doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com KyJon

He posted on the Merry Christmas line on Dec 25, at 12:41 PM.

Thanks. I missed that.

Sorry for the absence. Had to take a bit of time off to try and help a neighbor, with a small child and a husband who needs a ride to the Train Station. He is now in jail and likely to remain so for a decent amount of time. Rehab for drugs, did not take. It too often, does not. Had a bit of body shop work on the old body for a tune up for my next and last 20 years. Shoulders, knees, hips are good to go, I am told, and back is about 75% which is as good as it has been for 30 years. I even loaded up about 20,000 hulls for shooting for the next couple years.

Eightbore, I would move back to MD if you could move all the morons in charge out, so it would be the state I grew up in. I am sure others would like their childhood state back, the way it mostly was, so I am not alone in that. I loved Maryland of the 50's, 60's and even 70's. Sometime after that it went liberal and now woke. I still have property there, but feel the ridiculous amount of regulations, taxes and need to ask permission to do anything on my own land. I never thought it would come to it, but the entire state has become Montgomery or PG county, with those elected or employed by the state, in charge and directing you in every little detail. I was not "allowed" to harvest timber on a "tree farm" I planted in 1973 because harvesting timber would disturb the ground and could cause runoff. That is not exactly what I was told. They said I could cut the timber, if I did not disturb the ground within a set distance from any ditch which drained into the Bay which would have made almost half my land impossible to harvest. Helicopters and long cranes would be an option. If you want to price one, let me know. I did and the numbers scared me.

So I did a little research and found out the ditches in question were not part of the local "tax ditch system" put in in the 1960's. It was private and only tied into the "tax ditch" system. The state did not own them, maintain them or have total control of them. I guess I was technically taking unfair advantage of the Tax Ditch system on the other side of the farm. So I filled in 20 feet of every ditch draining my property where the timber was. Cut the timber in the dry summer, that hurt the local farmers and had all my ditches cleaned out afterwards with a couple new pipes installed to drive across. Replanted pine trees for the next generation to harvest. The state pitch a fit but could not do anything about it. I doubt I could do that again, but I might have to try in a couple years. I have seen another attack starting of the Pine Borer infestation that killed a lot of trees a couple decades ago. That along with the red oak fungus blight, which is killing most of my red oaks is killing most of my trees. A squirrel needs to bring his own lunch these days to live in most of the woods of my youth and quail are just gone forever, forever. Pine trees, small grains and chickens are about all we grow there anymore. And those in government, working to protect what they see as their duty and rights. That is a bumper crop in its own right.

Bravo sir, from one who lives just 2 miles south of that border but in a county that now resembles San Francisco. Well written and expressed as usual. There are frontier poets on this board. And good luck with the back - that is a bi-ch.

Good on you for not taking what the local "authorities" told you as being the gospel, and researching it for yourself. This is often the case, that someone in charge knows so little about what they administrate.

Also, good to have you back.

It's not the Dictatorship of the Majority that we should have been fearing. It's the Dictatorship of the Bureaucrat!

Small people who gain some power like to wield it, regardless of the purpose, use or benefit. Government service attracts more small people than private enterprise. It's not about service, it's about power and security.

I am not some Libertarian, who fights the good fight and has the Constitution in my back pocket. In general I try to stay low and not draw attention unless I have no other choice. Then I have learned that knowledge is everything, and that those in charge often have a incomplete knowledge base and sometimes if you read enough and ask enough questions, to the right person you can learn things which may help you. Plain and simple as that. Others have done this before, you just need to find them and learn from them.

In my youth we had many family members who were elected officials, or employed by the county or state. The mindset was just different. I am not saying that they all were self sacrificing individuals, who bent over backwards, at all times and that things were a bed of roses. A couple of them could be real assholes when they wanted to be I am certain. But they did have the mindset that their job was to do what they thought was right, instead of today's more authoritarian leadership, who can interpt laws how they think it supports their decisions, who get mad if you question their decision. Many decisions are made off hand, based on how it has been done lately, not so much the rule of law. And if it is wrong, or not really accurate to what the law or rules say, it is hard to get them to alter their initial decision. You need a preponderance of evidence, or clear history of a written policy, that you can present for them to follow. The threat of legal action only makes them more rigid. Don't ask how I learned that lesson. I have given them all the proper law, policy and previous history and then given them time to adjust their decision. You can not force them to do so. But often they will come around.

In the case of cutting timber, I knew I was on fairly substantial ground and just did it. Sometimes it is better to ask for forgiveness than try to get written permission. I took a strict interpretation of the rules, of the reasons they would not let me proceed and made that a moot point. I amended my tree farm plan and got that approved by that person who dealt with that issue. Simply put, I decided to temporarily close off the ditches, which were not part of the Tax Ditch system which allowed me to maintain them without any outside supervision, during a dry period, clean out the ditches and install new pipe in the ditches to drive across. Separate was the decision to harvest timber while this was going on. Ditches were closed so chances for any runoff was near zero. The timber was cut in five days. Ten days from when the ditches were partially filled in to "block" runoff and allow installation of new pipes, during the middle of what was a near drought. The new pipes were installed to drive across and the temporary fill in removed along with cleaning out almost a mile of ditches. Still they could have tried to come after me, but my legal advice was they would be hard pressed to win, but not impossible to win. And their legal bills would cost them zero where mine would be real and painful to me.

That is why I am not likely to be able to do it again. I had a forest harvest permit to harvest timber with the restriction that I could not disturb the undergrowth, near ditches, which was likely to cause runoff, that could end up in the Bay. It comes under "Soil erosion and sediment control regulations" which vary be county. Technically you can not "grade" a property without their approval if they say it is likely to result in runoff into a ditch that could lead to the Bay. Very broad rules left up to what they say they are. Read this for yourself but understand every county is different and can have rules that are different.

"Any deleterious effect on waters or wetlands, including their quality, quantity, surface area, species composition, aesthetics, or usefulness for human or natural uses, which are or may potentially be harmful or injurious to human health, welfare, safety or property, biological productivity, diversity, or stability or that unreasonably interfere with the enjoyment of life or property, including outdoor recreation."Chesapeake Bay Critical Area. All waters of and lands under the enjoyment of life or property, including outdoor recreation."

"Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries to the head of tide as indicated on the State wetlands' maps; and all State and private wetlands designated under the Annotated Code of Maryland, Natural Resources Article, Title 9; and all land and water areas within one thousand (1,000) feet beyond the landward boundaries of State or private wetlands and heads of tide designated under the Annotated Code of Maryland, Natural Resources Article Title 9, as indicated on approved Chesapeake Bay Critical Area Overlay Zoning Map Amendments."

"Timber Harvesting (Logging). The severing of any size tree above ground level leaving the root system and all stumps intact, except for the purpose of providing a temporary access for some other use, or for the removal of a dead, dying or hazardous tree. A Tree Conservation Plan may be required for the timber harvesting activities to be conducted in conformance with Subtitle 25. "

With that, they could decide whatever they wanted to decide and then it is up to you and your lawyer to make me change their decision. And it cost me money to fight them and they do not care at all. It is their "job" and their legal fees do not cost them, in fact in the end their legal fees get paid from taxes I have to pay. So if you find a workaround then you take it and hope reason works. Trust me it has not always worked for me. But if you do not fight them then 40% of my tree farm could never be harvested at all. All in the name of rules put into place 30 years after I started. Had I known I would have just left that marginal land as crop land, runoff be hanged.

Good to have you back, Jon.