To: Jefferson County Commissioners, the News Media and others

From: Ron Ewart, President, National Association of Rural Landowners= (NARLO)<= /o:p>

FOR THE RECORD

It is said that all politics are local and certainly what is playing out in Jefferson County over their atte= mpts to draft a Critical Areas Ordinance (CAO) will have an affect on Jefferson County property owners, but may a= lso have wider implications as well. We represent thousands of rural landowners in Washington State, as well as landowners from out of state. The reason we formed NARLO was due to the vicious attack that = is being perpetrated on rural landowners all across America, in the name of environmental protection, by government and environmental lobbyists who threaten to sue government if it doesn't behave in a certain way, their way. Because these groups are wealthy beyond anyone's wildest d= reams, sue they do. It is excruciatingly evident that the environmentalists and the government want r= ural landowners to bear the entire burden of environmental protection, without regard to the "due process" and "compensation" requirem= ents of the U. S. and state Constitutions. Anyone with the remotest understanding of what is in play here, can see that such actions by government violate the equal protection clause of the U. S. Constitution.

Because of our interests in rural landowner issues, we receive regular updates from players in the Jefferson County CAO/land use saga. As a result, we became privy to the response by George B. Yount to the CAO situation, that he asked to be placed into the record.= Mr. Yount's environmental and political bi= ases were clearly evident in his letter. There is not time for me to addre= ss every single point that Mr. Yount raised, so I = will take on just a few.

The first is his assertion that = just because a majority of Jefferson County voters "appear" to want aggressive environmental legislation, that it should be that way. But= he forgets one simple, but very important fact. America is a Constitutional Republic, not a Democracy. The Constitution was written to clearly define limits ON government, not limits on the people. It provides protections for the minority from a not-so-wise, or abusive majority. For the last 70 years, government has far exce= eded those limits, aided and abetted by higher and lower courts. However, = many rural landowners, as I have just mentioned, feel that their constitutionally protected property rights have been thrown aside in the name of anything th= at smells of the environment. i.e. wetland and wetland buffers, clean air, clean water, housing densities, in-stream flow rules, water rights, zoning, fish protection and now Governor Gregoire's Puget Sound Partnership that will require even more draconian restrictions on priv= ate land. The next shoe to dr= op will be the regulations to protect us from the boogieman of global warming. All this regulation has obliterated property rights, the very core and foundation of our freedoms. And Mr. You= nt, in his arrogance, laments those same rural citizens wanting to be invo= lved in the process?

Mr. Younts<= /span> goes on to say that the Commissioners and the planning commission should up= hold the "Second Settlement Agreement" that was entered into by the Commissioners with an environmental group under threat of a lawsuit, which = is the tactic many environmental groups employ to get their way. Skagit County was sued 162 times over their land use policies by the state and environmental groups. 162 times!!! This is legal blackmail.&nbs= p; We strongly disagree with Mr. Yount. = The Second Settlement Agreement was entered into under duress. Any agreem= ent entered into under duress is void, as the Second Settlement Agreement should be.

Obviously, being a devout Democrat, Mr. Yount alleges yet anoth= er right wing conspiracy. Strange how the so-called right wing comes dow= n on the side of the constitution and the left-wing comes down on the side of ab= ject socialism and radical environmentalism.

What is taking place right now, = that seems to disturb Mr. Yount, is that true American citizens are finally becoming aware of just how out of control government has become in land use issues, while the people were sleeping. Those same people are now getting involved and participating in the process and that is a good thing. To label that "getting involved in the process" = ;as a right-wing conspiracy, by the very people that will be affected by the regulations that are being promulgated by the likes of Mr. Yount, is way over the top. In fact, this ploy by the "left" is really getting old.

You should applaud that affected citizens are now taking part in law making that directly affects them. = ; We believe that Jefferson County landowners are behaving admirably u= nder the circumstances. However late they are, had they been doing so= for the last 50 years, none of this radical environmental protection racket and legal blackmail would have taken place.

Mr. Yount's= whining about the CAO process is obviously being done to influence public policy his way. He has every right to do so. However, we hope t= hat the people in Jefferson County with a more common-sense, reasoned and constitutionally defended approach to the issues, will be given sway.

In the final analysis, the much larger question still remains, is the Growth Management Act (GMA) and the CAO's mandated thereby, constitutional? Mr. Yount cries out for the will of the majority, but if = you will remember your history, the majority soundly defeated (over 70%) Initiative 587 that would have passed a law very closely para= llel to the GMA. Nevertheless, in spite of that majority voting aga= inst it, we still got the GMA, brought to us by the very same people that are aligned with Mr. Yount.

Let me close by saying that government relies on the people to follow the law. But what happens w= hen laws go too far, or there are too many laws? If you can't see that ch= aos and lawlessness are the result, you are truly blind. Because of the voluminous amount of laws now on the books, with more to come, the people h= ave already engaged in lawlessness for many years. People are cutting trees down, clearing land, building buildings, digging ditches and doing al= l kinds of things on THEIR land, without permit. Lawmakers created this condi= tion that could easily spiral out of control.

If your hand represents the government and in your hand is a tomato that represents the people, what happens if you squeeze your hand too tight? The result is graphically obvious. It begs the question, when do government actions finally result in an outright revolt by the people?

Ron Ewart, President

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF RURAL LANDOWNERS

P. O. Box 1031, Issaquah, WA&nbs= p; 98027

425 222-4742 or 1 800 682-7848

(Fax No. 425 222-4743)

Website: www.narlo.org=

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