Non-Collaborative Behavior = Ohio agreement to join Great Lakes water plan stalls again

Submitted by Betsey Merkel on Thu, 05/29/2008 - 23:27.

Single agendas have no place in large scale collaborations that engage multi-state agreements and alignment of resources. The cost is high: time investment (just think of calculating one Governor and that Office's staff time, then multiply by eight states), tried patience, and a splintering of camps generating what Jack Ricchiuto calls, "shadow conversations" deteriorating future interest in the next collaboration opportunity. Worse yet, people act as if we have time. What do citizens have to say about this? Is this efficient and productive? What's your take on this?

Ohio agreement to join Great Lakes water plan stalls again

http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/michigan/index.ssf?/base/business-16/1212...

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A plan to remove Ohio as the last roadblock to finishing an agreement among the Great Lakes states to protect their water ran into a barrier on Thursday — again. Read the full article.

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private property

Submitted by Susan Miller on Fri, 05/30/2008 - 09:27.

"Sen. Tim Grendell, another Cleveland-area Republican and the property-rights resolution's sponsor, contends that would trample private property rights by designating groundwater as publicly owned. The resolution that would go before Ohio voters affirms that property owners have a "property interest" in the use of water on their land."

Private property is a big problem there isn't it? Like the neighbor who says to you, "This is my lot and I can chemicalize it all I want and you can't say anything because the line is drawn and I own it!!!" What about that lyric we so often sang in grade school - "This land is your land, this land is my land..."? What happened to “love thy neighbor” and “I am my brother’s keeper”? What about responsibility to self and to others? Grendell must have missed the part of education and religious training that teaches one to not become a stubborn selfish bastard. Now he seems to be tempting everyone with the myth that someone can of their own accord claim to own a shoreline or a stream or a brook, tributary, etc. This is ridiculous. We humans are here in the blink of the earth's eye. All this having dominion over crap is just that; its crap. Tim Grendell - you don't and we can't have dominion over anything - particularly not water. Groundwater passes under or along your land – which drop do you own? Is it OK for you to build up your land so that your neighbor’s backyard becomes a swamp?

Searching for a reference to how high and how deep do we "own the land", I came across this interesting history of the issue - related to the first air trespass rights of property owners: A Momentous Problem. So Mr. Grendell, do I own the right to that cloud as it passes over my property, too? Don't trample on my property rights, now little rain cloud - you're messing with my sunny day.