New Approach To Protect Private Property Rights – Dirt Rider Magazine

Landowners from across the country will be meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah, November 10-11, 2006, to learn brand new techniques to protect their private property rights.Hosted by three national property rights organizations, the two-day event will offer courses that teach individual citizens strategies to fight their local battles one by one.Today, citizens realize the issues that threaten their liberty and property rights, are no longer something they only read about in the newspapers. They are personally affected by zoning, park expansions, transportation corridors, endangered species, smart growth (sustainability) issues, wetland restrictions, conservation easements, access restrictions, grazing limitations, and hundreds of other regulatory schemes.”It’s the landowners who have learned how to organize and fight strategically that have had the greatest successes at protecting their land and communities from federal, state and local anti-private property measures,” stated Margaret Byfield, executive director of Stewards of the Range, the main sponsor of the meeting. “The key is teaching people how to re-think their issues and give them the tools to fight their specific battles.”That’s what the “Unite to Fight” conference is all about – winning locally.Fred Kelly Grant has been teaching these strategies for over 10 years and has been tremendously successful. A former prosecutor, who brought down organized crime figures in Baltimore, Maryland, and one of the most ingenious land-use consultants in the West, will be teaching landowners his secrets on how to win locally.”People need to learn how to do more than just organize rallies. They need to learn how to use the law to their benefit, identifying the right targets and focusing local opposition at the most critical moments,” said Grant.Day one of the conference discusses the emerging issues people will be, or already are, fighting in their communities. Day two is a full eight-hour course teaching people how to fight locally. Major topics that will be discussed the first day include a presentation on the North American Union (NAU) from noted “Global” expert, Patrick Wood, who edits TheAugust Review. Dan Byfield, president of the American Land Foundation will discussthe NAFTA Superhighway, the NAU transportation corridor connecting Mexico to Canada, which is already being implemented in Texas.Ladd Bedford, the managing partner with McQuaid, Bedford, and Van Zandt, will discuss precedential western property rights cases now making their way through the courts, including Hage v. United States, expected to be decided by January. Leo Schwartz, with the Virginia Land Rights Coalition will expalin conservation easements and National Heritage Areas. Tim Findley, writer with Range magazine will deliver tips on how to communicate these issues to the public.Two well respected county sheriffs, Gary Aman from Owhyee County, Idaho and Tony DeMeo from Nye County, Nevada, will share how each has taken an active role in protecting the property of their citizens by insisting that federal and state agencies work within the law of their county.The second day is run by Fred Kelly Grant, who has worked both inside and outside government, and at some point, worked within every branch of government. He understands the inner workings of federal, state and local agencies, and his experience as a former prosecutor, gives him the unique ability to develop and pursue strategic plans that will stop anti-private property proposals in their community.Rounding out the program are landowners from Nebraska, Colorado, Idaho and Pennsylvania who are actively fighting anti-private property agenda’s in their communities.The conference will also include a moving tribute to Wayne and Jean Hage who filed the precedent setting case, Hage v. United States, now expected to reach final decision this January. The tribute focuses on the life of Wayne Hage who passed away this past June. His second wife, Helen Chenoweth-Hage, a former U.S.Congressman, passed away last month and will also be honored.”Those we lost this year sounded the alarm and set the course. Our mission is to build on their work and turn the tide,” commented Byfield, who is also the daughter of Wayne and Jean Hage. “Our goal at this conference is to make sure every participant leaves with a good plan in hand to fight their local battles, because it is here, at the local level, that this war will be won or lost.”The Registration fee is $150 per person. The conference begins at 8:30 am November 10th and runs until 5:00 pm November 11th. The conference will be held at the Hampton Inn and Suites next to the airport in Salt Lake City, Utah. Call 1-800-700-5922 to register. To learn more about the conference go to www.stewards.us.