Jersey County (Illinois)  Journal Commentary
March 23, 2011

Joyce Morrison is a Property Rights Advocate who lives in Illinois. She is a well known speaker and has been a speaker at the OPRC Annual Conference on Private Property Rights. Her articles on property rights issues have been published nationally.

Are National Heritage Areas good for us?
by Joyce Morrison

Did you know that Jersey County is in the Abraham Lincoln National Heritage Area? The legislators sponsoring this bill were Senators Durbin and Obama and former Congressman LaHood of Peoria. The Abraham Lincoln NHA was voted on and authorized by the Consolidated Natural Resources Act of 2008.  It is now federal law.
 
The Abraham Lincoln NHA’s management group, “Looking for Lincoln,” has been holding meetings in the various parts of the heritage area seeking input from the local tourist industry and other groups. The outcome of these consensus meetings no doubt has been predetermined, but it sounds “warm and fuzzy” to invite comments from the locals. 

 There are 47 United Nations Biosphere Reserves in the United States and 20 United Nations World Heritage Sites.  (Cahokia Mounds is a UN World Heritage site) There are 49 National Heritage Areas with more designations planned. Usually people are very passive and accept these designations without question.

 In the Ozark area of Missouri, a feasibility study for a National Heritage Area (NHA) has been made. A boundary line was placed around 13 counties and it would have been called the “Ozark Highland National Heritage Area.” Last week approximately 350 local residents showed up at a meeting to express their opposition to the NHA. The management groups dropped their plans because they knew it would be a lost cause without local support. The NHA planners had already spent about $200,000.00 in public funding to pay the salaries of their little group

 Why did the citizens object so strongly? The people in the famous Ozark area of Missouri are used to attempts at “land grabs” and they are very savvy and well informed. They read the fine print and then go to work to keep their property free from federal bondage.  Several years ago, the United Nations chose this Ozark area to be designated as a Biosphere Reserve but the people began the battle to keep this from happening – and the people won.

 Private property in the United States continues to be locked up through costly grant driven UN Agenda 21 Sustainable Development programs such as National Heritage Areas, Scenic Byways and Rivers, Treasured Landscapes, National monuments, Preserve America, Open Space and parks, wetlands, smart growth and a long list of innocent sounding (costly) government land programs.

 Consistently, you will find the words scenic, historic, recreational, cultural and natural integrity as preservation goals for most of the programs mentioned above. Often the word “perpetuity” is part of the description – which means “forever.”

 Local governments love these programs because they come with grants.  Very seldom do board members read the documents that contain the fine print.  And who can refuse a grant? Free money is extremely seductive even if the grant is limited to a feasibility study and to support the activities of a management group. Typically the grant for most NHAs is a million tax dollars.  Once the grant money has been spent, the area is locked in for “perpetuity”.

  The Interior Department and National Park Service are the government agencies behind most of these programs that will lead right to your back door.  The National Park Service thinks of Heritage Areas as “parks – only less expensive” according to Alma Ripps, a legislative affairs specialist for the agency.  Quoting from a March 2004 Government Accountability Office report:   ”[National Heritage Areas] encourage local governments to implement land use policies that are consistent with the heritage areas’ plans, which may allow the heritage areas to indirectly influence zoning and land use  planning in ways that could restrict owners’ use of their property.”                             
 
The Abraham Lincoln NHA encompasses 42 agricultural counties in Illinois – almost all private land.  At first glance, it appears to be an honor for Jersey County to have been chosen to tell our special stories about our history.  The sales pitch for an NHA is:  “you must preserve your wonderful heritage – and tell your story.”  Although, I’m not aware of any story about Lincoln’s significance in Jersey County, I am aware of the importance of the county’s agriculture.  So why would we want to inventory and tie up our food production?  Agriculture has its own heritage and tells its own story without the designation of being a NHA answerable to the National Park Service and the Interior Department.                                                                   

 In a NHA, all property is inventoried and no property can be opted out of the boundary line once it has been designated.  Here is the clincher – it is a physical and geographical impossibility to opt out of a NHA. One is either inside the boundaries of a NHA or outside the boundaries.    

Chicago’s conservative Heartland Institute told federal legislators:   “National Heritage Areas are preservation zones where land use and property rights can be restricted. They give the National Park Service and preservation interest groups (many with histories of hostility toward property rights) substantial influence by giving them the authority to create land use  ”management plans” and then the authority to disburse federal money to local governments to promote their plans.”,                        

NHAs pose a threat to private property rights if restric¬tive federal zoning is enforced.  This type of zoning may severely limit the extent to which property owners can develop or use their property. Also, the rules can change at any time.  “Regulatory takings,” such as zoning abuses, are the most common form of property rights abuse today.

 Are we missing something when we give our land over to these invasive “locked in” federal programs?  Why are there so many scenic programs selling tourism and why is almost every acre in the U.S. a target for some federal program?
            
We need to read the documentation and be more cautious before we adopt any program – regardless of the grants that come with them.  We need to be extra careful about implementing stringent land use and international building code policies robbing property owners of their Constitutional right of the use of their property. 
 
 Jersey County is following the cookie cutter pattern designed for global Agenda 21’s Sustainable Development.  Jersey County has already held the Visioning and Comprehensive Planning meetings in accordance with Sustainable Development. We have passed Hazard Mitigation, Floodplain Management and new international and green building codes – all in line with Sustainable Development. We now live in a National Heritage Area with a Scenic Byway which is subject to federal zoning. We are in the process of consolidating and dumbing down our youth in today’s education system.   I would say we are “right on schedule” and falling for the global plan hook, line and sinker.

Ozarks Property Rights Congress Meeting
March 24 -7:00 p.m.—Hayloft Restaurant 
Mountain Grove, Missouri

Come early if you care to eat as no food is allowed in the meeting room.

Meeting Topics

 Ozarks Highlands National Heritage Area—West Plains Council on the Arts and Ozarks Preservation, Inc. have decided to redirect their attention “toward opportunities to foster cultural conservation and economic opportunity that won’t necessitate the involvement of the NHA program and will rely  as much as possible on public funding.” It seems that the voices of the people of the Ozarks have been heard. OPRC will continue to monitor WPCOA and OP, Inc. until we are certain the OHNHA is really a dead issue.
  

Doreen Hannes will talk about the Sedgewick, Maine Food Freedom Ordinance that seeks to give local people “the right to produce, process, sell, purchase and consume local foods thus promoting self-reliance, the preservation of family farms, and local food traditions.” These rights are threatened by the “Food Safety and Modernization Act” passed by Congress in Dec. 2010 & signed by the President on January 5, 2011

 The wording of some of the Agriculture bills in the Missouri General Assembly is troubling. It would seem that there are possible dangers our “right-to-use-our property-as-ours.” We will focus on some of those.
 
We can’t relax just because we think the current Heritage Area threat may be going away.

The price of Freedom is Eternal Vigilance!
 

Statement From OPRC On Decision to Drop Heritage Area Plan
    The Ozarks Property Rights Congress applauds the decision by the West Plains Council on the Arts and Ozarks Preservation Inc. to stop their pursuit of the proposed  Ozarks Highlands National Heritage Area designation for the 13 county area in southern Missouri. We thank them for listening to the landowners, County Commissioners, and citizens in general.
    OPRC expresses appreciation to the many, many citizens across the entire 13 county area for making their concerns heard regarding the designation.
    We wish the sponsors of this attempt well, as they pursue other avenues to achieve their worthwhile goals that do not require alignment with regulatory government agencies or funding with tax payers’ dollars.
c. Russell Wood, President Ozarks Property Rights Congress

Open Letter from W.P. Council on the Arts/Ozarks Preservation, Inc
From: “arts@townsqr.com” <arts@townsqr.com>
Date: March 13, 2011 11:32:00 PM CDT
To: arts@townsqr.com
Subject: Important announcement about the National Heritage Area feasibility study

    An important announcement from Ozarks Preservation, Inc., and the West Plains Council on the Arts appears below.  Thank you.

An open letter to our fellow residents of the Missouri Ozarks from Ozarks Preservation, Inc., and the West Plains Council on the Arts

Dear friends and neighbors,

    As many of you know, our two local organizations, Ozarks Preservation, Inc., and the West Plains Council on the Arts, have been interested for some years now in seeking practical and affordable ways to document and conserve the heritage of our part of southern Missouri while also making apparent the connection between cultural conservation and economic development.  We became interested in the possibility of National Heritage Area status several years ago because we believed that it might help us to achieve our goal of conserving the truly extraordinary culture of this region that we love and making it a basis for much-needed economic opportunity.  We recently completed a feasibility study about the potential for a National Heritage Area here in the Missouri Ozarks, and a report based on that study is available online at www.wparts.org.

    We were excited by the prospect that the feasibility study report would continue a genuine, civil, friendly conversation with fellow residents of the Missouri Ozarks about how to hold on to what makes this part of the country such a special place; how the many remarkable artists, craftspeople, local historians, and cultural practitioners who live here might be able to benefit more from their talents; and how the important stories that we have to tell can express to our nation what it means to be an Ozarker. 

Unfortunately, the conversation recently has turned in an unpleasant direction.  Many of our friends and neighbors are troubled by the association of National Heritage Areas with the National Park Service, which, sadly, has had strained relationships with many residents of our region over its history here.  Additionally, a number of rumors and misconceptions about National Heritage Areas have been circulating, and those rumors and misconceptions have caused many of our neighbors to become alarmed and angry.  Because of such misinformation, many people are now understandably confused about what National Heritage Areas are and aren’t, what they do and don’t do, and why we think having one here is an idea worth considering.

    We apologize to anyone who has been alarmed or offended.  That was never our intention.  In light of the situation that has developed and in a demonstration of our good faith in this effort, we have decided to redirect our attention toward opportunities to foster cultural conservation and economic opportunity that won’t necessitate the involvement of the National Heritage Area program and will rely as much as possible on private funding.  We hope that this demonstration of our true intentions will help to mend and strengthen our partnerships with the many wonderful people and organizations with whom we’ve become acquainted in recent years.  We look forward to further discussions about ways to cooperate on projects that will benefit our region.  There are many potential cultural projects that would benefit from and build upon research that we’ve done over the past several years.  We would like to discuss with you your good ideas about the preservation of your cultural heritage and see if we might work together to bring them to fruition.  We sincerely seek mutual understanding and shared efforts toward the preservation of our exceptionally distinctive regional culture, many aspects of which are rapidly changing or disappearing.

    We are always happy to visit with our neighbors and discuss our shared concerns.  Contact us anytime at (417) 256-1813, arts@townsqr.com, or P.O. Box 339, West Plains, MO 65775.  And please join us for any of the programs and activities in which we’re involved, including the 2011 Old-Time Music, Ozark Heritage Festival in West Plains.  The third weekend in June is just around the bend!

Sincerely,

Ozarks Preservation, Inc.,
Kris Norman, president

The West Plains Council on the Arts,
Paula Speraneo, president;
Matt Meacham, folklorist;
Kathleen Morrissey, project volunteer

Our hearts and prayers are with the family of broadcaster Derry Brownfield. Derry passed away peacefully in his sleep on March 12. 

We all mourn the passing of our friend. Derry’s wit, sense of humor, loyalty, and Cowboy Spirit will be sorely missed.  Not only was he the personal friend of so many in OPRC, but he was also the staunch friend of everyone’s private property rights.  

On Monday, Ozarks Property Rights Congress President c. Russell Wood gave tribute to Derry in his email announcing the defeat of the Ozarks Highlands National Heritage Area. “So sorry Derry missed the good news. Derry had said, ‘They should know better than to try to slip something in on that bunch down there in southern Missouri.’ ”

 Services will be tomorrow, March 16, at 11 a.m. at the California, Missouri United Church of Christ with burial in the California Masonic Cemetery.

Memorials are suggested to the Gideon’s International, c/o Derry Brownfield, P.O. Box 79, Centertown, MO 65023. Arrangements are under the direction of Bowlin-Cantriel Funeral Services, California, Missouri.

Good Sounding Agriculture Bills, Not Good For Private Property Owners

 All of the bills cited below deserve the attention of private property owners. Currently, in the State of Missouri, Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) have conditions placed upon them. They are subject o inspections and specific constraints. Those constraints, currently, are generally effective, and landowners surrounding such properties are able to seek redress within the system for infringements and either perceived or real property debasements in value, use or enjoyment reductions. If these bills go through, adjacent landowners will lose  a large degree of their ability to receive just compensation for lowered land values, usage abilities, and habitability.

  Here in the Ozarks, we have not yet been overrun by CAFO’s. While we do have our fair share of derelict equipment and auto reservoirs, we have the ability to address such issues within our own communities, and to reason with each other in the local area to any degree deemed necessary.

 The position of the OPRC is that the way things are currently is just fine with us. If we do have a problem, we can address the problem. There is already a process in place to take care of these things within the individual counties. And if we are simply offended by someone else’s idea of yard art, we can simply suck it up and be thankful we don’t need a permit to bury a parakeet, or speak with them if it is so terrifically troublesome. If there is actual danger or destruction involved, we can seek remedy at law. We do not need, want,  nor support ANY efforts at State wide zoning, no matter how well intentioned or even misdirected, those efforts may be. If you want accountability, keep the authority local.

HB 209                      http://www.house.mo.gov/billtracking/bills111/biltxt/perf/HB0209P.htm
House Bill 209 is a bill seemingly designed to halt frivolous nuisance suits in agricultural venues against property being used in a fashion that affects neighbors or adjacent property owners in a negative fashion. There are a few problems with this bill. First of all, it limits property owners’ ability to seek redress in court beyond an undefined percentage of reduction in fair rental value. It also varies the levels of compensation potentially available to a property owner impacted by the undefined terms “permanent” and “temporary” nuisance.

  The position of the OPRC is that, while it is imperative that individual property rights to use and benefit from one’s land is paramount, it is never beneficial to reduce another’s right to enjoy, use, and have the full benefit of their property. This bill curtails the ability of one party’s ability for redress in favor of the purported offending party.  In effect, this is State wide zoning, and we cannot support such a bill.

SB187    http://www.senate.mo.gov/11info/BTS_Web/Bill.aspx?SessionType=R&BillID=4095340
 Senate Bill 187, is completely unacceptable. It implements county constraints and mandates for “nuisance” properties that house such things as derelict farms, derelict farm equipment and the like. In effect, the State presumes to confer the right to control counties to the counties themselves! The counties already have this within their purview and we do not need the state to claim jurisdiction over county authority in any guise.

  This bill would require any owner of a “salvage or junkyard” to get a license, and the definition of what would constitute a “salvage or junk yard” is undefined. It requires the owners of such places to put up a 10 foot high fence to stop the view of passers-by from being impacted by the presence of such operations.

SB278   http://www.senate.mo.gov/11info/BTS_Web/Bill.aspx?SessionType=R&BillID=4147456
 This bill does very much the same thing as the above bills.  It effectively attempts to reduce the ability of adjacent/adjoining landholders to be able to seek compensation or redress only in the case of nuclear wastes. This bill is wrong headed; and again, perverts the ability of land owners to protect their own property rights.

Please read this very important letter. This is in response to the attached editorial by Frank Martin, editor of the West Plains Quill Newspaper. The facts are on my side. This is what we must go through to take on Big Government. The liberals attack us on every side. I say bring it on. I know what I am talking about. I know not everyone receiving this information is in the proposed Heritage region but nearly 80 Heritage Areas are either in place or in the process so this will probably concern you shortly.
May God help us save our freedoms!
Bob Parker

Who Benefits from a National Heritage Area?
By Bob Parker March 2, 2011

While some accuse defenders of private property rights against the Ozarks Highlands National Heritage Area (OHNHA) of being black helicopter conspiracy theorists, they evidently haven’t read the documents. Helicopters are not mentioned. I like facts. I like documents. I like documented facts. The best way to find out what a law or a contract really means is to read it; and those of us fighting against the OHNHA have read it.
 
Proponents of the Heritage plan say I am just doing this to further my political ambitions. My primary “political ambition” is, and always has been, to preserve freedom. I’m fighting this Heritage Area designation because I want to use my land without a bunch of permits and expenses that only benefit bureaucrats. My neighbors and friends want the same thing. It is true that the documents say that federal money can not be used to seize private land in a National Heritage Area. I have never said anything else. However, it does not say that no regulations on private property will ever result from being in a National Heritage Area.
 
Some proponents say that there are no mandatory hearings needed because no new laws are needed. The  1,600 pages of documents we received from Ozark Action in a Freedom of Information (FOIA) request say the following:
 
(page 2 of a letter from consultant Mike McGrew) ”A National Heritage Area isn’t just created, there is a multiple stage process and it must be acknowledged by Congress and signed into law.”
 
(page 14 of the National Heritage Area feasibility study proposal); Team will craft a series of materials tailored to the region to best provide quality civic engagement to meet the goals of the NPS Heritage Area designation. [end]  In other words, public meetings to receive your consent are a required part of this process. To state that ”no laws are needed to implement it” is clearly wrong. All Heritage Areas literally require an act of Congress that is then entered into Public Law. Yes, law.
 
Some proponents of the plan have stated ”no public money is involved unless voluntary participants request it”. They have also stated that opponents are, and I quote,  “are using  underhanded methods and outright lies”.  Yet the documents state (on page 19) that Jeffery L. Bruce & Company billed $39,795.00 to do the Feasibility study. Where did this money come from? The funding came from the American Recovery and Re-investment Act [ARRA] to the tune of $189,850 with another $15,000 taken from Ozark County Department of Family Services. Last time I checked, when the government funds something, it is done with public funds.

Additionally, the feasibility study draft states that proponents of the Heritage Area intend to build a National Heritage Area Interpretive Center with taxpayer dollars. According to the chart on page 51 of the draft, $2,650,000 [2.65 MILLION] will come from the Federal Government, and $2,552,000 [2.552 MILLION] will come from the State of Missouri. The annual budget for this Center will average $200,000 to $250,000, increasing to $500,000 per year after construction. That’s over 5.2 million dollars of (ahem) public funds just for the building. These are NOT my figures; they are taken directly from the documents obtained through the FOIA request. Ozark Action did not voluntarily hand over these documents, and the general public has not seen them. The proponents say no public funds will be used unless voluntary participants have requested it. That is true, but very misleading. Those attempting to establish this 13 county Heritage Area have volunteered to take your money and have received your public funds. To keep receiving your money, they must get an Act of Congress establishing the OHNHA passed.

As for property rights concerns, the documents state on page 22 that the National Park Service requires a management plan including ”Resource Protection”: ” The act or process of preventing, eliminating, or reducing human caused impacts to natural resources and natural processes.” Page 54 of the draft states that the OHNHA will, “Incorporate approaches employed by European nations for preserving parks and other special places without removing them from the life and culture of the nation.”

So European Land Management shouldn’t concern us? All Heritage Areas include a “private property protection clause” that states:

”Nothing in this Management Plan shall be construed to require any private property owner to permit public access [including Federal, State, or local governments access] to such private property. Nothing in this Management Plan shall be construed to modify any provisions of the Federal, State, or local law with regard to public access to or use of private lands.”

This Act will not change Federal Law; other than creating a new law. The National Park Service already has federal authority to control land use through restrictions and regulations of lands they administer.

What this will do is put us under National Park Service administration with a “Management Entity” acting as a filter for the NPS. This “Management Entity” is an un-elected board that includes a NPS member. What they do to “manage” us must meet the guidelines of the Park Service. One of the board’s first duties after the NPS designation is to develop a MANAGEMENT PLAN for our Natural Resources. [pages 22, 23, and 46]

I think the public deserves facts about this complex and expensive proposition. The issue is massive. If you want the federal government to spend more money and have more control over your decisions, then you will love Ozarks Highlands National Heritage Area. They are from the government, and they are here to ”help”….Whether you asked for it or not.