Oregon Man Sentenced to 30 Days in Jail For Collecting Rainwater on His Property

Oregon Man Sentenced to 30 Days in Jail For Collecting Rainwater on His Property by Kendra Alleyne, July 27, 2012, CNSNews
A rural Oregon man was sentenced Wednesday to 30 days in jail and over $1,500 in fines because he had three reservoirs on his property to collect and use rainwater. Gary Harrington of Eagle Point, Ore., says he plans to appeal his conviction in Jackson County (Ore.) Circuit Court on nine misdemeanor charges under a 1925 law for having what state water managers called “three illegal reservoirs” on his property – and for filling the reservoirs with rainwater and snow runoff. “The government is bullying,” Harrington told CNSNews.com in an interview Thursday. … Harrington said he applied for three permits to legally house reservoirs for storm and snow water runoff on his property. One of the “reservoirs” had been on his property for 37 years, he said. Though the state Water Resources Department initially approved his permits in 2003, the state – and a state court — ultimately reversed the decision. “They issued me my permits. I had my permits in hand and they retracted them just arbitrarily, basically. They took them back and said ‘No, you can’t have them,’ so I’ve been fighting it ever since,”