The newly formed Al Yelton Chapter in Grant County of the League of Kentucky Property Owners has invited League members to attend their upcoming membership drive meeting that is scheduled for Tuesday, May 14 at the Grant County High School Auditorium. Refreshments will be served at 7:00 p.m. and the program begins at 7:30 p.m.

The guest speaker will be Dr. Jeff Edgens, Director of the Morehead State University, who will discuss property rights. Dr. Edgens received his Ph.D. from Michigan State University in Environmental and Natural Resources Policy through the Department of Resource Development in 1997. His dissertation focused on the private property rights opinions of local Michigan township boards. His professional experience includes a stint at Michigan Farm Bureau as Manager of the Environmental Department.

At the Michigan Farm Bureau, Dr. Edgens developed policy papers, performed bill analysis and several innovative national and state committees. He served on the American Farm Bureau Federation's Water Quality Task Force as well as various statewide land use issues for farmland protection, conservation easements, and smart growth.

Plan to attend to learn more about safeguarding the right to acquire, utilize and enjoy private property. Come as you are, no reservations needed.

2002 League Focus

Spring begins a time of life's renewal.

Our League is renewing its focus the remainder of the year for developing additional stewards for our property rights.

You have been invited to renew your annual membership and we are hopeful you have been generous in doing so.

We are also hopeful you have had the opportunity to discuss our objectives with some family, friends or neighbors and invited them to participate in our adventure!

If you feel our goals are worthy-share them with someone else.

2001 saw some horrendous violations of property rights in parts of our country. My immediate family has been adversely affected by the Environment Protection Agency's handling of the Klamath Basin sucker fish and Coho salmon fiasco, there. Happily, as this year began, scientists were able to prove how brutally incorrect the Agency had been in its evaluation of the sucker fish and Coho salmon's environment damage.

As this is being written the farmers and ranchers are turning their soils in the knowledge that they will be getting water for irrigation this year for the crops they plant.

Hold 24 October open for our annual meeting. We are planning speakers and activities that will make you proud to be part of our organization! You will hear more soon.

Respectfully,
william h adkisson
president
League of Kentucky Property Owners

Eco-tyranny from Washington

Several of the Senate's most liberal members, including Hillary Clinton, Jim Jeffords and Joe Lieberman are pushing for a bill that would allow federal bureaucrats to determine how land will be developed and used in local communities. This bold attack on our federalist society is titled the "Community Character Act" (S. 975). The name says it all, as several characters are acting to hijack our communities.

S. 975 is simply a bribe offered by the federal government to localities to update their zoning plans. The feds promise to pay for 90% of the costs for the updates-BUT ONLY IF THE LOCALITY DOES IT THEIR WAY. And just what is feds' way? SMART GROWTH (read, NO GROWTH).

Recall that the Clinton Administration paid $2 million for a "Smart Growth Legislative Guidebook" that is intended to "guide" counties, cities and towns on how to update their zoning. S. 975 provides the money to force
this agenda on unsuspecting localities. This bill is the vehicle for mandatory sustainable development. Among other dictates, S. 975 calls for land use planning to "promote social equity." By gaining control of how property is developed in YOUR community, the federal government thinks it can control how YOU live. It is essentially snatching your property rights through the channel of local government.

**Action to Take** - Call both of your Senators and tell them to vote NO on S. 975! S. 975 is anti-property rights and anti-American. Individuals and locally elected officials should be free to determine the type and amount of growth appropriate for their communities. We don't need the federal government and radical environmentalists forcing their warped vision upon us! Call Capitol Hill Senate Switchboard: (202) 224-3121 and simply ask for your Senators by name.

Private Property Rights Prevail!

Judge Loren Smith of the United States Court of Federal Claims handed down one of the most important property rights decisions ever issued by a federal court regarding the law specifically applicable to the Western lands. Wayne Hage won the critical property tights phase of the Hage vs. United States takings case.

The Court rejected the government's and environmentalists' arguments that western ranchers have no property rights on the federal lands, which make up their grazing allotments. Because of this critical ruling, western ranchers can now stand and defend their private property rights on their base land and grazing allotments.

This is a tremendous victory for American landowners, and a staggering defeat for the environmentalists' agenda. These organizations have understood for a long time that control of the water in the West brings with it control of the land. They have recognized that to enforce their agenda, and eliminate ranching and the natural resource industries on the federal lands, they would have to win control of the water. The government has been their tool in trying to gain this control. And now, they have lost this pivotal battle.

This Final Decision for phase one is rich with precedents that will help every landowner in America protect his property rights. The Court has handed us one of the century's most important legal precedents. The balance between property rights and government regulations on federal lands has never before been more thoroughly defined. And, importantly to westerners, the key to the West - water - has been securely placed in the hands of the people.

In essence, the Court has said that while the government may own the bank, they do not own the gold. That is owned by America's landowners.

The next state in the case is critical. And there is no better set of case facts than those behind Hage v. United States where there is overwhelming evidence that the federal land management agencies abused their regulatory power in order to force Wayne Hage off his property. If Mr. Hage prevails in this second phase, the environmental agenda will have been dealt another crushing blow, and property rights in America will be better protected as intended by the framers of our Constitution.

From Washington...

Government-Funded Manual on Land Use Draws Fire

By Michael Collins
Scripps Howard News Service

Supporters say it's a how-to manual for controlling urban sprawl through planned or "smart growth" development.

Critics say it's a handbook for radically altering land-use plans nationwide, stripping property owners of their rights and devastating small businesses.

A $2.5 million, government-funded guidebook that tells states how they can manage urban sprawl and other land-use problems has ignited a debate among business groups, property-rights advocates, environmentalists and members of Congress.

The subcommittee chairman, Rep. Steve Chabot, R-Ohio, said he has serious concerns that the guidebook promotes a "top-down" approach to land-use planning that would remove such matters from the hands of local authorities.

Opponents contend that property-rights groups and small-business organizations were deliberately excluded from the 18-member committee that developed the manual. Some are asking that Congress refuse to give money to states and local communities to carry out the recommendations.

The guidebook promotes "bad policy" that would make the United States "one big zoning law."

Among the critics' primary concerns are recommendations that local governments be required to write land-use plans that follow state goals and regional plans - even if residents in those areas don't agree with such plans.

The rapid development of rural areas means the "one-size-fits-all" approach no longer works. Local communities should be allowed to select the approach that best suits their needs.