This is long. If you make it through to the end, I believe it will be worth it. This is the story of a constituent of mine. His name is Tony and he is a 75 year old veteran who served in Viet Nam and is now about 80% disabled. He owns a little mine north of Liberty, Wa. He has been working the mine for about 25 years. Now, with his disability he tells me he is “more of a rock hound”. 4 years ago it rained pretty hard and a pile of rocks fell in front of his mine. Whereas everyone else around him pulled out the backhoes and moved rocks away (forgiveness is easier than permission), Tony went to the US Forest Service and asked permission to bring his backhoe in. From there until today, Tony’s life has unraveled. In the ensuing 4 years, the Forest Service has harassed and abused Tony beyond belief. Based on documents sent to my office and conversations I have had with the Forest Service on Tony’s behalf, here is what he has been asked to do in the last 4 years: Submit a 50 page Plan of Operation to describe how he will move the rock. Submit a Spotted Owl Mitigation Plan based on the remote possibility that the movement of rocks may disturb spotted owl habitat. Submit a Fish Riparian Mitigation Plan because the dust raised from moving the rocks may land in the nearby creek. He has been asked to build a $24,000 retaining wall on the grounds that moving rocks may cause other rocks to move. He has been asked submit a plan on how he will re-introduce native species plants in the area to cover the ground where the rocks have been moved. IF, he does all these things, the Forest Service informed us that they will then submit all his plans to a 6 month public comment period and have an answer for him WITHIN 2 YEARS! In the mean time, while negotiating with the Forest Service, they went onto his claim and impounded all of his tools, his hand crafted tool box and his $40,000 backhoe. They will not return the equipment and will not tell him where the equipment is. My office and I have tried to work with the Forest Service for the last month. We got nowhere. We brought in Congressman Reichert’s office to help. They did, but could get nowhere either. This poor man has been abused by the very government he fought for. The bureaucrats at the Forest Service know they are unaccountable and untouchable. They have suggested to us that they are simply delaying everything in the hopes Tony will pass away before they have to do anything. We found a loophole! The Forest Service informed us (on tape thank goodness) that if Tony moves the rocks by hand, he is not bound by any of the requirements above. They believe he is too old and weak to move them. They are right. What they did NOT plan on was a State Representative who was going to let this stand. So…tomorrow I am going to Liberty…with a shovel, a wheelbarrow and 40 of my closest veteran, ROTC, mining, freedom-loving friends and we are going to move the rocks for him!! Stay posted. Video and pictures to come tomorrow
Posted on: Sun, 22 Jun 2014 14:07:31 +0000
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