Most of the passionate people who make known their objections are too hearty and well intentioned to give up and let the HTGCD Board destroy the valley
Note: Ms. Knight was one of dozens of Wimberely area citizens who attended the board meeting of the Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District Monday in Dripping Springs. She is a member of the board of the Wimberley Valley Watershed Association and also serves as a director of the Wimberley Chapter, League of Women Voters. She is speaking here on her own behalf.
Send your comments and news tips to the roundup.editor@gmail.com, to Ms. Knight at dknight17@austin.rr.com or click on the "comments" button at the bottom of the story
By Dorothy Knight
Guest Commentary
The headline says it all – the HTGCD Board meeting held Monday, Feb. 21 was another exercise in futility for the Wimberley Valley Citizens who voiced their concerns and provided many good reasons for the Board to table the requested three-year permits from Wimberley Springs Partners and Wimberley Water Supply Corporation.Despite testimony from two dozen citizens who requested that the HTGCD wait for determination of the Managed Available Groundwater (MAG) for this region to be set by the Texas Water Development Board in the spring before taking action, the District Board ignored all appeals and acted in accordance with the now famous disregard for the public they are supposed to serve. Less than half a dozen citizens voiced support for the action taken.
The lack of concern for the scientific evidence needed to make sound decisions and the disregard for advice from professional hydrogeologists who cautioned that a water budget needs to be established and incorporated into the district’s management plan before making such decisions are glaring indicators of the road ahead for the Wimberley Valley.
The metaphor invoked by David Baker, vice-president of the HTGCD Board, is that it is granting increased usage of water that is already allocated. It is a form of deficit spending that threatens to dry up not only Jacob’s Well but the whole of Cypress Creek in years to come. The following statements reveal why that is an accurate assessment.
The Wimberley Springs Partners were granted their permit with an increase of 250 acre feet per year, with an additional 250 acre feet guaranteed following a year of adequate rainfall, deemed to be 32” or more. The additional 500 acre feet that could be pumped annually by Wimberley Springs Partners will certainly guarantee the development of the 1,300 platted lots owned by WSP will take place, all in the recharge area for Jacob’s Well.
The three-year permit granted to Wimberley Water Supply Corporation allocates an additional 8% in water usage, from 695 acre feet a year to 750 acre feet. In justifying the request for increased water allotment, Tom Haley, the general manager of WWS, stated that additional water might be needed for growth, including an HEB or other businesses that want to open in Wimberley. Is this an omen of the future of this valley?
Disgruntled citizens who came to the meeting and bared their hearts and souls in both their pleas and threats to protest are settling in to determine their next strategy. Action must be pursued or the alternatives that threaten the resources we now protect will predominate.
Most of the passionate people who make known their objections are too hearty and well intentioned to give up and let the HTGCD Board destroy the valley.
65 comments:
Why don't folks install rain water systems on their homes/businesses/all rooftops?
It's cleaner, tastes better, is more economical, and would eliminate a major source of monthly revenue/funding for these folks who think groundwater is unlimited.
And no, we are not in the rainwater installation business. We do have rainwater on two rooftops, with smaller tanks for gardens and animals.
I'm surprised Commissioner Conley is not extending RR 12 all the way to the front door of Mike Black in Midland.
Make no mistake he is complicit in the Wimberley Springs Partners/Aqua Texas takeover of the Aquifer.
Mike Black knows, just like any other oil/gas man from West Texas, that water is the new oil. (see T.Boone Pickens land grab over the Ogallala Aquifer if you have any doubts).
These speculators came, they saw and it really is up to us to not let them conquer.
More BS from the WVWA cult.
First Ms. Knight, you have not established that "deficit allocation" is being performed. "Suspect" is an understatement when referring to representations by your cult leader, Baker.
Second, the "community" was not ignored at all. You had an opportunity to speak up - but you are mistaken to believe that this is a matter determined by who is present in the audience. Error number 2 is presuming that you represent "the community". You do not and it would be irrelevant in any event.
Third, the HTGCD has been issuing permits for a decade without a MAG. What you really seek is to avoid action on a permit request that has no basis to be denied. (i.e., stalling). You also fail to recognize that the MAG is NOT a threshold limit on what can be allocated. The MAG is the amount of water that the district has no ability to refuse to permit. Anything above that is discretionary.
Fourth, your organization's executive director has used his position on the board to surreptitiously thwart legitimate processes by i) sending in false information to the TWDB and misrepresenting its source; ii) submitting "management reports" to state agencies as official reports when in fact they were propaganda pieces prepared by WVWA - not the HTGD. Let's not forget Baker being linked to the multiple unlawful accesses to the HTGCD bank account. The county should perform an audit to see where all the money given to WVWA has been going. Certainly there should be no further reliance upon representations by WVWA board members given the events that have already occurred.
Fifth, you misrepresented WSP as seeking an increase in pumping. In fact, the evidence presented indicated that they had already been pumping - before the district ever existed. They were seeking a permit good for 1/4th the amount they believed they were otherwise entitled to. Seems like a decent compromise that they had no obligation to make.
Sixth, WSP did not get "500 acre feet annually" as you have claimed (taking lessons from Baker?). There is a one time 250 acre foot amount allocated that they can use over the next 3 years. They could use it all in one year or spread it across 3 years as they choose.
Seventh, you have misrepresented the amount allocated to WWSC. They received a permit for something like 720, 730, and then 750 over the next three years. What is your problem? WWSC is not a for-profit water company. It's sole customers are also its shareholder/members.
Eighth - it's hard to believe you made so many errors and misrepresentations in such a short article. However, it's pretty clear from the remainder that you are really just anti-growth and anti-change with respect to other people's property. You really don't have any legal basis for your claims and your misrepresentations reveal that you are little more than a blockleiter for the WVWA cult.
Methinks that anonymous @ 8:51pm doth protest too much. Whoever he/she is they write the same old rhetoric on every article about water conservation. Whoever you are give it a rest or do you like insulting everyone. This is not open dialogue about differences it is just garden variety attempts to intimidation. You are making yourself into a clown and no one believes you anymore.
Let the grownups talk and you go play your paranoia games.
The meeting or hearing the other night was a victory for common sense and fairness. The protesters exemplified one of the greatest threats to our republic, the “tyranny of the minority”. This type of action was foreseen by our founders and is characterized by a minority of the citizenry attempting to gain enough political power, by whatever means, then use that power to dictate to the majority their beliefs and precepts. Those minorities that create such a fraud typically use lies, petitions, rumors, personal attacks, and other means to accomplish their sinister task. Our founders warned us about this in the Constitution, and the Federalist Papers. Examples of this are all over the place and a good example is the Union proponents and their Democrat Senators in Wisconsin.
Their display of silliness and drama was expected by the people that really count and the board’s decision was as hoped for and expected. There were a couple of the anti-growth speakers that seemed from another planet, maybe with the aid of pharmaceuticals. The one that read from the Egyptian “Book of the Dead” was particularly out of touch. I really expected them to break out in song with, "We Shall Overcome”. It must be that there are not enough “unjust wars” to keep them occupied.
Dorothy Knight has hit the proverbial nail on the head. The majority on the groundwater district board - Skipton, Key and Nesbitt - are out to destroy whatever prospects we have to conserve the remaining groundwater in western Hays County for CURRENT RESIDENTS.
Their mission is not to conserve and protect but to serve development. Witness Tom Haley's comment about future growth and HEBs, and the three bandits on the board bought it. What sort of insanity is that? Does "future growth" trump the rights of current residents who depend on well water?
Why isn't this board being sued to kingdom come for depleting a natural resource that so many of us depend on? Those who allow this sort of banditry to go on will rue the day for playing in to the hand of the pipe-it-in water bandits.
The day will come when everyone in the Wimberley Valley will be paying double the rates of the unfortunate folks in Woodcreek served by Aqua Texas. Private well owners better hug their wells because one day there may not be any groundwater to pump.
The HTGCD is forcing its hand, tilting the game in favor of unseen FUTURE GROWTH and DEVELOPMENT and against the best interests of the current residents. There ought to be a law against that.
Hey Tea Leaves,
$200 and any idiot in the State of Texas can file a lawsuit in your local district court. Of course, you will also need an attorney; and a case. These sort of frivolous lawsuits are often dismissed because they have no merit; and if you get your lawsuit accepted and it moves forward, your attorney will want money of course, and these sort lawsuits will cover the gamut of about $100,000 to make it stick and have a chance of success.
Then, if you win, there is the appeals process, and the ongoing process of doing business that could take YEARS.
So go ahead big boy, sue.
The "experts" who believe there is plenty of water for construction and destruction? Winton Porterfield, Conley, and minions of Conley and/or Black. Just angry and cretinous goobers.
Yes, those of us who can afford it are headed toward rainwater collection.
I know Dorthy Knight, and guys, you are no Dorthy Knight. You just don't got the intelligence and social skills she has to survive in the 21st century.
@ Read the tea leaves said:
" Does "future growth" trump the rights of current residents who depend on well water? "
How about identifying what "rights" you are referring to. Methinks your imagination has run amok.
You have to give it to Tea Leaves, he/she is honest in admitting that it is all about “Current Residents”, "Future Growth", “Pipe-it-in Water” and “Development”. It was never about the pumping permits for WSP or WWSC. Although I completely disagree with Tea Leaves, it is refreshing to hear the admission of the not-so-secret agenda of the protestors. The amount of ground water in the Aquifer is unknown and will probably always be. Lying about it and expecting the MAG to be the guide will depend on what it says. If it is a large number then Baker and the protestors will want to argue about it and call it a setup, but will embrace it if it fits their model. No one has any idea how much water is being pumped out of the Aquifer or the amount that’s available. If they say they do, they are lying to you.
I noticed in the meeting, that unless I missed it, Baker never said, “Mining the Aquifer”. I wonder who called channel 7 in, hmmm, could it be Davy Boy? As usual their report was full of errors.
read the tea leaves said:
"The HTGCD is forcing its hand, tilting the game in favor of unseen FUTURE GROWTH and DEVELOPMENT and against the best interests of the current residents. "
Current residents do not have a superior interest over any other property owners in the area. Current residents do not have ownership or dictatorship over the groundwater. This is the "grandfather" group that promotes taking away rights from everyone else but expects to have exceptions for themselves.
A handful of cult members preaching about the Egyptian book of the dead, how they hear water speaking to them, and promoting attendance at the WVWA yoga love ins should be seen for what they are. Religious fanatics with no common sense, no logic, no respect for the recognized property rights of others, and a belief that they are morally superior to all that do not share their beliefs. You know what you are dealing with as soon as they mention the word "community". They mean "only their kind" in a closed system where they control who is deemed part of the "community".
Knight's anti-change stance couldn't be more apparent when she characterized her concerns about an HEB or other businesses opening up in the valley as an "omen". However, an omen is an event that can portend either good or bad - just a prediction. Having businesses open up in Wimberley is not a "bad" thing. From many perspectives it is certainly better than having them flee or fail.
Everything has a life cycle. You can't stop it and you can't legislate change out of existence no matter what your beliefs are. The world does not revolve around you.
There is another cult that exists in America, and it is one that is potentially the most dangerous of all: It is the "Growth Cult."
The Growth Cult is populated by supplicants to the big money special interests i.e. the new American mercantilists, the upper income God-annointed right wing anti-labor forces, and most scary, average middle class citizens who are increasingly thinking and voting against their own long-term economic interests.
How do they vote against their own economic interests? For one, by making the erroneous assumption that their economic interests are the same as the rich and powerful corporate mercantilists; and two, that egalitarian and sustainable job growth and acheiving the American Dream comes from mindless growth - by giving the richest five percent in the U.S. more power to control wages, benefits, and unrestricted access to our finite natural resources - under the increasingly failing premise that growth is inevitable or the preferred method of middle class economic problem-solving.
Approving WSP's water usage increase request, in many ways, is a local example of the latter.
Now, I have a home in Phase 2 Woodcreek, and I will benefit from WSP's golf course redevelopment. But I believe I would benefit more if ATI's water assets were to be "communitized" - and run as a non-profit. Then, we sensibly decide if and how healthy, practical growth in this part of Hays County will not jeapordize our drought-recurrent water supply.
Yet the problem with America these days, and it is often reflected in the local mindset, is that citizens who take the initiative and offer input are labeled as "protestors" - and that any person or organization that wants to intelligently slow growth down so we can make smart community solutions is labeled anti-growth, or more derisively, a cult. This is why I use the word "supplicant.
Such commmunity activism is not anti-growth. It is common sense and democtratic, free enterprise problem-solving. And if that's a cult, let me drink the Kool-Aid.
To Anonymous February 24, 2011 8:26 AM
You are vociferous! And repetitive! And scathing and rude! I’d love for you to tell us your name so we can quote you to the people who voted for you or who actually pay you for irresponsibly using the water of this county. You obviously are getting something out of this decision the board made! Most likely it’s money! But I doubt you will tell us because of how much you would lose if you did. Are you this prickly in person? Or are you two faced?
Do you think the people of Hays County really want you or anyone to willy-nilly draw from the aquifer? Are you actually claiming that the people in this county think it’s a good idea to allow their wells to go dry to support your agenda and line your pockets in the name of our forefathers? Excuse me, but WTF?
You claim “minority” “hippies” “cults” “liberals” are anti-growth like it’s something bad! Are you saying “majority” “conservatives” “real people” want their wells to go dry and the creeks that once ran by their homes to be dammed upstream so a few fat cats from Midland or wherever can profit from it with their developments? Again… WTF?
If this is what you believe, you should openly claim it next time you run for the board or try to sell us what it is you are selling. See how far you go with that, brother!
I know who Goober PaTroll is. He is you and me and half the people in Hays County. On the other hand, there is just Goober, who is the other half.
Isn't Texas democracy grand?
I understand there are 2 candidates so far running for the seat on the HTGCD board now held by David Baker (Place 4).
I heartily recommend that the voters of the district start putting their noses to the grindstone and learn what and who the candidates represent.
This election in May will be a bell weather election, nothing like the previous high school-style contests for prom king and queen.
It will boil down to a contest between development/water marketing interests and groundwater conservation interests. It will be a chance for the citizens of the valley, woodcreek and outlying areas to express what kind of water future they want.
There are no longer any excuses. The time has come for the citizens and voters to fish or cut bait.
There is another way to act in a community responsible way:
Spread the word and organize county-wide boycotts against WSP, and all of its local business interests. That includes discouraging prospects from buying their new homes, not playing golf on their poisoned grass courses, and boycotting whatever else they do here in Hays County in a flexibleand creative way.
And that includes pickets and protests at the entrances to WSP businesses and sales points.
Let's see how serious many of you really are about being strong community voices. Don't just vote and write; be a courageous non-violent trouble maker - just like the old days when liberals and progressives really stood for something.
Otherwise, just open your bottle of mediocre Merlot and write some meaningless dribble in this blog.
to: Anonymous Feb. 24, 8:26 AM
I think you are a man whose initials are C.P. You carry
water (pun intended) for WSP, and
your postings here have the vicious
and frustrated tone I've always
associated with Mr. C.P.
Put a stopper in it, lad. You're
just one of many lackeys who leap
to do the bidding of WSP, thinking
you will cash in on the payoff one
of these days. At least you don't
wear the uniform of the Porterfield
Patrol: clean but faded jeans,
polo shirt, expensive baseball-style cap with sunglasses perched on it. You're just as deluded,
though a little smarter than they,
however.
@ Rocky said:
"But I believe I would benefit more if ATI's water assets were to be "communitized" - and run as a non-profit."
Then you can agree to purchase them, if they are for sale. As to the "non-profit" part, apparently that is not good enough since you have other organizations (CARD, WVWA) working overtime to deny non-profit water companies like WWSC any amendments or changes or even renewals for their permits.
Rocky said: "Yet the problem with America these days, and it is often reflected in the local mindset, is that citizens who take the initiative and offer input are labeled as "protestors" - and that any person or organization that wants to intelligently slow growth down so we can make smart community solutions is labeled anti-growth, or more derisively, a cult."
Protesters are the ones who opposed the permit application for WSP and who opposed WWSC's renewal request. The anti-growth crowd stooped to misinformation, loud voices, irrational arguments, and generally demanded an evisceration of other property owners' rights in pursuit of an agenda.
Rocky said: "Such commmunity activism is not anti-growth. It is common sense and democtratic, free enterprise problem-solving. "
This comment right after the "communitzation" of private property belonging to others? Sounds pretty socialist, not democratic and certainly not free enterprise.
Rocky said: "And if that's a cult, let me drink the Kool-Aid."
Bottoms up Rocky. By the way, today's flavor is every cult's favorite: Guyana Punch
Here's how you'll know whom NOT to
vote for in the election for HTGCD Board, Place 4:
Before the May elections, large signs will appear at the NW corner of the FM 2325/Jacob's Well Road
intersection and at the FM 2325 entrance to Eagle Rock. Those signs
will trumpet the name of the candidate backed by Wimberley Springs Partners. That's when you
will know whom NOT to elect.
Well Anonymous at February 24, 2011 4:14 PM
Then all WSP has to do is put up signs for the ones they don’t want elected and coast home to a win. Thanks for the Idea, we never thought of it. What a great idea!!!
Regarding second to last Anonymous who addresses some of my comment points, here is a perfect example of the "growth cult."
"Communitization" equals socialist?
So, according to our own local Senator Joe McCarthy, Wimberley Water Company is socialist; WISD is socialist;, all of
Wimberley's churches are socialist; and the Food Bank is socialist.
I'm sorry. Maybe I shoould call the
growth cultists "Growthaholics."
See, "growthaholics" - when they are going through withdrawals and/or not getting their needed growth fix - abuse their fellow citizens, call them "protestors" when attending openly public meetings, and labels anyone socialist when we are not cowtowing to their anti-middle class, tax evading rhetoric.
The best way to deal with "growthaholics" is to have an intervention, as in 1) hold your ground, 2) don't be fooled by nonsensical labels, 3) and don't let these destroyers of healthy middle class economic values control the dialogue with desparate and bullying growth addicted talking points.
Do Wimberley Springs Partners huge takings of groundwater thus depleting the source of flowing springs mean its name is no longer valid? The name is an oxymoron, is it not?
Roadrunner, you statement, “Wimberley Springs Partners huge takings of groundwater” is misleading at best. WSP did not ‘take’ anything, it was permitted to pump up to maximum number of acre-feet of groundwater for a beneficial use, by the State’s groundwater regulatory body as proscribed by the Texas Water Code. This was a legal proceeding and your characterization of it as a “taking” is ludicrous. WSP legally obtained the rights to pump water from under their property. If you don’t like it, that’s too bad. If you were just trying to be funny, nice try but no cigar.
@Rocky said:
"Communitization" equals socialist? So, according to our own local Senator Joe McCarthy, Wimberley Water Company is socialist; WISD is socialist;, all of Wimberley's churches are socialist; and the Food Bank is socialist."
Rocky you promoted taking over someone else's property through "communitization". That is a taking.
All of your analogies were poor. I believe that I made the comment that you could pay for the ATI system if it were for sale (and it is not) and apparently you take issue with that - more evidence of your socialistic tendencies.
Your analogies were are all poor. WWSC started as a co-op. You are welcome to become a member/owner if you are within their service area. Churches are something you are free to attend/support - no one compels you to attend/support a particular church or any church. WISD has numerous problems but that doesn't prevent someone from sending their kids to private school or homeschooling.
None of the examples are even close to what you proposed - the taking of property that belongs to others ("communitization") under some faux theory of "community" and then prohibiting people from obtaining their water from any other source. What you are proposing is more akin to identifying a church, taking it over and converting it to NewChurch with NewReligion, and then demanding under penalty of law that everyone in your subdivision attend your NewChurch. Except that you want to do this with water.
Who would be in charge of this "communitized" water system? Under what theory would you convert property that you do not own?
"Community" is a meaningless abstract concept. It is not a "person", it is not a "party". Anyone relying upon "community" has the morality of a herd animal. Many of the protesters exhibited this herd animal mentality - they actually believe that "majority rules" is the sole determining factor in decisions made by others - without regard to individual rights. This is typical communitarian mentality. In actuality, the protesters aren't even a majority. They are little more than an introverted tyrannical minority.
People that tout "community" aren't looking to save anything - they are looking to control everyone else.
Rocky says "See, "growthaholics" - when they are going through withdrawals and/or not getting their needed growth fix - abuse their fellow citizens, call them "protestors" when attending openly public meetings, and labels anyone socialist when we are not cowtowing to their anti-middle class, tax evading rhetoric."
Rocky, the protestors are those who opposed the applicant's request for a permit. That is not bashing, mislabeling, inaccurate, or insincere. On the other hand, the protesters have no qualms about name-calling, etc.
Not sure how supporting approvals for a permit for WSP or renewal of a permit for WWSC is "anti middle class". Perhaps you could elaborate on why supporting these permits is anti-middle class.
Protestors opposed both of these. Dorothy Knight clearly fears the possibility of an HEB or businesses opening in Wimberley Valley as an "omen of the future of the valley". Now how is that supportive of any class? I invite you to look at the editorial photos of the more outspoken protesters and their organizations. With the exception of maybe 1, the protesters were all white and aged at least 60-70.
The protesters are clearly anti-change and would prefer to keep the demographics just the way they are. I think Dorothy Knight's article and photo as well as the identity of the protesters and their conducts at the meeting supports my observation rather than your claims.
Last Anonymous makes some good points, although my comments are based on the labels and fear-based stereotypes that when you have an open meeting about local public policy, attendees - no matter how raucous, are not "protestors." Were their picket signs and/or efforts to disrupt the meeting so nothing could get done? And even if there was, is that not democracy in action? America used to be a great country because we strived to give "minorities" redress for their rights. Yet I do not hear that the meeting you refer to was raucous caused by a minority of attendees. My understanding is most of the attendees were against giving WSP the permit. Right? Wrong?
As to the "I see socialism in everything" Anonymous who keeps twisting my words around to suit his paranoid vision of everything as totalitarian communism, I suggest you research "Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder" (OCD) and consider if that applies to you. It is a form of depression. Good luck, and I will pray for you.
I was on Goober PaTroll this morning and saw the usual things.
I passed by the Wimberley Springs (yes, oxymoron, or for short, moron) office and saw Winton Porterfield's car parked (Winton is known locally as "the Walrus").
I pulled into the little strip center where the commissioner's office is. Conley, known everywhere as "the Carwash guy", is never at his office; it's not good enough for him.
On my way back from San Marcos I thought of all the Goobers who had promoted the destruction of RR 12, at 10 million dollars a mile. Many taxpayers always complain, yet they vote for things (road bond) which will raise their taxes.
And lastly, one can't help but notice all the white crosses topped by American flags. Everywhere. I propose we change the town name from Wimberley to Crossflag. A country founded on religous tolerance has a little nest of intolerance right here in River City.
I for one will not be drinking the Kool-Aid. I prefer to behave as an idividual; not following some Glen Beck type of mentality that exists here in River City.
Water here is gold. Most likely we'll have another serious drought in the very near future. Many now have short memories. And some of the Goober power brokers know this well. They'll make tons of money mining gold at our expense.
Do you feel better now, Rocky? Or should I have said, ‘Ralph’ since you strayed a little over into the modus operandi of your alter ego. It’s always better to let your wounds bleed a little to prevent infection. I hate to gloat but the demonstrators (they had signs on sticks and yelled by the way) lost the battle with against WSP and the property rights advocates won. Your diatribe discloses your frustration with the fact that many people in this area are beginning to see the light that has so long been dimmed by the “Springs and Streams” cultists as well as the Anti-Growth advocates.
Here's how to vote for Place 2, HTGCD:
ABG -- Anybody But Greg (Nesbitt).
Greg Nesbitt is the dullard who
thinks we don't need to worry about
the aquifer level in years when we
get a normal amount of rain. He
believes all that rainwater trickles down into the aquifer and
is immediately available for our
use.
Problem is, that is far from correct. Rainwater that lands on
impervious cover (any sort of
building; driveways, parking lots,
even compressed caliche) often runs
into gulleys, streams, and rivers
and on to the Gulf of Mexico. Even
rainwater that hits lawns and fields takes a long time to get
down into the aquifer.
What puzzles me is that the usually
mute Nesbitt rarely speaks, and on
the two times I have heard him
laboriously frame a thought, he
has spouted the same nonsense about
rainwater immediately refilling
the aquifer. I suppose one idea is
all that his fine tiny mind can
hold at one time. Oh, well, all he
really needs to remember is to vote
the same way Skipton and Key do.
What I am seeing in this conversation is WATER being used as a symbol for an ideological divide that is much deeper.
I know what water symbolizes to me, what does it symbolize to those of you defending WSP's pumping permit?
Maybe some of you who are shouting for the property rights to pump lots and lots of water for things like golf courses or housing developments there is no demand for should look deeper into your logic and figure out just what you are working to protect and how come you are not working harder to protect the water supply like so many of your neighbors are doing.
Why would you not want to see wise decisions made about our water? Do you really care about this Valley and its water and streams or do you get your water from somewhere else? How else could anyone think pumping the well dry was a good idea unless they didn't depend on that well for their drinking water.
Don't we all want to see our groundwater supplies last and stay clean? Do you really think we have an inexhaustible supply of water around here and think that droughts and dry wells are simply "hippie" hallucinations or some sort of Marxist plot to take away your freedom?
Do you really want to see us have to pump in water from somewhere else? Are you investors in some kind of pipeline or have your money sunk into WSP or some other future housing boondoggle? Did somebody talk you into buying some cheap land and convincing you this was your retirement plan?
Think again, that wasn't a great idea back a few years ago and is getting to be a worse idea every day. Change your plans before you sink any more money or good will into speculative business plans that rely on unlimited water resources.
Why are you so upset, are your personal rights being taken away or do you just think that the "rights" of wealthy developers trump the rights of ordinary citizens who simply want to ensure their water supply?
As a community (and yes, that isn't a bad word, not last time I checked) we need to decide what is good for us and what isn't. We don't need people coming into this community and deciding to make money by depleting our aquifer whether there is some literal "right" to do that or not.
If this is a "right", then we need to address this and change the definition of a right. Winton Porterfield has no right to ruin the water supply and we need to make this very clear to him and to others of his ilk.
Yes, Wimberley is a nice place to live and if somebody comes into your community and wants to make it a less nice place to live, especially by pumping out all the water, then a community should have the RIGHT to deny them this "right".
Right?
Democracy doesn't stop once the election is over, that is where it starts.
We don't elect people to make decisions FOR us, we elect them to help design government policy WITH us.
I think this community needs to take a good long look at itself and try to figure out what is really going on here.
Question: What do "Marx", "the left", "no-growth" Christianity, American flags (with crosses attached) and a reliable supply of water have to do with one another?
Answer: Absolutely nothing logical, but you wouldn't know it from reading this blog.
Goober PaTroll is not a sick puppy. He is correct. The idea for the white crosses and the flags came originally from a right wing, anti-Muslim and anti-Obama website called "Patriotic Action Network." Here is some of their rhetoric:
"I affirm that PANetwork/ResistNet is for principled, patriotic resistance to Barack Obama's ideology."
"We have an administration that says, "We are not a Christian nation." Everywhere you look the ACLU and others are trying to remove from our history and current lives any reference to God, prayer, or the fact that our country was founded on Judeo-Christian principles. Our administration can't bring themselves to talk about "radical Muslims or Islamic terrorists" for fear of offending them; but they can talk about Americans "clinging to their guns and their religion," or insinuate that our own military troops coming home from service overseas might turn into terrorists. The majority of Americans are Christians. Why are we letting this happen to us?
"It's time to stand up and make a statement.a small, quiet, but powerful statement. If you agree, place a small white cross in your front yard or garden for all to see that they are not alone."
FYI cut and paste:
www.patriotactionnetwork.com/forum/topics/crosses-in-the-yards-of
Do the businesses and residents in Wimberley know what they are supporting? Ask them.
Treehugger, are you that naive? Of course all those words you find distasteful are part and parcel of the growing divide we have in the country regarding our water.
One the one hand we have the free markets folks who think it is OK for the private sector to control every last bit of our natural resources - to do with as they wish, as long as it makes a profit - and to pacify citizen voters so they can buy and have as much stuff as they want. This side uses scare words like property rights, socialist, cult koolaid drinkers, and patriotic free markets to try and guilt trip and fool the well-meaning and trusting citizens into taking their side.
On the other side, we have the managed growth people who are called liberals and commies and protestors and yes, treehuggers, who want things to move slowly and in a more intelligent manner, so that EVERYONE will benefit from the use of our water and our other precious natural resources.
Oh yes, the former group is primarily represented politically by the Republican Party, who in turn represents the big money corporation tax avoiders and the elite corporatists who are trying to control more and more of the nation's wealth through tax laws and by co-opting the values of the Democrats, who are supposed to represent the latter group.
Unfortunately, the latter group really has no real representation anymore, simply because the Republicans have Wall Street money and the tax avoiding oligarchs behind them, who have also decriminalized white collar crime - and who also have the Democrats there to bail them out with tax dollars and by increasing the debt when they screw up.
To nail the stake into the heart of the US corporate elite Vampire Economy, corporations and the rich are increasingly convincing people that if they allow the rich to pay less tax - while paying the government, service and education workers less (and trashing their collective bargaining rights in th process), we will all be saved and the American Dream will be realized by one and all.
Of course, that is all a lie.
So, Treehugger, water is the last stand for the citizens of America. When the elite business interests and corporatists control all of the water, they will have succeeded in their objective to castrate the American worker and render dependent the American family - and we will all just be compliant consumer slaves.
The title “Community ignored once again” by Ms. Knight is foolish as well as inaccurate to the core. First of all the Community was not ignored it was heard and considered ignorant of the facts and showed symptoms of being brainwashed by those with financial and ideological agendas.
Ms. Knight is flawed in her thinking process since her agenda is that of the WVWA and its Guru, David Baker. If you have been keeping up with current events, you will recall recent articles about the alleged fraud perpetrated on the Taxpayers of Hays County. The propaganda machine at the “Temple of Jacob’s Well” has been running full speed since the wrongdoing was suggested. Anytime $6 million dollars of taxpayer money is semi-secretly given to such a controversial group of organizations, we should be suspicious.
The followers of the WVWA remind me of the “Eloy” in the movie, “The Time Machine” walking slowly to their own reward of being eaten. The idealogs of the group are well practiced in their propaganda. Ms. Knight is an exception in that her skills are wanting yet she does somehow manages to incite some of the faithful followers and wanabes.
The lies told by their Guru and followers about the science of the Well as well as their promises have been proven false. The subject of the source of the flow from the well is open to question and a very plausible alternative theory does exist. Baker knows about it but will never mention it because it does not fit his agenda of personal enrichment.
The vicious attacks against the HTGCD and WSP are nothing more than a diversion away from the WVWA’s property scandal that is currently being investigated.
Guess Who, thanks for the clear thinking. I have been trying to come up with just what you said for weeks now, just couldn't quite put my finger on it.
Anonymous @12:29pm: Very telling that you gave Commissioner Conley a pass in your diatribe. Why is that?
If you want to communicate anything
to Winton Porterfield, local honcho
of Wimberley Springs Partners, his
email address is
winton@austin.rr.com. His office phone is 512-842-2900. His fax # is
512-847-5054. His mobile phone is
512-560-7734. If you want to talk
to him face to face, you might find
him in the office at 31 Valley Springs Road in Woodcreek North -if
the gate isn't locked.
His wife Kim is on the San Marcos
City Council, and so they both are
helping to madly develop us between Wimberley and San Marcos on RR 12.
Thinking long term says: "Why are you so upset, are your personal rights being taken away or do you just think that the "rights" of wealthy developers trump the rights of ordinary citizens who simply want to ensure their water supply?"
The only people upset are the anti-growth groupies. The citizens do not have the "rights" the anti-growth groups are claiming.
Your flawed position is that you have a right to the water and a right to exclude others. This is simply not correct. At most you have a right to access the water that may be there. You don't have the right to exclude property owners, get it?
"As a community (and yes, that isn't a bad word, not last time I checked) we need to decide what is good for us and what isn't. We don't need people coming into this community and deciding to make money by depleting our aquifer whether there is some literal "right" to do that or not."
The kind of "community" you are promoting most certainly is a bad word. The aquifer is not "yours" and you're not going to decide who lives here. Folks like yourself have to resort to using words like "community" because your position is indefensible.
Why do Wimberley Springs Partners
not pay property taxes in Woodcreek North that are equivalent
to taxes paid on identical property
owned by individuals?
Each piece of property has an "R"
number assigned to it by Hays
County Appraisal District. Here
is a run of R numbers of property
owned by WSP and by individuals in
Woodcreek North, with the appraised
value of each:
R50580 WSP $2,430
R50581 Ind. 3,000
R50582 WSP 2,430
R50583 WSP 2,430
R50584 WSP 2,430
R50585 WSP 3,000
R50586 Ind. 3,000
R50587 WSP 2,430
R50588 Ind. 3,000
R50589 WSP 2,430.
If you own a lot in Woodcreek
North -- or anywhere else near
WSP property--, you might check the
county appraisal records online
to see whether you are paying more
than WSP on adjacent or nearby
property. Get your tax appraisal
lowered to that of WSP. I have
successfully done it.
I assure you that this community has not had a chance to sit down together and decide what it wants to happen to its water supply. There are some who would like to divide this town with some lame buzz words that do nothing but confuse the issue.
Instead, there is a very well-funded group of business interests who are demanding water usage that will no doubt degrade and deplete the water supply here in this area, eventually, if not this year or next.
I have rights to water and to expect that water not to be pumped out of the ground so that somebody else can make a profit doing so. In fact, I will not allow it to happen. I just won't.
My life and my property depend on water from my well and I will not allow that water to be overused by some greedy developers. I use very little water, as do my neighbors, and we understand that this is not the place to try to grow acres of grass, keep it fertilized and trimmed down to a nub so that some folks can chase a tiny white ball around with a stick on it. The one golf course in town doesn't even make money, so what is this really about? Greedy, short-term thinking, that's what.
MY property rights are infringed upon when someone decides they don't care how much water is left or what condition it is left in after they exercise some kind of predatory "right" to overuse our shared resource.
Yes, I have a right that supercedes these corporate water raiders to expect not only my local GCD, but the Commissioners Court and the TCEQ and whoever else is charged with protecting, recharging, etc. the aquifer from bad practices, like overpumping for stupid reasons...like this particular golf course or the eventual building of up to 1300 houses that no one is demanding be built, just pure speculation, soon to be followed by yet another marketing campaign to lure people to live here.
Development COSTS money, it doesn't bring money into a town. What is good for the developer is not necessarily good for the residents of a town and in this case, who "benefits" is pretty obvious. This WSP project benefits almost NO ONE and stands to hurt thousands of people, now and into the future.
Anonymous posting about unequal appraisal values in North Woodcreek,
Would you email me to discuss your experience. HaysCAN is conducting a comprehensive study of our Central Appraisal District.
Your identification will be held in strict confidence.
codell@austin.rr.com
Thanks.
@Thinking Long Term mused:
"Instead, there is a very well-funded group of business interests who are demanding water usage that will no doubt degrade and deplete the water supply here in this area, eventually, if not this year or next."
Yeah, sure. Keep on dreaming. Have another cup of Kool Aid.
"I have rights to water and to expect that water not to be pumped out of the ground so that somebody else can make a profit doing so. In fact, I will not allow it to happen. I just won't. "
You don't have the rights you think you have, however, to the extent there are "rights to water" - other property owners have the same rights you are claiming. Would you feel better if everyone had a residential well - or are you part of the grandfather crowd that believes you should be entitled to one as you seek legislation and/or rules to prevent others from being able to have one?
"MY property rights are infringed upon when someone decides they don't care how much water is left or what condition it is left in after they exercise some kind of predatory "right" to overuse our shared resource."
Another loon that claims rights they don't have. You have a right to prevent waste. You don't have any right to prevent others from having access to the water, get it? It's not "your" water, its "the" water. You don't even see that your version of "our" means excluding other property owners or perhaps you do. Again you are making claim to a right that you don't have and this seems to be the source of all your problems. You don't have an exclusive right to access the water.
"Yes, I have a right that supercedes these corporate water raiders to expect not only my local GCD, but the Commissioners Court and the TCEQ and whoever else is charged with protecting, recharging, etc. the aquifer from bad practices, like overpumping for stupid reasons...like this particular golf course or the eventual building of up to 1300 houses that no one is demanding be built, just pure speculation, soon to be followed by yet another marketing campaign to lure people to live here."
No you don't have superior rights. The subdivision was platted likely long before you were here. If no one wants the houses then it won't take long for the re-development effort to fail. If people want the houses or need the houses then the re-development effort will succeed. As for people moving to the area, that is happening independently of anything that this particular developer is doing. Hays and Williamson counties are still the fastest two growing counties in the state. Last time I looked this was the United States of America, not the Commune of Wimberley, The House of CARDs, or the WVWA cult.
Other than your own home, you have no right to dictate where other people live nor where they can't live. Hard to believe you got to this age without realizing that. Get over it.
"No you don't have superior rights."
State law requiring demonstration of "water availability" is flawed.
Poking a hole in the ground and demonstrating water flow is not the same as the concept of "availability."
If subsequent wells deplete exiting wells it simply demonstrates water existence but not availability.
Anarchy exists when property rights are perceived as absolute, despite impact on other property owners.
Thus the concept of well spacing and impact on adjacent wells.
If you arrive for an event and find the public parking lot full - what right do you have to park?
"Hays and Williamson counties are still the fastest two growing counties in the state."
This assertion was once true but is now false - and irrelevant to a discussion of water rights of existing property owners relative to water rights of those who subscribe to the concept of Rule of Capture (akin to the concept: Law of the Jungle or Might makes Right).
Why argue for something that is destructive and void of common sense?
The rights of those that arrived earlier are not superior to the ones that came after them. That is simply flawed logic. That “I was here first” mentality is the basis of the selfish no-growth tribe in central Texas. They use groundwater availability as their tool to try to limit any newcomers. That would be okay if we were running out of water from ALL SOURCES of water. Groundwater is not the only source as you will find out as time goes on. It would be un-American to forcibly limit growth in this area or any other. If the early arrivers were to use rainwater and piped-in surface water there would be plenty of room to “park your car”.
O'Dell - the platting process in its entirety is a farce.
I don't care what the "availability model" says - you can't prohibit people from building. Period.
You said: "State law requiring demonstration of 'water availability' is flawed."
Well so is making it a "pre-requisite" to any approval. The property owners have rights regardless of whether they are living on the property or not. Whether you realize it or not you do not have the right to exclude others because you don't have an exclusive right to the water.
Charles says: "Anarchy exists when property rights are perceived as absolute, despite impact on other property owners."
You are making a perfect example of your own analogy. You have no qualms eviscerating the rights of the other property owners simply to preserve yourself. You've got no right your claim because your position is that the impact on other property owners is that they should be denied while you should be allowed.
Charles said: "If you arrive for an event and find the public parking lot full - what right do you have to park?"
Bad analogy, Charles. The water is not equivalent to a public parking lot. Although not much better, perhaps a better analogy is multiple property owners whose property overlays a gas reserve. Your position is that you should be able to take but you also want to use "spacing requirements" to prevent other owners from having any access AND you don't want to compensate those other owners for sucking gas out from them. Although the analogy is not the greatest (water is rechargeable, the gas is only depleted), the point should be. You need to pay if you want a system that denies other property owners their rights. You don'r have the rights you keep alluding to. To the extent you have a right, the other property owners have just the same right.
A better analogy might be a pipeline to which all property owners have an easement for access based upon it crossing their property. The catch is that you want to tell other property owners that they can't have access. Take a hike. Too bad if its less for you. You haven't actually experienced less but less for you does not entitle you to demand none for me.
Charles said: "This assertion was once true but is now false - and irrelevant to a discussion of water rights of existing property owners relative to water rights of those who subscribe to the concept of Rule of Capture (akin to the concept: Law of the Jungle or Might makes Right)."
Well then you should be happy. The point wasn't about who is first - it was to illustrate that this area has and is experiencing growth.
Fastest Growing Areas
You've got no right or authority to simply demand that the world stop turning for you. What you are really demanding is to be treated preferentially as compared to other property owners - and you've got no basis for such expectations or demands.
Charles said: "If you arrive for an event and find the public parking lot full - what right do you have to park?"
Groundwater is not owned by the state or the public. The ownership interest nominally goes with the ownership of the surface estate. You thought there was a lot when there was a multistory garage. You don't have the right to turn people away.
Live with it, adapt, evolve, or die but quit whining in any event.
"They use groundwater availability as their tool to try to limit any newcomers. That would be okay if we were running out of water from ALL SOURCES of water."
Lets assume you invested in a home with a well.
Later, a developer builds a subdivision up gradient to you and the county approves a huge well to irrigate and piped in surface water for the homes.
Many of the wells down gradient from the developer go dry, including yours. You lower the pump in your well. Your well goes dry again.
You dig a deeper well. It goes dry. There is no surface water line within reach. Your only option is rainwater.
Groundwater once used in your home and in your neighbors' homes is now diverted by a developer using it for irrigation.
So sad. Too bad.
Same scenario. This time the developer does a pump test and tests show that it impacts neighboring wells.
HTGCD denies the developer a pumping permit. All his water must come from the surface water pipe line.
Happy ending. Wells down gradient continue to service your home and the homes of your neighbors. Those who bought homes in the subdivision have to pay for surface water to irrigate their lovely landscape.
Do you get it now?
To Anonymous Feb. 28, 8:51 AM:
You state: "Would you feel better if everyone had a residential well-
or are you part of the grandfather crowd that believes you should be entitled to one [even] as you seek
legislation and/or rules to prevent
others from being able to have one?"
Hello!? Do you not realize that
developers such as Wimberley
Springs Partners are the very worst at denying others the right
to drill a well? Anyone who buys
a lot from them MUST -- by deed
restriction -- buy water and
wastewater from the developer or
from the developer's choice. No
wells are permitted to be drilled
by individual homeowners.
I know plenty of homeowners in
Wimberley Springs and Woodcreek
North who would love to get out
from under Aqua Texas by drilling
their own wells, but they are
mandated to use Aqua water. Bills
are almost $140 a month for
water/wastewater with Aqua, before
you even use a drop of water.
An average bill is about $180 a
month. Talk about a captive
customer!
What happened to the rule of
capture for those unfortunate
buyers of Wimberley Springs and
Woodcreek North lots? Why can't
THEY drill for the water under
their own land? Developers can't
have it both ways.
Well it's interesting all this debate over property rights. My question is, what good are property rights to anyone, without water?
Looks like the real estate agents
are soon going to have a long list
of facts they need to warn
prospective buyers of -- if the
buyers are looking in City of
Woodcreek, Wimberley Springs, Woodcreek North. (Anywhere Wimberley Springs Partners and/or
Aqua Texas operates, actually.)
1. Tell the buyer that s/he will
have unbelievably high water and
wastewater bills-- about $180 per
month. More if you have kids and
a pet. Mention that they might
want to locate where the water is
supplied by Wimberley Water Supply.
2. Tell the buyer that both golf
courses owned by WSP will be irrigated by spray effluent. Buyer
might not wish to be outside or
have windows open when the up-to-600,000 gallons of effluent per
day are being sprayed.
3. Tell the buyer that WSP has
restrictions concerning solar
arrays and other energy-saving
practices.
4.Tell buyer s/he cannot drill
her/his own well to evade the
clutches of Aqua Texas.
5. Tell the buyer to carefully
check his property tax appraisals
every year to see that they are in
line with the appraisals on identical lots owned by the
developer.
Hey Charles:
"So sad. Too bad."
Is absolutely correct- and it's so sad too bad whether there is a developer there or not.
"Same scenario. This time the developer does a pump test and tests show that it impacts neighboring wells....HTGCD denies the developer a pumping permit."
On what basis?
" All his water must come from the surface water pipe line."
No. The property owner exerts his rights same as you.
"Happy ending. Wells down gradient continue to service your home and the homes of your neighbors. Those who bought homes in the subdivision have to pay for surface water to irrigate their lovely landscape."
Perhaps that is a "happy ending" for you Charles but it is not an acceptable outcome for the other property owners. You'll just have to suck it up and deal with it - because they other property owners need not surrender their rights and effectively their property for your profit.
Like it or not the others are just as entitled as you are. You are trying to use the "central water system" as a basis to deny individual property owners rights and then you want to deny a permit for the central water system. The first was a poor compromise and illustrates why the right to individual wells must be preserved. Before you try taking it away from somebody else you might think that you could be next.
Fair is Fair said:
"Hello!? Do you not realize that developers such as Wimberley Springs Partners are the very worst at denying others the right to drill a well? Anyone who buys a lot from them MUST -- by deed restriction -- buy water and wastewater from the developer or from the developer's choice. No wells are permitted to be drilled by individual homeowners."
I agree that this practice should be outlawed. You can thank the former county commissioners for doing the same thing through the "new subdivision rules". The individual homeowners rights are being taken away and then different groups try to profit from that. It was wrong when the county commissioners did that. It is wrong when a developer does that.
Developers are doing this to hold people hostage to their (or affiliate) water utilities, propane vendors, and a litany of other mostly economically unregulated resources. They use the developer-controlled HOA corporation to enforce these restrictions (no HOAs have never preserved property value for the owners - only for the vendors of the HOA).
There will be problems that occur because of the extended monopoly. In general, there is NOTHING good that comes from the HOAs. This isn't off-topic because you can be assured that the developer will be using the HOA to enforce this monopoly. The developer will also control the voting rights on the HOA corp to ensure that the homeowners can't change squat.
None of this would be such a problem if the right to individual wells was an inalienable right with property ownership (at least if all of the surface estate is conveyed).
Hey Fair is Fair: just tell them that they are obligated to join the developer-controlled property owners association. There is nothing good that ever came from a POA. Ask anyone in WPOA (except a board member). That should be enough of a reason to avoid buying in many of the subdivisions around Wimberley.
This time the developer does a pump test and tests show that it impacts neighboring wells....HTGCD denies the developer a pumping permit.
"On what basis?", you ask.
On the basis of Groundwater Conservation District Rules developed with public input and rooted in Chapter 36 law that trumps the 1906 Rule of Capture created for the Texas oil industry.
These publicly developed Rules are designed to protect, preserve and fairly manage groundwater for all property owners, instead of a few under the Rule of Capture.
GCD law was created by the Legislature to replace "biggest well" wins mentality.
GCD law minimizes investment risk of all property owners, brings equity and fairness, and provides for economic sustainability and growth.
If you believe in the obsolete Rule of Capture, you disagree with the Texas Legislature and 2/3rds of the HTGD voters.
A majority board that violates the law doesn't change the law.
I have been a wpoa member (not a board member)for over 20 years and have never had a problem that wasn't solved in all that time. Maybe not to my satisfaction but they listened and did something. Oh buy the way I hate Kool-aide! POA's are not perfect they make mistakes but if you don't go to meetings and tell them what you want or need they can't do anything about it. If you don't do that then quit your complaining. The biggest problems that boards have all over the country is people like you. You complain but you never attend meetings so that you can make your need and problems known. That is how we got into this water mess. No one attended the HTGC meetings and when they gave away your water you complained; after the fact.
"The only way for evil to succeed is for good people to do nothing." I am sorry I don't remember who said that but they knew what they were talking about. So either speak up, attend meetings or shut up.
"The only way for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing."
Edmund Burke (January 12, 1729 – July 9, 1797) was an Irish political philosopher, Whig politician and statesman who is often regarded as the father of modern conservatism.
It has become (sadly) apparent that the friends of my friends are my enemies (loosely quoted, of course)and they are deeply embedded in the pockets of WSP and most likely in cahoots with local politicians. Could it then be possible that some of those same "friends" in seeking something in return are also on the WPOA Board; looking to bring it down to their level. WPOA members and board: watch your backs!!
Thank you Charles. I could not remember who first said that. Knew I loved the Irish now I remember why.
Charles-
You keep mouthing off about the Rule of Capture and law of the biggest pump as if they applied within the territory of the HTGCD. They don't.
You said "On the basis of Groundwater Conservation District Rules developed with public input and rooted in Chapter 36 law that trumps the 1906 Rule of Capture created for the Texas oil industry....These publicly developed Rules are designed to protect, preserve and fairly manage groundwater for all property owners, instead of a few under the Rule of Capture."
First, the current rules were developed largely by a few people with the "I was here first" and a control mentality - that's why they are not in office any more. Second of all, you haven't identified any rule that the current board violated. Third, you aren't "fairly managing groundwater for ALL property owners" when you deny a permit - which of course was the goal of the protesters.
You also said "GCD law minimizes investment risk of all property owners, brings equity and fairness, and provides for economic sustainability and growth."
You need to take a closer look at Chapter 36. It's not about any of the things you claim - it's purely about control over groundwater. Moreover denying a property owner a permit is obviously NOT about bringing equity and fairness.
Finally, Charles try to explain the behavior of the protesters who were likewise opposing WWSC's permit renewal and modest increase? These folks aren't interested in fairness or equity, they simply are anti-change. Read Dorothy Knight's article. It's apparent that she's simply anti-change and opposes businesses, stores, and new homeowners in Wimberley.
"Charles-
You keep mouthing off..." and,
"Finally, Charles try to explain..."
Anonymous,
Are you kidding me? How am I or anyone else with whom you disagree able to explain anything to you?
Your mind is closed.
No one, especially me, can explain anything to you.
Moreover, limited skills of understanding come with a closed mind. Chapter 36 provides law and order to the matter of protecting, preserving and managing our Aquifer.
Can you understand how HTGCD Rules based on Chapter 36 reduce the uncertainties that exist in areas subject to the Rule of Capture?
Where Rule of Capture exists (no GCD) the risk of having your well sucked dry by someone (say Ozarka or a developer) exists.
Where a GCD exists and Rules to protect wells are enforced (through permitting), the risk of having your well sucked dry is greatly reduced.
The HTGCD board is bypassing its own Rules and is thereby violating the law to protect, preserve and manage the Aquifer. This board majority has created the Rule of Capture in a GCD.
I'm not asking you to agree - just to understand.
Charles: I'm tempted to tell you to stop beating your head against the proverbial brick wall every time you try to have a reasonable exchange with some of these folks but I won't.
The reason: I am learning a lot from you regarding all this.
Thank you!
Ms. Knight's post has gotten almost as much "heat" as Anna Fisher's article about the "Team Glock" gun store up on RR 12 (I wonder. Did the gun shop owner put up the Team Glock banner on their storefront personnel carrier after the assassination attempt on the Democratic Congresswoman in Arizona?)
Anyway, it appears to me the water gluttons have something in common with the gun fanatics. They are standing up for the rights of people who don't care about anything but themselves and their profits. They use words like free markets and socialist to imply that citizens who are looking at reality must be cultists or commies.
It is this type of ignorance that has America in the shit tank.
I agree with this pereption of the post of Anonymous, March 1 12:45: Way too true, with slight modifications: <<< Anyway, it appears to me the "water gluttons" have something in common with the "gun fanatics." They are standing up for ....... who don't care about anything, but themselves and their profits, [and other people's right to "life liberty and teh pursuit of happiness..." They use "slurring name-calling" words like "free markets" and "socialist to imply that citizens who are LOOKING AT REALITY CLEARLY must be "cultists" or "commies," and other slurs on our patriotism.>>>
Thanks, s/he? who has them perceived correctly, by my politic-views!!! When I hear this lack of civility in their language, I know they are not-rational and capable of a reasonable discussion with informed and caring citizens.
Roberta
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