Martha’s
70 acre farm is located in Fauquier County, a rural community not far from
Washington, D.C. The rich soil is ideal for growing grapes and agriculture in
general. Martha bought her farm with an agricultural conservation easement.
A
conservation easement is a contract between a private property owner and a land
trust. Conservation easements are signed because some people want to protect
their property from unwanted development in the future but they also want to
retain ownership of the land. The donation of an easement to a land trust may
give financial advantage to the donor.
The conservation easement is passed on to any future owners of that
land.
Martha
Boneta repaired the historical barn, built an apiary, harvested hay, grew
herbs, and rescued 165 animals, sold chicken, duck, turkey, emu eggs, candles
made from beeswax, birdhouses, and fiber from llamas and alpacas. Although
holding a business license, she was harassed, the license was not renewed, and a
trench was dug to prevent parking on her property because it obscured the view
shed.
Piedmont
Environmental Council decided to rezone her property for alleged “violations”
found during unannounced inspections. They settled the law suit in 2011.
The
Fauquier County Board of Supervisors changed the zoning laws to ban Martha’s
sale of fruits, vegetables, beverages, and other crafts in her farm store. The
supervisors also passed an ordinance to force wineries in the area to close at
6 p.m. and to prohibit the sale of food unless the wineries obtained special
permits from the zoning administrator.
Martha
put a lot of hard work to breathe life into the previously abandoned property.
It was her life-long dream to farm. She was not going to give up that easily.
She became a property rights advocate and activist in Virginia, speaking at
every venue and opportunity against the insidious U.N. Agenda 21, enabled at
the local level by unscrupulous supervisors who had bought into the Agenda 21
environmental land grab.
The
“visioning committee consensus” of ICLEI was nothing more than the wishes of a
few global elites, telling each community across the country what was best for
their citizens in terms of land and water use, keeping the environment as pristine
and wild as possible, without the “destructive” encroachment of humans. As
Americans became more aware of their true internationalist intent, ICLEI
changed its name to Local Governments for Sustainability.
The
International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) is a
conglomerate of national, regional, and local government associations who
promote “sustainable development” and protection of the environment because of
the man-made global warming that does not exist. The focus is to limit economic
and agricultural development in developed countries, a forced sustainable
de-growth through EPA regulations and local board of supervisors’ zoning laws, and
“regionalism” at the federal level, intruding on every facet of human life.
http://www.icleiusa.org/
A
lot of Virginians testified in support of HB1430 (The Boneta Bill), The Right
to Farm Act, which passed the House of Delegates 77-22 in February 2013 but was
blocked by the Senate Agricultural Committee by a vote of 11-4. Delegate Scott
Lingamfelter promised to reintroduce the bill next year.
Martha’s
source of trouble at the local level during 2009-2011 was Fauquier County
zoning supervisor Peggy Richardson, who was IRS commissioner under President Bill
Clinton.
It
must have been absolute coincidence that Martha’s tax returns for 2010 and 2011
were audited by the IRS. This was the timeframe when her farm operations were dissected
and her legal battles ensued. Martha Boneta believes that it was a “coordinated
effort” to confiscate her farm through rezoning.
Zoning
supervisor Richardson told TheWatchdog.org, “I could understand, given the
external climate, that people might think there is something amiss. I think
that’s a stretch, but I understand why people might feel this way. Coincidences
do happen.” http://watchdog.org/91068/former-irs-commissioner-says-tax-audit-of-virginia-farmer-a-coincidence/
Martha wrote, “IRS came with a camera to the farm but I do
not know what was photographed. The IRS agent watched me put freshly
harvested eggs into cartons and feed emus. Asked me about "boarding"
farm caretakers -- very odd and unusual especially since ‘boarding’ a farm
caretaker is identical to what PEC (Piedmont Environmental Council) complained
and sued me over. Particularly odd since there is nothing in my (tax) return
that has anything to do with ‘boarding’ labor for example.”
|
If
you think Martha Boneta’s case is an isolated incident of “conservation
easement,” think again. Take for instance the case in Alameda County,
California. The deceptively named Measure D, “Save Agriculture and Open Space
Lands Initiative,” pushed by Oakland mayor Jerry Brown and the Sierra Club
passed in November 2000. Most ranchers had no idea what they voted for - the
restrictive use of thousands of acres of private land by the county.
Property
owners lived on the land but could not make any changes or improvements to it
without prior approval by the Board of Supervisors. Ranchers paid taxes on 100
percent of the land but could only develop 2 percent.
Chuck
Moore, owner of Graceland Equestrian Center, petitioned during a hearing on
January 8, 2013, to expand a covered area on his property to store hay for his
horses.
The
Sierra Club objected by stating that “The Board has a free hand to further
restrict the use of land but it does not have a free hand to loosen the
restrictions measuredly imposed on the development and use of land.” They
insisted that “open space must be saved,” which begs the question, “Saved from
what? Horses?”
The
Supervisor, seeking to avoid litigation, suggested an insane solution. The rancher
should purchase more property and donate it to the Sierra Club as “open space.”
The
narrator asked pointedly, “Are we a nation that respects private property and
individual rights or are we slaves to the government and special interest
groups like the Sierra Club?”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYMmePre-VI
This question
can be easily answered by perusing the Draft International Covenant on
Environment and Development (DICED). It is the Environmental Constitution of
Global Governance. The Draft Covenant’s 79 articles, described in great detail
in 242 pages, take Sustainable Development principles described in U.N. Agenda
21 and transform them into global law, which supersedes all constitutions
including the U.S. Constitution. https://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://www.uncsd2012.org/rio20//content/documents/IUCN+Intl+Covenant+on+Env+and+Dev+EPLP-031-rev3.pdf&embedded=true
Martha Boneta’s
and Chuck Moore’s battles are two examples of thousands across the country who
are fighting their local zoning czars for economic freedom, the use of their
land, property rights free of intrusive, photographed, unauthorized, and
illegal, often in the middle of the night land and home inspections, and the
freedom to engage in unencumbered agricultural activities from environmental
groups funded by wealthy globalists who would rather see humans disappear or
moved into government approved urban ghettoes or zones where they can be better
controlled and corralled.
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