Group warns of government intervention (complete article from source)
Source: The Daily Sentinel, by Hollice Smith
March 17, 2008
A guest speaker warned a Jackson County Ethics Committee Thursday night that governments are “little by little” taking away rights of property owners.
Don Casey of Pleasant Grove near Birmingham said Jackson is among 15 counties in Alabama, which have adopted “Limited Home Rule.” The meeting, in the North Alabama Electric Cooperative auditorium, was attended by between 75 and 100 interested citizens.
Fifty-five percent of people voting in an election in 2006 approved the home rule. However, Jackson County Commissioners, after public hearings, turned down a proposed Junk Ordinance that falls under home rule.
Unless this bill is repealed by the legislature, authorities said it is possible another commission could reverse the County Commission vote option on the junk ordinance.
Casey mostly warned of “Comprehensive Plans” adopted in Elmore and Shelby Counties that would, in essence, provide countywide zoning.
One person quoted a spokesperson in the Alabama County Commissioners Association’s state headquarters as saying a goal is to eventually have zoning ordinances in all Alabama counties.
When the Junk Ordinance was mentioned again by a person in the audience. Casey said, “This is what happens next. Limited Home rule, when adopted by a county, will allow the County Commission to exercise authority over the following…abatement of weeds, control of animals and animal nuisances, control of litter, junkyard control areas which create a public nuisance, abatement of noise, unsanitary sewage, and pollution creating a public nuisance.”
Casey also discussed Agenda 21, which was unveiled in 1992 during the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), commonly known as the Rio Earth Summit where more than 178 nations adopted Agenda 21 and pledged to evaluate progress made in implementing the plan every five years thereafter. President George H. Bush was the signatory for the United States.
The speaker said authors of Agenda 21 have said it will affect every area of life, grouped to three objectives: Equity, Economy and Environment -- known commonly as the three Es.
Casey said what amounts to city zoning being expanded into rural areas means more limitations on how land can be used.
For instance, he said, there might come a time that people will need governmental permits to farm specific land.
Booklets on Agenda 21 were distributed to persons at the meeting. One article states: “The rural land-use plan embodied in the Wildlands Project is extricably tied to its urban counterpart, Smart Growth. As human beings are barred from rural land, there will be a concentration of human activity in urban areas.
“Through Smart Growth, the infrastructure is being created for a post-private era in which human action is subject to centralized government control. With the combined implementation of Smart Growth and the Wildlands Project, humans will be caged and the animals will run free.”
Sometimes called “comprehensive planning” or “growth management,” Smart Growth is the centralized control of every aspect of urban life: energy and water use, housing stock and allocation, population levels and control, public health and dietary regimens, resources and recycling, “social justice” and eduction, toxic technology and waste management, transportation modes and mobility restrictions, business and economic activity.
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