Personal property
rights are ignored
The following letter refers to
two recent lawsuits in Columbia
County. The first reference is to
the State of Oregon vs. Donald
Bergerson; the second reference
is to State of Oregon vs. Ken
neth Smejkal. The charge in
each case was “Failure to obtain
a S tate R em oval P e rm it“ fo r
gravel.
To The Editor:
The jury awarded in favor
of the State of Oregon after a
3 day trial on the case of rock
removal in excess of 50 cubic
yards which was allowed the
landowner and the protection
of his properties located on
the upper Nehalem River and
no water flow was effected.
The landowner was within
his legal quota of 50 yards
without a gravel removal per
mit, but the key word on this
issue or case was the DIS
TURBANCE of all other rock
in th e are a of TAKIN G .
Clearing of the work site of
debris and grasses for site
visibility was counted, togeth
er with the removal plus a tol
erance for road compaction,
etc, to obtain the total yards
above the landowners quota
of 50 yards. Landow w ners
TAKE was established as 35
yards but the DISTURBANCE
FACTOR of rock was the de
te rm in a tio n fa c to r and key
prosecution word.
No equipment or vehicles
crossed the stream. All work
was on dry land owned by the
la n d o w n e r. The ta x p a y e r
pays taxes on all lands that
the river flow s through; the
state only owns the water and
it’s water resources.
This case was not based
on stream m anagem ent of
this free flowing stream but
on how many yard sof rock
w as ta k e n , in c lu d in g the
c o u n tin g o f th e D IS T U R
BANCE of rock and vegeta
tion on the landowner’s own
ership.
The real proof reflects that
governmental people are only
strengthening their regulatory
force upon private taxpaying
ownerships without offsets or
compensation. The national
constitution of private proper
ty rights are being ignored in
favor of the public users.
Only the stronger taxpay
ers have the energy to stand
up to and fig h t fo r private
property rights and for all oth
er taxpayers of our state.
Cost figures for a 3 day tri
al is expensive and especially
annoying while waiting for the
case to come to trial. The
taxpayer is not only out his
defendant costs but also his
share of taxpaying do llars
into our state’s funds.
E conom ically, th is case
was based on 50 yards of
rock (w hich the landow ner
holds in deed) and never de
nied. If this rock was pur
chased from outside suppli
ers at the current rate of ap
proximately $10.00 per yard it
would equal a $500.00 valua
tion. This is small potatoes
‘
.
4
com pared to 3 days court
time. These same jurisdic
tio n a l people cou ld have
been working on other heavy
duty cases such as drugs,
rape, murders or thieves.
In re a lity, it re fle c ts a
movement to take our proper
ty rights an inch at a time and
stressing all other landowners
to follow the governm ental
pattern policies using their
gospel words as guidelines.
FACT: Another very simi
lar case (w ithin a 1/2 mile
along the same river) using
the same judiciary, building
and a tto rn e ys, w ith in one
year, was awarded [to the de
fendant with] a com pletely
opposite jury decision. (One a
plus and one a minus-guilty).
Judiciary instructions were
given not to inter-mix the orig
inal (1st) cou rt tria l te s ti
monies, in any way shape or
form, to this case. Is this an
infraction to our freedom of
thought and speech under
our federal constitution?
Ralph E. Bergerson
Vernonia
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To The Editor:
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