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Public tells its concern on fly
(Note: This "poster species" is merely the
smokescreen for the real strategic plan: "The community
where the greatest amount of habitat
is set aside has the lowest median income,"
spoken so eloquently and succinctly by Colton, California, Mayor
Dierdre Bennett. The hullabaloo continues over an EXPIRED
piece of property rights stealing, unconstitutional legislation,
dead since October 1, 1992, but continually resuscitated by a
majority of the U.S. Congress, apparently bent upon using this
stalking-horse legislation to remove property rights and resource
providing from America. It is not now, or ever has been, about
"saving," "protecting," or providing
"habitat" for any species, endangered or otherwise, except
a small number of power brokers intentionally using every device
they possess to dispossess property rights and resource providing by
the middle class -- the very backbone -- of free America. The taking
of land, water and the controlling of the use of both, amounts to
nothing more than a ruling class taking power from a class of people
it grossly underestimated -- and secretly wishes had never been
given free rein in the first place: the middle class, freedom and
property rights loving American citizens that yearned for The
American Dream and were willing and eager to invest blood, sweat and
tears equity in making that dream come true. The phrase "middle
class" did not exist until 1812, proof that there was no
"middle class" of property owners in the Europe that
inspired people to cross a vast and treacherous ocean, because even
with the uncertainty of the voyage and the unknown opportunities
awaiting, it was better than staying and remaining under the thumb
of royalty. Do you want America to fall victim to a medieval-era
feudal landlord system, wherein the serfs, i.e., tenants, on the
king's land owned nothing but the "right" to serve the
"master?" This is not what America is about!)
September 29, 2006
By Andrew Silva, Staff Writer andrew.silva@dailybulletin.com
or 909-386-3889
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
2041 East Fourth Street
Ontario, California 91764
909-987-6397
Fax: 909-948-9038
To submit a Letter to the Editor: letters@dailybulletin.com
(100-word limit)
San Bernardino, California - Lori Pierson Cripe had a personal and poignant story to tell the Secretary of the [Department of] [I]nterior about problems with the Endangered Species Act.
Her late father bought 14 acres on Pepper Avenue in Colton years ago
and counted on it for retirement.
But the endangered
Delhi sands flower-loving fly has stymied development there, leaving
her mother to get by on $800 a month from Social Security.
"It's not in a wildlife area," she said
of the property.
Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne, who started his political
career as student body president at San Gorgonio High School in San
Bernardino before becoming a senator and then governor of Idaho,
spent more than three hours at the Clarion Hotel and Convention
Center listening to developers, environmentalists, city officials
and plain citizens talk about environmental
protection.
The session was one of more than two dozen such meetings that have
been held throughout the nation to gather input from the public
about conservation and the federal government's role.
The Delhi sands fly got a lot of attention as Colton Mayor Dierdre
Bennett spoke about the city's problems trying to come up with a conservation
plan that would allow development near Arrowhead
Regional Medical Center to resume.
"Not surprisingly, this habitat
set-aside has had a tremendous impact on the
city of Colton," she said. "The community
where the greatest amount of habitat
is set aside has the lowest median income."
The city has tried to come up with creative ways of protecting
nearby habitat, but still does not have approval, and the habitat
that has been set aside is covered with trash and invasive
plants.
Many of the more than 50 people who
spoke said the resource agencies -- including the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service which enforces the Endangered Species
Act -- don't have enough money to
pursue efforts that could help species recover.
The theme of the meetings has been to
ask the public how to improve what federal officials dubbed
"cooperative conservation."
Defenders of the Endangered Species
Act argue it already promotes cooperation by forcing the involved
agencies, local governments and developers to the table.
Ilene Anderson, an ecologist with the Center for Biological
Diversity, said there's a perfect
example of cooperation on the north side of the San Bernardino
Mountains.
Several agencies, four carbonate
mines, environmentalists and others got together to develop a plan
to protect several rare plant species that exist only in that area.
She also lamented the lack
of funds that prevent them from putting the conservation
plan into action.
"We're waiting for an infusion of federal funds
to start the project," she said.
Development groups argued the law
needs a major overhaul.
"We share concern for the
environment and for balanced development," said Paul Poister,
of the Partnership for America, a coalition of agriculture,
industry, recreation and property rights groups. "But the
Endangered Species Act needs to be modernized."
Both sides agreed incentives and
rewards are needed for private property owners to protect
rare species.
In a press conference before the meeting, Kempthorne said there
must be a greater emphasis on helping species recover
instead of just putting new species on the list.
"We would hope we can make improvements to the Endangered
Species Act," he said.
Copyright 2006, Daily Bulletin.
Related reading:
Public
tells its concern on fly |