Official Statement by Stevens County Landowners to the WA State Attorney General, Bob Ferguson We the People, who are land and/or livestock owners in Stevens County, non-violently refuse to submit to any and all “Regulatory Takings” demands that are related to “buffer zones” or “setbacks” (or any other invented terminology to be thought of in the future that references demands of fencing off private property) around any waterways or sub-irrigated areas on our private properties. We the People also non-violently refuse to submit to, respond to, or in any way be held liable to, or pay any fines associated with any of these related regulations that reference anything to do with “buffer zones”, or “setbacks” that are described within the bounds of our private properties. Previous encounters with “Regulatory Takings” issues describe typical fines associated with non-compliance, as equaling $10,000 per day, which is in direct conflict with the WA State and U.S. Constitutions. According to www.Constitution.org, “Any statute or official act not so based, (on the Constitution) or in such conflict with it (The Constitution) was to be considered unconstitutional, and null and void from inception.” Therefore, We the People non-violently refuse to be dragged into any individual court battles to defend ourselves from any lawsuits filed against us (outside of the legal procedures associated with the “Due Process of Law”) in which we would be required to pay for attorney costs out of our own pockets, that are in relation to any and all “buffer zone” or “setback” related issues on our private properties. We refuse, as the RCWs being used to establish these “buffer zones” or “setbacks” within the bounds of privately owned property, are in direct conflict with the WA State and U.S. Constitutions, and are therefore not valid laws and need to be considered null and void. We the People are under no obligation by law or otherwise to accommodate any outside demands made by a State or Federal Agency that refer to our privately owned and privately paid for properties. Without any purchase contracts and without full payment having been received by the current landowners for their land, according to current and realistic property values, no agency, neither State nor Federal, can claim any authority over our private property whatsoever. We are the sole authority over our private properties, and we do not consent to the DoE attempting to establish dual ownership through an unconstitutional “Regulatory Takings” scheme. “Regulatory Takings” policies violate the “Due Process of Law” guarantee provided in both the WA State and U.S. Constitutions. http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Due+Process+of+Law Due Process of Law: n. a fundamental principle of fairness in all legal matters, both civil and criminal, especially in the courts. All legal procedures set by statute and court practice, including notice of rights, must be followed for each individual so that no prejudicial or unequal treatment will result. The term can be gauged by its aim to safeguard both private and public rights against unfairness. The universal guarantee of due process in the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution which provides “No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without the due process of law,” and applied to all states by the 14th Amendment. From this basic principle flow many legal decisions determining both procedural and substantive rights. In criminal prosecutions, the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees “… the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusations; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of Counsel for his defense.” WA State Constitution describes: 1.) ARTICLE I, SECTION 1. POLITICAL POWER. All political (government) power is inherent in the people, and governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, and are established to protect and maintain individual rights. 2.)ARTICLE II, SECTION 3. PERSONAL RIGHTS. No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law. 3.)ARTICLE I, SECTION 14. EXCESSIVE BAIL, FINES, AND PUNISHMENTS. Excessive bail shall not be required, excessive fines imposed, nor cruel punishment inflicted. 4.)ARTICLE I, SECTION 16. EMINENT DOMAIN. Private property shall not be taken for private use, except for private ways of necessity, and for drains, flumes, or ditches on or across the lands of others for agricultural, domestic, or sanitary purposes. No private property shall be taken or damaged for public or private use without just compensation having been first made, or paid into court for the owner, and no right-of-way shall be appropriated to the use of any corporation other than municipal until full compensation therefore be first made in money, or ascertained and paid into court for the owner, irrespective of any benefit from any improvement proposed by such corporation which compensation shall be ascertained by a jury, unless a jury be waived, as in other civil cases in courts of record, in the manner prescribed by law. Whenever an attempt is made to take private property for a use alleged to be public, the question whether the contemplated use be really public shall be a judicial question, and determined as such, without regard to any legislative assertion that the use is public: Provided, That the taking of private property by the state for land reclamation and settlement purposes is hereby declared to be for public use. (AMENDMENT 9, 1919 p 385 Section 1.Approved November, 1920.) 5.) ARTICLE I, SECTION 21. TRIAL BY JURY. The right of trial by jury shall remain inviolate, but the legislature may provide for a jury of any number less than twelve in courts not of record, and for a verdict by nine or more jurors in civil cases in any court of record, and for waiving of the jury in civil cases where the consent of the parties interested is given thereto. 6.)ARTICLE I, SECTION 22. RIGHTS OF THE ACCUSED. In criminal prosecutions the accused shall have the right to appear and defend in person, or by counsel, to demand the nature and cause of the accusation against him, to have a copy thereof, to testify on his own behalf, to meet the witnesses against him face to face, to have compulsory process to compel the attendance of witnesses in his own behalf, to have a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury of the county in which the offense is charged to have been committed and the right to appeal in all cases: Provided, The route traversed by any railway coach, train or public conveyance, and the water traversed by any boat shall be criminal districts; and the jurisdiction of all public offenses committed on any such railway, car, train, boat or other public conveyance, or at any station or depot upon such route, shall be in any county through which the said car, coach, train, boat, or other public conveyance may pass during the trip or voyage, or in which the trip or voyage may begin or terminate. In no instance shall any accused person before final judgment be compelled to advance money or fees to secure the rights herein guaranteed. 7.)ARTICLE I, SECTION 29. CONSTITUTION MANDATORY. The provisions of this Constitution are mandatory, unless by express words they are declared to be otherwise. 8.)ARTICLE I, SECTION 32. FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES. A frequent recurrence to fundamental principles is essential to the security of individual rights and the perpetuity of free government. 9.)ARTICLE XI, SECTION 13. PRIVATE PROPERTY, WHEN MAY BE TAKEN FOR PUBLIC DEBT. Private property shall not be taken or sold for the payment of corporate debt of any public or municipal corporation, except in the mode provided by the law for the levy and collection of taxes. 10.)ARTICLE XVII TIDE LANDS, SECTION 1. DECLARATION OF STATE OWNERSHIP. The State of Washington asserts its ownership to the beds and shores of all navigable waters in the state up to and including the line of ordinary high tide, in waters where the tide ebbs and flows, and up to and including the line of ordinary high water within the banks of all navigable rivers and lakes: Provided, That this section shall not be construed so as to debar any person from asserting his claim to vested rights in the courts of the state. 11.)ARTICLE XXI, WATER AND WATER RIGHTS, SECTION 1. PUBLIC USE OF WATER. The use of the waters of this state for irrigation, mining, and manufacturing purposes shall be deemed a public use. So, according to this list of eleven direct conflicts with the WA State Constitution, We the People of Stevens County who are land and/or livestock owners, respectfully refuse to submit to, and or comply with any of the “buffer zone” or “setback” demands. In addition to the eleven conflicts with the WA State Constitution, are the similar conflicts described in the 3 of the Amendments of the United States Constitution, which are described as follows; 1.)AMENDMENT V: No person shall be…deprived of life liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation. 2.)AMENDMENT VI: In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense. 3.)AMENDMENT XIV: No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of the law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the3 equal protection of the laws. According to all three direct conflicts with the U.S. Constitution listed above, We the People of Stevens County, who are land and/or livestock owners, respectfully refuse to submit to, and/or comply with any of the “buffer zone” or “setback” demands. In total, there are 14 direct conflicts with the WA State and U.S. Constitutions in regards to the Department of Ecology’s plans to establish ANY amount of footage of “buffer zone” or “setback” on privately owned property. Therefore, attempting to enforce ANY amount of footage of “buffer zone” or “setback” on private property is repugnant to both the WA State and U.S. Constitutions. Collectively, it is our duty as Americans to refuse to submit to, or comply with any law that is repugnant to either of the WA State or U.S. Constitutions. We demand that the Department of Ecology adhere to the confines of the law. We the People, who are land and/or livestock owners in Stevens County, hereby non-violently refuse to comply with ANY AND ALL “buffer zone” and or “setback” demands. Below are our signatures verifying that we agree with this basic statement of collective, non-violent refusal. Respectfully, Stevens County Individual Land and Livestock Owners
July 20, 2014