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This web site is dependent solely upon donations; it receives no grants or other funding. Contrary to search engine descriptions: "A coalition of US land and natural resource owners. Tracks coverage of the property rights issue," this website is the effort of a very few, and donations are a must to keep our efforts strong. They need not necessarily be monetary in nature, but goods/services such as office supplies, etc., are welcome! We use a high-level SPAM blocker, so New Contacts are automatically routed to a 'suspect email folder' -- from which new contacts and non-spammers may be contacted. The focus of this website is research, education and empowerment. Legal advice is not given (please do not ask). We reserve the right to add or remove subscribers from email lists; donation required for addition to email lists. Contact us via e-mail with the
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Then and Now!
December 1, 2007
By Julie Kay Smithson
The article below, Taking Life By Storm, was
written in March 1998 and published in RoadStar magazine in its debut
issue, January 1999. It is posted here at the About Us button to
introduce readers to who I was then.
Who I am now:
Countless hours are cheerfully devoted to property rights research,
working with responsible resource providers (farmers, fishermen,
miners, ranchers, recreationists, and the folks that grow and harvest
and process timber into products that each of us use every day -- our
heroes, the American Resource Providers), learning and sharing
knowledge.
From its humble beginnings in August 1999 to its demise in 2001, the
original website known as NoDarbyRefuge.org
was owned by Jim Slaughter. As he grew ill and felt less and less like
keeping the site active, my contributions to the site in the form of
editorials and articles about our successful rout of U.S. Fish &
Wildlife 'Service' from our peaceful and fertile west-central Ohio
farms were no longer posted. The site grew stale.
On January 3, 2002, Jim offered to give me the site, as he was
shutting it down.
What could I do? Knowing zero about websites, updating, webmastering,
or anything 'computer technical', I emailed a dear rancher friend in
New Mexico whose website I admired. She suggested her webmaster, he
offered his peerless skills and time, and thus began www.PropertyRightsResearch.org --
a miracle for which I and many others give thanks every day.
The mindboggling amount of information available on the Internet about
the many facets of property rights had really never been gathered into
one place before.
There were -- and are -- websites about property rights, yes, but they
are usually organizations, foundations, etc., and focus on parts of
the whole.
To my knowledge, no one had put together all the various government
entities, NGOs, and victimization tools like eminent domain, 'smart'
'growth', and so on. 'One-stop
learning,' I guess you could call it!
From then until Friday, July 13, 2007, my website was entrusted to the capable hands and patriot heart of Gerald Ullery. On that day, after five and one-half years of being the best webmaster anyone could hope for, I took the reins of my website for the first time. Gerry was just too ill to continue. From founding documents like the Bill of Rights, Constitution and Declaration of Independence, to my webmaster's suggestion of having all fifty state's Constitutions (and their state seals), the site appeals to all needing foundational knowledge of our Constitutional Republic -- to those needing to do a comparison study showing whose constitution separates church from state: http://europeanhistory.about.com/cs/communistrussia/ (the 1918 Communist constitution, in Article 13 of the Preamble) Article 13. In order to ensure genuine freedom of conscience for the working people, the church is separated from the State, and the school from the church: and freedom of religious and anti-religious propaganda is recognized for all citizens. http://europeanhistory.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.departments.
Other buttons appeal to parts of property rights, whether aimed at
farmers (CREP, CRP, Conservation Easements, Restrictive Covenants,
USDA), fishermen (NMFS), loggers (Forest Service), ranchers (BLM), or
those with access issues (Inholders, Recreationists, Roadless).
Many buttons are cross-posted and have appeal to others.
There are buttons -- like Klamath, Everglades, and No Darby Refuge --
that may at first glance appear to be local issues, but are actually
examples of efforts to implement The Wildlands Project.
There are buttons like Maps, Links and Websites of Interest that
direct you to other websites, believing that sharing information and
networking is of paramount importance.
This is now 'what I do' instead of truck driving and raising horses.
Those things became a past chapter in my life when this effort was
committed to. The last horses and horse equipment left in August 2002;
the job was resigned in the summer of 2000.
This website is not supported by grant funding or large foundations.
It is not, as the search engines say, 'a coalition of US land and
natural resource owners'. It is not an organization. It is run on
faith and hope and the knowledge that a few can and do make a difference. It
has been supported by my personal savings and is supported by the
donations that readers like you send. The amount is not important, but
keeping this effort in your prayers, sending a donation, ordering
my property rights terminology CD or ordering from the Online Store -- these
are what keeps this effort strong.
Only you know how important this website is to you. Your support shows
me that you need this website and the help it offers you with no
membership, registration, or fee strings.
PropertyRightsResearch.org will celebrate its sixth birthday on
January 4, 2008. By that time, the 'hit counter' may well number seven
million.
Your donations are greatly needed and vital to keeping strong the efforts and website you know as Property Rights Research. Please send whatever you can, today!
Julie K. Smithson
213 Thorn Locust Lane
London, OH 43140
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