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Commentary 10 Classified Ads 11 Letters 12 People Search 13 Health 14 Weather 15 TV Guide 16 MusicNetDaily 17 Movies 18 Stocks WND Exclusive RURAL CLEANSING Final battle in the war for the West? Much to the chagrin of federal agencies and the environmental community, Presiding Judge Loren Smith already ruled on Jan. The budget-busting implications of this ruling has federal bureaucrats biting their nails. Hage believes compensation is due and that compensation must be paid on the basis of highest and best use of the resource. Since his property rights were denied in 1991, water has become an extremely valuable commodity, especially for drought-stricken urban areas such as Las Vegas and Reno. Should the government have to pay compensation for lost water sales, to which the judge has already ruled that Hage has exclusive rights, the size of the award could be staggering. Moreover, the precedent could open a floodgate of similar claims throughout the West. Ranchers have been following this case closely, and many have undertaken the research necessary to produce an "exhaustive chain of title" to document their own water and forage rights. Since the early 1980s, environmental organizations have pressured the government to reduce cattle grazing in the West. Consequently, ranchers' allotments have been reduced, driving many ranchers out of business. If Hage prevails, ranchers who have been adversely affected may be entitled to compensation, and at the same time be freed from the tightening grip of the federal government on their ranching operations. The broader question at issue is: Can federal agencies extinguish private property rights that existed before the federal agency was created without paying "just compensation" as required by the Fifth Amendment? Hage has demonstrated that private property rights were created on the property he now owns by Liabb D. Smith in 1867, who recorded his claim and deed to a 160-acre homestead. That is, the first person to find water and put it to beneficial use had the first right to the use of the water, and to the land the water would support, either for grazing, mining, farming or for any other beneficial purpose. This practice was not merely custom, it was Mexican law and territorial law well before the territories became states. The "appurtenances" listed in the original Declaration of Homestead included vast grazing areas. This fact is evidenced by the tax records at the time, which included inventories of cattle, sheep, oxen and horses in numbers that could not possibly be supported by the 160-acre homestead.
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