Reason.tv: Battle for the California Desert – Why is the Government Driving Folks Off Their Land?
by Reason TVThe Antelope Valley is a vast patch of desert on the outskirts of Los Angeles County, and a segment of the few rugged individualists who live out there increasingly are finding themselves the targets of armed raids from local code enforcement agents, who’ve assembled into task forces called Nuisance Abatement Teams (NATs).
The plight of the Valley’s desert dwellers made regional headlines when county officials ordered the destruction of Phonehenge: a towering, colorful castle constructed out of telephone poles by retired phone technician Kim Fahey. Fahey was imprisoned and charged with several misdemeanors.
But Fahey is just one of many who’ve been targeted by the NATs, which were assembled at the request of County Supervisor Mike Antonovich in 2006. LA Weekly reporter Mars Melnicoff wrote an in-depth article in which she exposed the county’s tactic of badgering residents with minor, but costly, code violations until they face little choice but to vacate the land altogether.
“They’re picking on the the people who are the most defenseless and have the least resources,” says Melnicoff.
Reason.tv collaborated with Melnicoff to talk with some of the NAT’s targets, such as retired veteran Joey Gallo, who might face homelessness if he’s forced to leave his house, and local pastor Oscar Castaneda, who says he’s already given up the fight and is in the process of moving off the land he and his wife have lived on for 22 years. And, while Antonovich declined an interview, we did catch up with him at a public meeting in order to ask the big question at the center of all this: Why the sudden enforcement of these codes against people living in the middle of the desert, who seemingly are affecting no one?
Writer-Producers: Zach Weissmueller and Tim Cavanaugh. Associate Producer: Mars Melnicoff. Camera: Alex Manning and Weissmueller; edited by Weissmueller.
Approximately 9:48.
Music by Audionautix.com.
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89 Comments
Your feudal overlords are most displeased with this story. Most displeased.
"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
Benjamin Franklin. Does the Patriot Act come to mind?
"Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master."
George Washington
"If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter."
George Washington
"Arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused to licentiousness."
George Washington
Sounds like the county wants that land for commercial resources!!! Either that or the EPA or PETA is on their butts for some minor plant, or animal, or insect that is not even endangered!!!!
Oh look, another example of an intrusive failing government who's priorities are to harass, sue and/or imprison citizens standing in the way of their Fuehrer, Lisa Jackson. Sieg Heil!
Why ??? Because they can …for now. People are getting pretty fed up with gov't at all levels.
I have seen people turn out in droves like never before in our county meetings. They are mad on how intrusive gov't has gotten and how big. Is a good thing and I foresee it getting even bigger. "We the people" are taking a stand.
We are talking about property-owners. Owning property means they are rich, which makes them oppressors. Show them no mercy. Excise this cancer from the landscape and return the land to Gaia, to whom all belongs. People don't belong on the planet.
I suspect the time is coming when someone belonging to the Loony Environmentalist Left begins to fret that his or her antibodies are killing bacteria and viruses, who have a more legitimate claim to the earth than we humans do. Keep an eye on your stock if you invest in the companies that make Raid, Black Flag, Weed and Feed, and so on.
Agenda 21 comes to mind.
BIGTYRANNY
“They’re picking on the the people who are the most defenseless and have the least resources,” says Melnicoff.
No, really? (sarc) Big government strikes again.
These bureaucrats need more real work to do, which might leave less time for them to dream up this BS.
Insist any (R) Presidential candidate agree to shrink the Fed Gov agencies force by no less than 50%…
the day after their Inauguration.
.
The self-loathing of these people wouldn't be so bad if they didn't extend it to the rest of humanity.
I know a woman who attended college in the 70's and was taught that because of over population, people would begin to die off in the 80's from a food shortage. She said she was so angry at her fellow humans, that if she had a button that would kill them all off, she would have used it. It was just an astonishing moment. I was so sad for her that she had been brainwashed while such a young person, but angry that as an adult she still held strong progressive views.
well this sounds like a problem the the legal team of Remington, Springfield, Winchester, Colt, Smith & Wesson should look into…
hell they've won many a battle…some were settled out of court…
Another government entity that needs to be eliminated. I've driven through the Antelope Valley many times and I always wonder why anyone wants to live there. But, if they do want to live there then leave 'em alone. LIMITED GOVERNMENT!!! "Neighbor complaints!" There are no neighbors…pure bull$hit!
Government in recent years has found ever more creative ways of being obnoxious to the citizens it is supposed to be serving. Case in point, which is admittedly far more trivial than what happened to Kim Fahey: Traffic signals on the major (six-lane) city arterials hereabouts used to be synchronized so that, if you were moving along at roughly the speed limit, you could go for several miles without stopping. Those days are over. The signals are now synchronized to stop traffic at every major intersection, and frequently at the minor ones, too. It's pretty clear the city is using the signals for speed enforcement at about 20 percent below the actual speed limit. This causes more cars idling for longer periods at red lights, which increases air pollution. It's not hard at all to figure out what's coming next as a result: EPA citations for violating air-quality standards, consent decrees, ever-more expensive reformulated gasoline, and tighter emissions-control thresholds for cars.
now I'm not rainin' on your parade…but I will remind you of one lil' detail…
the average american voter is a………wait for it…….dumbass!
an' before you start to reach for the pitchfork…look what the dumbasses gave us for a presidunce…okay now back to the parade…
… … … … … … … … … … …
I'll bet she's scratchin' her haid an' thinkin'……………..ya kno' ol' butts right….shhhh!!! she'll hear ya…
I'm afraid that stand will resemble the Alamo…..
The forces behind this no longer represent the people. We're all on our own now…..
The weak are always the first to go…..
The local politicians want the land for MONEY….Real-estate… that is the reason, once the individuals are off the land it get's incorporated into the township then BING-BANG-BOOM new development.
Politicians get the power, the kickbacks and we lose more and more control of our lives to government.
I live not too far from the Antelope Valley. It only started recently getting built up so there are plenty of suburban areas. However, there is a vast expanse of open deserts peppered with people who live in mobile homes or trailers or even houses they made themselves. They are so far apart if you wanted to borrow sugar from a neighbor it would take you a couple of hours to get there and back. And yes, these people tend to be the rugged individualists that just want to be left alone.
Thank you reason.tv for bringing this to our attention. Now we need to get some Judicial Watch on the goverment's @ss. You know the left has the ACLU and a host of other groups that pay for people's legal fees. We need to push this more on our side. If we did, more people would be inclined to commit civil disobedience in order to bring attention to this kind of stuff.
I know it's not in the nature of a conservative to break the law. It's actually our best attribute (being a law abiding citizen) but it's also our greatest weakness. We keep thinking we can be "above" the other guy, be better than they are. Look what happened when we tried that in Iraq and Afghanistan – we got our butts handed to us. When we double down and show the enemy our stuff, that's when we win.
Same with this issue – Tea Parties should send out word to these people that we are aware of the situation, that we are working on getting pro-bono legal counsel set up to represent them, and they should stand their ground and not move an inch.
I usually assume they do that to increase the likelihood of someone stopping at stores they might not otherwise notice. The heavy, interventionist hand of statism trying to play a role in capitalism.
Judicial Watch, Inc., a conservative, non-partisan educational foundation, promotes transparency, accountability and integrity in government, politics and the law. Through its educational endeavors, Judicial Watch advocates high standards of ethics and morality in our nation's public life and seeks to ensure that political and judicial officials do not abuse the powers entrusted to them by the American people. Judicial Watch fulfills its educational mission through litigation, investigations, and public outreach. The motto of Judicial Watch is "Because no one is above the law". To this end, Judicial Watch uses the open records or freedom of information laws and other tools to investigate and uncover misconduct by government officials and litigation to hold to account politicians and public officials who engage in corrupt activities.
http://www.judicialwatch.org/about-us
The following quote regarding government says it far better than I can.
My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.
>>> Thomas Jefferson
A fed comes to my door with this crap and they're getting shot. Either we take a stand NOW or live as slaves in the future.
http://theantiliberalzone.blogspot.com/2011/08/wh...
THE ANTI LIBERAL ZONE
A very telling quote from a man who would know better than most today! Nice job!
Velcome to Nazifornia vere ze good of der Volk comes before ze individual good.
Do not vorry about zees desert people, ve are setting up camps for zem, for zere own protection of course.
Thanks for the info.
Perhaps they should expand. I know there's another conservative group that does pro-bono work. But I can't think of it.
Declaration of Rights & Responsibilities
As the American Declaration of Independence clearly states, when in the course of human events it becomes necessary for people to band together and collectively declare their rights and responsibilities to which the laws of nature and nature’s God entitle and bind them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should disclose the causes which impel them to such.
Therefore let us declare that we still hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal and are endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. But with those rights come responsibilities.
In order to continually experience life, liberty and happiness as promised, nature’s God demands obedience to His law to protect those rights. This is where we have fallen short and therefore, in order not to lose the blessings of freedom, the people of the world must turn from the sole focus on rights, and recognize the inherent and required responsibilities that we have.
Among the responsibilities to which we must adhere to maintain our God given rights are honor, courage and vigilance. Over time, we believe that these basic human responsibilities have been trampled, and replaced with degradation, fear and apathy.
But when a long train of abuses of the people and conscience by the media and by other segments of society, pursuing the same path of reducing them to ridicule, scorn and even sub-human status, it is their right, it is their DUTY, to peacefully, but vehemently take a stand.
Men want to be king, and the more we concentrate on our rights and the more we are told not to worry about our responsibilities, the more we lose our rights.
Just as physics show, for every action there’s an equal and opposite reaction. The time has come to declare that at least for the western world human rights are generally accepted and moving in the right direction however a new movement is required a movement of human responsibility.
The media, politicians and large institutions both academic and political have been lying to us, and we must demand the truth be told.
With that demand, comes the responsibility that we tell the truth first, in ourselves. Too many of us delegate our responsibility to the media…and too many believe there is no personal responsibility at all.
"Arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused to licentiousness."
George Washington
Yeah, the city's always done this around concentrated retail districts where it can maximize its 3.75-percent sales tax. This is something new that started in the last three or four months. There's no sales-tax revenue to be had in purely residential zones…
Makes me wonder what is out there than county has such an interest in. I have been reading numerous times now that CA. has a huge problem about driving people off land so it may be acquired….
“Whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government…”
Thomas Jefferson….
Why does the country harass its subjects?
A rancher ranches either to harvest, eat or sell its livestock.
Da' man. Conniving asses, no?
Think of the size of the solar farm that could be built there if only those rugged individualists would conform (;>)
It's usually tax revenue of one form or another. My city's about to declare a site "blighted" so as to clear the way for a nine-figure convention center/resort/golf course/destination. There's just one pesky little detail: The site is 100 percent open prairie – no improvements at all.
It's usually tax revenue of one form or another. My city's about to declare a site "blighted" so as to clear the way for a nine-figure convention center/resort/golf course/destination. There's just one pesky little detail: The site is 100 percent open prairie – no improvements at all.
Land will be the new currency under Husseins regime. How else will we pay off China? Glenn Beck, and his research team did a whole segment on this very topic….now its alll making sense.This new harassment, federal land grab is not only in the deserts of California, but all over the west. This is part Husseins and Soros plan to bring America to its knees.
It won't be long before we hear the 2nd shot heard across the world!
In my posting this to you, and others will have access to it as well. They are a great resource for what might be happening in Washington, because the propaganda arm of the LSM will never reveal what is going on that will effect their power and influence.
Right on!
Some politicians need to be fast-tracked to retirement, if you know what I mean. An enemy of Americans' rights is an enemy, whether they be foreign or domestic, and should be treated as such. There's over 300 million people here, there's bound to be quite a few domestic enemies.
The Socialists, Democrats, want to get everyone into metropolitan areas and out of the outer reaches of the cities.
It's much easier to control them that way.
Antonovich needs to go. He wouldn't grant an interview; wouldn't answer questions at county board of supervisors meeting and didn't respond to letters. Sounds like he's derelict of his duty.
I don't mean to be so negative, but this is not something we can fix at the polls….
The people behind this are unelected and therefore unacountable…..
I find the homes in Beverly Hills offensive. Lets take them and knock them down first. I'm sure we can make up some code violations. SARC
It's all fun and games until an individual arms himself to the teeth and makes a stand… and defends his life and property to the death.
Sorta like the Branch Davidians?
I used to live up in Wrightwood and hardly anything was out in the high desert area, Lancaster, Palmdale, Phelan, Victorville etc. I think the guy is right on about connecting up the 15 and the 14 with the 138. Dishonest, cunning and cruel as only the government can be.
They have a pretty big one already out there in the Mojave desert.
Why does a woodpecker peck? Why does a woodchuck chuck? Because they can…
Beauracrats hunting for new victims to be added as wards of the state to justify the position of the beauracats.
Flee California!
Well, you see here… the problem is that they all live in Kalifornia! Everyone living there needs to realize that the government will come after them at one point or another.
Even if enough people move away from that forsaken land, Kalifornia will still be blind to the socialistic, tyranical BS that drove them all away!
I absolutely hate these Statists and their incessant need to dominate and rule over people. They must be relegated back to their proper role of Glorified Clerks, subservient to the People.
You may well have hit the nail on the head. Who are the big money players in that? GE maybe?
We need to be more like our forefathers——Take up arms and start over!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As long as you give a little, the bastards will take it all!!!!!!!!!
As Jackhammer said below, wind farms. Who's the big dog in that? GE and Siemens…. Follow the money.
You save these people by winning the election next year and drying up the Obama graft/slush fund money for GE to build those damm wind farms. I'm certain that is what this is all about. See Jackhammer's comment too.
You will comply comrade…….. Dirk! Bring up the transport truck. One more for Gulag 53! Kill the dogs, take the chickens.
It's all about money> Your so called Government employees have been bought and paid for. Now the investors want a return on their investment!!!!!!!!!
To quote that famous American Forest Gump. "Stupid is as stupid does" So quit being stupid and take up arms and throw the bastards out of office.
Actually, it would not surprise me in the least if the real reason L.A. County was doing this was because the environmental zealots in L.A. want the Antelope Valley returned to some kind of "pristine" condition.
I'd think you're full of sh*t if they hadn't already convinced people that the carbon dioxide we exhale is harmful to the environment.
Are you suggesting that we drop attempts to go back to the gold standard and go directly to the lead standard?
Shhh. They're not camps, they are being resettled to the "lebensraum" for their new lives.
Yes, I can totally see that. As the place gets built up. But quite frankly, it isn't built up enough yet to warrant any kind of connector. Where I live, it slowly built up since the 1970s and it wasn't until recently when it got so big they put in a small in-town connector between the 2 freeways. And that took years.
Besides they've already sort of fixed up the place since I first started going out that direction for camping. They re-arranged the freeways a bit to make a better connector to the 58 (?) – I think that's the one. Whatever one takes you up to Barstow from where I am.
Anyway, it's government overreach and dishonesty for sure. People really need to put their foot down and take a stand.
The Third Reich also bought the ownership interest in Volkswagon. Sound similar to Government Motors and Chrysler?
Am I the only one who wants to win the lottery big time and move there and provide funds to help those folks meet all codes? That would piss off the d bags and throw a wrench in their plan!
yeah in a round-about way I guess I am…gold just sticks to too many things…like fingers…
H.R. 1848, the “One Percent Spending Reduction Act”
http://mack.house.gov/index.cfm?p=Penny-Plan
Happy Trails!
Move onto my land, I'll kick your ass out too. There's no such thing as "adverse possession" against a public entity, for you legally challenged Teatards.
Death is the only escape from these tyrants!!!! The persecution in full swing, soon to spread like a virus across the land!!!
Indeed you may have nailed this.
I did a google map on Alton and they are incredible detail, meaning it is a well surveyed area. Now while I not do not know the meteorological data, the place does fit the outline for wind, topographically that is.
Siemens is kinda bailing on Cali due to, oh wait, taxation, but this could be a slimy Govt. move to give then a reason to stay…
Just sayin, you know.
W, you're right. I work in a local gov't for a sizeable southern city and we're being more intrusive than I'd ever thought. Our PD is doing the right thing, and civil enforcement is trying but they don't always see how overbearing it is.
Still, they are enforcing the laws on the books, and from where I sit in our town, THAT is the problem. We need to get leaders who think "no". Problem is, the politicians make their bones passing new laws to stroke people and pander for votes.
I sympathize strongly with folks who feel the gov't has become too intrusive and try to help curb the excess as much as I can within the law.
And folks like Deuse need to be re-assured that some of us in gov't see it, hate it and stand with you. I always love it when I get to tell a fellow gov't employee to back off because they are going too far. And the heck of it is, I'm a lawyer so my opinion counts. Even my boss (who, by the way, leans democrat but NOT socialist) has no problem telling people to back off.
I'm not saying this to re-assure anyone that gov't has not lost its mind – it has. But a fair number of the people in it (I'd say about 40% of my colleagues) haven't, and we're doing what we can to keep gov't off people's backs.
We are from the government. We are here to help you.
And the best way to kill a snake is cut off it's head. Get my drift?
You can't take a stand against these thugs because they use the corrupt police departments to do their bidding. It's an odd case where government leaders know they can't use the military to conduct such raids against citizens and largely because the military respects the citizenry and would not act against the people but the police are a different story. The police are made up of thugs looking for an opportunity to use their power and go after the anyone they can. Hence the reason liberals want to create a civil service with military powers. Such an organization would be made up of the police and like minded people just itching to exert dominance over innocent people little old ladies and children included.
"…the county’s tactic of badgering residents with minor, but costly, code violations until they face little choice but to vacate the land altogether."
The Left will call them quitters.
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Government officials entering without a warrant? Unconstitutional. But guess what? Administrative hearing officers don't care.
Civil courts = no civil rights.
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I've never seen a state work so hard to get rid of it's tax base.
Nope.:) I already have my tickets!
Exactly!!! Precedent is the word of the day. Start small and under the "media" radar. Find in the favor of the establishment and make future cases foder for precedent.Lazy judges who can just look back and find a unjust ruling to resort to. The White House Council of Rural Affairs. My rural affairs are fine thank you, so stay the HE!! out of my business!
HSUS is using this same tactic. Ban animal husbandry equipment in states with few animals affected, then WHAM, go for the heavily animal occupied regions with "precedent" in hand. Regulate, punish, with exorbinet fines, and then confiscate for the "GOOD" of the fatherland. 1938, Hitler's Germany or 1932 Mussolni's Italy.
He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.
Another perfect example of the government killing us with safety. Safety is the most common excuse used to enforce government tyranny. This is why 'government safety' is a thousand times more dangerous than no safety program at all.
Inching towards Communism, the government will not be happy until they own everything, and the people they serve own nothing.
Clearly something fishy going on. Keep up the good work, Reason TV, and let that criminal Antonovich know that this is not going to go away. Send that corrupt lowlife packing!
Double that.
Did I hear someone say OIL. If you look at this whole area on a Google map you see a great big ancient lake that probably has a huge oil reserve underneath it (check to see if there has been any oil exploration in the area in the last ten years) and with the economic straights that California is going through it wouldn't surprise me the county, state is involved in a land grab so they can get the oil revenues from it in the near future. Other than that none of it makes any sense, but then it California and not much they do down there makes any sense, although in the current and subtle talk about civil war maybe it is where they want to put a huge internment (concentration) camp for the government.
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