything to give them a good overview of their legal options. What these beaten people were facing was a monstrous situation against a leviathan beast and ten or twelve different state and federal agencies - millions of dollars in legal fees. Money these people didn't have because the government had killed their ability to even grow their own food. That's right. The fields in the surrounding area were fallow with nothing but weeds growing, farmers were actually going hungry! Food was trucked in by caring Americans. Two days after I got home, 9/11 hit and any promise of help by the a few Congress critters and local politicians became dust in the wind. The Endangered Species Act (ESA) has always been one of the most heinous mechanisms being used against the American people and once again, it's authority is derived from treaties. The Endangered Species Act of 1973 derives its authority and power from five international treaties most Americans have never heard of, and if it doesn't disturb their comfort zone, they could care less about what happens to their fellow Americans. Examine Section 2, paragraph (4) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 and you will find:... "the United States has pledged itself as a sovereign state in the international community to conserve to the extent practicable the various species of fish or wildlife and plants facing extinction, pursuant to- migratory bird treaties with Canada and Mexico; the Migratory and Endangered Bird Treaty with Japan; the Convention on Nature Protection and Wildlife Preservation in the Western Hemisphere; the International Convention for the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries; the International Convention for the High Seas Fisheries of the North Pacific Ocean; the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora; and other international agreements; and;" The Western Convention is part and parcel to this destructive ESA, yet few have any knowledge of this destructive treaty. This is how the one world order agenda is being implemented: circumventing the U.S. Constitution by having the counterfeit U.S. Senate ratify treaties. Most Americans and few attorneys understand the issue of jurisdiction and treaties and whether enforcement under international treaties is incumbent upon domestic Americans. See Reid v Covert which retired Judge J.J. Boesel cited in his fine legal writings pinpointing why America's participation in the UN is unconstitutional. Larry Becraft expressed to me during our phone conversation regarding this latest court decision that anyone in the Klamath Basin area impacted by this illegal listing of the coho salmon should get a lawyer and file a Federal Tort Claim against the U.S. Government. I hope they are awarded a billion dollars. I can also tell you with certainty: not one single federal employee will even be repimanded over their illegal actions. No one will be held accountable for the destruction. You can take money to the bank on that. Is there any doubt in my mind this was no bureaucratic mistake? See: RICO lawsuit filed against U.S. Forest Service. A prime example of how government employees lie and falsify data. These are not isolated incidents. The Internet if full of stories of victims of this tyrannical government and yet Congress has never seen fit to bring these rogue agencies and the gangsters who work for them under control. There is one final thing to note about this deliberate destruction of so many lives: during the summer of 2001, California was experiencing huge black outs, we found out later than ENRON had been cheating the power suppliers, driving my gas & electric bill up to $300 a month. But, more importantly, there was a water shortage threatening the multi-billion dollar tourist and ag industries in this state. By diverting the water from the farmers, down came huge amounts of water from Oregon and suddenly California's water woes were over, tourism and the San Joaquin Valley were saved. While I don't have the resources to investigate this, I'd bet a great deal that this listing of the salmon was no harmless error by some government flunky. In a convoluted route, it was done to make sure California had the water it needed for the multi-billion dollar farm corridor and the billions of dollars Southern California gets during the summer in tourism.
The magnitude of the human tragedy which occurred in Klamath Falls is immeasurable and it will continue until this tyrannical government is brought to its knees and forced to return to constitutional principles and restrictions. That isn't going to happen until the House of Representatives and U.S. Senate is cleaned out and true constitutionalists with the guts to do what has to get done are elected. That isn't going to happen until all electronic ballot machines are tossed in the garbage where they belong. © 2005 Devvy Kidd - All Rights Reserved Sign Up For Free E-Mail Alerts E-Mails are used strictly for NWVs alerts, not for sale -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Devvy Kidd authored the booklets, Why A Bankrupt America and Blind Loyalty, which sold close to 2,000,000 copies. Has been a guest more than 1600 times on radio shows, ran for Congress twice and is a highly sought after public speaker. Devvy is a contributing writer for www.NewsWithViews.com Devvy's web site is: www.devvy.com; is sponsored by El Dorado Gold; e-mail is: devvyk@earthlink.net
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