Best Ever OPRC Conference
11th Ozarks Conference on Private Property Rights -
Full Day of Information on What’s Here, What’s Coming, & What to do about it!
Don’t miss an opportunity to have a record of the Conference to watch and study. DVDs of the Conference are available for $20, which also covers mailing costs. Send your request, with payment and number of DVDs desired to: Recording Masters, Route 1, Box 816, Cabool, MO 65689. Expect your DVDs within 2 weeks. The Conference DVD will come as a two disk set. Some at the Conference said they had trouble hearing in the gymnasium, but I am assured that the audio on the DVD is perfectly clear.
An estimated 300 people attended the 11th Ozarks Conference on Private Property Rights at the YMCA in Mountain Grove, MO on Saturday the 6th. The theme of the Conference was Agenda 21 in the Heartland – How International Becomes Local.
The event was sponsored by Ozarks Property Rights Congress. and began with a video tribute to the late c. Russell Wood, OPRC president. Wood, who passed away in May, was the president from the group’s formation in the fall of 2000 until his passing.
The c. Russell Wood Memorial REAL Conservationist Award was presented to L. D. (Dave) Davis of Udall, Missouri. Dave is the OPRC vice president. His quiet way of working behind the scene has been an effective asset to the success of OPRC. He achieved harmony in working with County Commissioners, a succession of newspaper editors, and the people of Ozark County.
Ray Cunio from Sullivan, Mo started the morning session off talking about how cities and counties are adopting the United Nations Agenda 21- Sustainable Development – Smart Growth provisions through planning and zoning comprehensive plans. Cunio helped defeat one such ordinance in Franklin County, MO, which would have included regulating the dark night sky.
Finding out about the Department of Transportation Director Ray La Hood’s new proposal to make farmers get CDL licenses to operate tractors and farm machinery caused quite a stir among those listening. The proposed change also means ANYONE driving a tractor or operating any piece of motorized farming equipment would be forced to pass the same rigorous tests and fill out the same detailed forms and diaries required of semi-tractor trailer drivers. This reclassification would bury small farms and family farms in regulation, paperwork, and expense. The questions on everyone’s mind, “What are these government people thinking? Do they want to destroy American farmers’ ability to feed the country?
On the subject of feeding the country, Doreen Hannes shed light on the escalation of raids by government agencies on private food clubs that sell raw milk products. She also talked about, “Good ag gone bad” as the “Leafy Green Products Marketing Agreement” is being put into effect. The LGPMA is part of the Good Agricultural Practices(GAPs) passed down from the FDA and the UN. This Agreement tells growers of leafy greens that they must keep all wildlife out of their fields, including frogs, in order to protect their crops from E coli and other contaminants.
Bob Parker discussed the needless devastation suffered by farmers when the Corps of Engineers blew the levee on the Mississippi River in May and destroyed 200 square miles of prime farm land. The COE is catering to environmentalists working to turn the farm land along the Mississippi into a wetlands habitat. The food supply in the world is at a critical stage, and with our government importing 70 percent of our produce, how can anyone think it is a good idea to destroy prime American farmland?
Keynote speaker Sheriff Richard Mack spoke on the importance of your local County Sheriff in protecting citizens from the intrusion of the federal government. “Your County Sheriff is the executor of the law. He has no supervisor or boss except for the people,” Mack said.
Congress passed the Brady Bill in 1994. Mack said, “So here is the U.S. Congress making an unconstitutional gun control law, requiring a county official to enforce it and pay for it, then threatening to arrest him if he refuses! What a government!”
Sheriff Mack was the first sheriff in the nation to file a lawsuit to stop the Brady bill. That lawsuit went all the way to the Supreme Court. The Court ruled in favor of the sheriffs. “On June 27, 1997, the Supreme Court ruled that the Federal Government could not commandeer state or county officers for federal bidding.”
The next scheduled meetings for the Ozarks Property Rights Congress are September 8 in Gainesville at Vaught’s Family Restaurant, 7:00 p.m. and September 22 in Mountain Grove at the Hayloft Restaurant, 7:00 p.m. OPRC meetings are open to everyone. For more information call 417-668-5977 or 417-457-6111.
