YES, this is a last minute post....YES, it is long as most Land Use Issue readings are.
READ IT......ACT UPON IT......RIGHT AWAY......!!!
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Sneak Attack Kelo Type Eminent Domain Vote On HR 3998 Tuesday, Call Now
You must call your Congressman Tuesday, December 4th and Wednesday, December 5th.
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This is an all out call to action. You must call, call, and call again. Also send faxes and e-mails. If you don't have your Congressman's fax or e-mail address, call them to get it. Ask for the staff person who handles National Parks or the Resources Committee. Call any Congressman at:
(202) 225-3121
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Your Congressman can stop HR 3998 from being voted on by unanimous consent. All he or she has to do is object to the unanimous consent motion. Your Congressman can insist on a recorded vote. He/she
must insist on a recorded vote.
Stranahan House, Rim of the Valley, Mississippi River, and six other bills are joined together in the giant HR 3998 National Legacy Study Bill and will
be voted on the floor of the House Tuesday by unanimous consent in a sneak attack against private property rights. If HR 3998 passes Congress, it will lead to Kelo type Eminent Domain procedures by the National Park Service to take private property from thousands of unsuspecting and innocent property owners.
HR 3998 includes Rim of the Valley and the whole Mississippi River Trail Park. Thousands of landowners in these areas have no idea they are in jeopardy. They are going to face eminent domain by the National Park Service. 58,000 landowners in the proposed Rim of the Valley Park in California alone are in the land acquisition zone. Thousands more along the Mississippi. Any Congressman can throw up his hands and stop this unanimous consent motion on the House floor. They must do it stop this voice vote that will eventually hurt so many landowners. You must call your Congressman to
insist that he or she vote no on the unanimous consent motion and insist that there be a recorded vote on HR 3998.
You may call any Congressman at (202) 225-3121
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You must call all day Monday and Tuesday to oppose HR 3998 and insist on a recorded vote.
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Stranahan House in Florida is just one part of HR 3998 and is particularly egregious. The local non-profit that owns the Stranahan House already got
the local government to try to take the private land around the Stranahan House using Kelo type eminent domain. They lost in court. Now they're
trying to substitute the Federal eminent domain power of the National Park Service to condemn the land. This endangers you and every other
landowner if they get away with it. There is a secret plan of attack by supporters of the National Legacy Study Act (HR 3998) (Omnibus Parks Bill) to vote by unanimous consent shortly after Congress comes into session on Tuesday, December 4th or Wednesday, December 5th. You must get your calls in early and often.
That means that if no Congressman objects, 10 new National Park studies will pass by voice vote by unanimous consent with no accountability. You won't even know how your Congressman voted.
Here is a summary of the National Legacy Study Act. HR 3998 is a massive Omnibus Parks Bill joining together 10 proposed parks into one giant Omnibus Parks Bill.
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Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne and the Bush Administration are letting their supporters down. Most of HR 3998 is supported by the Interior
Department and the National Park Service. They are endangering private property rights and encouraging eminent domain by the National Park Service. HR 3998 has no provision preventing Eminent Domain or Condemnation. In the absence of a provision preventing it, Eminent Domain or Condemnation are automatically allowed by the National Park Service.
A vote for HR 3998 is a vote for Eminent Domain and Condemnation.
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A vote for HR 3998 is a vote against private property rights.
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You must call your Congressman today to insist that he or she oppose HR 3998 and allowing the use of Kelo type eminent domain in HR 3998. HR 3998 should include a provision prohibiting the use of eminent domain. You must insist that the vote on HR 3998 be a recorded vote so you and
everyone else will know who voted and how their Congressman voted. Every Congressman may be called at
(202) 225-3121.
Summary of HR 3998
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HR 3998, by Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) authorizes 10 separate studies for new National Trails and Parks. These are often giant areas incorporating
hundreds of thousands of acres and the land of thousands of farmers, ranchers and other landowners. People are usually confused by the word trail. It can actually mean the condemnation of thousands of acres on either side of the proposed trail. It becomes a huge park. The people along the Mississippi River have no idea how much danger they are in. Their Congressmen have a chance to stop this bill now. If it passes, landowners along the Mississippi will enter a 20 year reign of terror.
Go to
www.landrights.org to read my testimony on the National Trail Act and the Appalachian Trail to see how bad things are when you are facing land acquisition and eminent domain by the National Park Service.
Also at
www.landrights.org read my testimony on HR 701, (CARA), the Conservation and Reinvestment Act. This testimony will give you lots of documented horror stories about how the National Park Service treats private landowners and local communities. 3998 is asking a giant bureaucracy, the National Park Service, if it wants more land, more money, more power or more people. It is very rare indeed for the Park Service to turn down more land, more power as well as more money. A few parts of HR 3998, the National Legacy Study Act, are relatively harmless. But you cannot oppose part of a bill. It is all or nothing. The limited good parts of HR 3998 that are defeated now will make their way back in future bills.
