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Homeowner
highland homeowners
Hampshire H.S.
3/13/2009
Do you like the idea of being told what you can and
cannot do on your own property? Well we
as homeowners have to go threw this everyday. We have
tons of regulations and rules we have
to follow we don’t need anymore. Most of the homeowners
in the watershed don’t even live
near a river. The main cause of the pollution is the
farmers. There are two types of farmers:
cattle farmers and crop growers. Both have a big impact
on the rivers. Most cattle farmers
don’t have a fence to keep their animals in and let them
go into the rivers to drink and cool off.
Also, the chemicals they add to there fields run off
into the nearby rivers affecting the animal
life in the rivers along with the vegetation. The
homeowner group is the biggest group. We
pay the most taxes and don’t impact the bay area as much
as the farmers. We propose that you
tax the farmers for the amount of land they have, and
regulate the amount of pesticides they
are allowed to use on there farms. We are still willing
to pay what taxes we are, but if our
taxes are increased to help with the cleansing of the
bay we may not be able to afford our
houses. If that happens then we wouldn’t be paying the
property taxes that help as it is.
Ask a Thoughtful Question or Respond
Thoughtful
Questions
From:
The Black Panthers - farmer - JWHS(T)
Ask
3/20/2009
If farmers stopped using pesticides then the fruits and
vegtetables would be smaller, and
money would be lost to destruction of crops by bugs and
other animals. You're biting the hand
that feeds you. If the government would give grants to
farmers to help us improve our ways
of preventing as much as we can. Are you aware that
farmers don't provide even half of all
the pollution in the bay? Farming is responsible for 40%
of all nitrogen, 45% of all
phosphorus, and 62% of all sediment deposits in the bay.
So the rest of society is
responsible for most of the pollution. Stop looking for
someone to blame and choosing the
farmer. It's his cow you're eating.
Response
highland homeowners - homeowner - HHS
3/23/2009
As homeowners we don't care about the size of our
food. People buy food by the
pound, so if each individual thing is too small we just
buy more.(ever herd of organic)
It is more important that the bay ecosystem is more
healthy than your food size. You
are also conflicting in what you say. You are trying to
push off the blame, but you
also say that you can do whatever you want with the
water that runs through your
property.
How would the government regulate all the farmers
that borrowed money to
"improve their ways"? It isn't plausable.
From:
The Black Panthers - farmer - JWHS(T)
Ask
3/20/2009
Its illegal to not have a fence surrounding your cattle
and horses, and if a stream or river
runs through a farmers property then that part of the
stream is theirs and they can let the
cattle do what they want in it. Do you want to keep
blaming the farmer? What if they all
stopped working for a year? What would you eat? So would
a fence really help if the rain
will wash all the chemicals and nitrogen from the feces
into the water?
From:
The Rainbow Bunch - developer - JWHS(T)
Ask
3/23/2009
I agree with everything that was said although I think
that the tax money from the farmers
should be put towards research to find solutions on how
to make the bay 100% completely
clean and pollution free.
From:
The Rainbow Bunch - developer - JWHS(T)
Ask
3/23/2009
I have to agree with the farmers in that the blame
cannot be placed soley on them. Everyone
plays a role in the pollution of the watersheds, and
everyone needs to do their part to keep
them clean. This is a question I don't think you
answered. What are you, as the
homeoweners, going to do to help clean the watershed
besides paying a few taxes?
From:
Bay Huggers - farmer - JWHS(T)
Ask
3/23/2009
So you think we should tax the farmers more? That might
work, but there is a big downside
to your plan. No matter if its a little farm or a big
farm you will be charging them taxes. If
they have to pay taxes it will be hard for them to keep
there farm running. If you raise the
farmers taxes then they will raise the prices on there
meat which means your precious food
will cost much more. Which would make you upset.
Response
highland homeowners - homeowner - HHS
3/26/2009
I understand that it will be difficult for the farms,
but I'm not sure where the
fertilzer, pestisides, and other things like that are
coming from. Those key poultants
are the main cause of the algae in the bay, which is
sucking up the air for the fish. I
understand that it isn't all their fault, but they are a
big part. The tax money would
go too, like cancer, finding a cure. It could go to
teachers who could educate the
ignorant people who don't know about the pollution in
the bay. As for prices going
up, how do you know what would make us homeowners up
set? The whole point is
cleaning the bay. Are you going to put a price tag on
saving our planet?
From:
Bay Huggers - farmer - JWHS(T)
Ask
3/23/2009
Im not so sure i understand what this tax is going to
do. Will the money go into recorses to
help clense the bay or what?
From:
The Black Panthers - farmer - JWHS(T)
Statement
3/24/2009
Yea organic food is grown by organic farmers. Whoda
thunk it. If all of us went organic
then we would lose ALOT of our crops to bugs. Then how
would you buy more food? There
wouldnt be more for you to buy.
From:
County of Talbot - local_gov - JWHS(F)
Ask
3/26/2009
ARE THESE FACTS OR YOUR PERSONAL OPINION? SOUNDS LIKE
YOUR PERSONAL
OPINION COMPARED TO THE DATA THAT THE BLACK PANTHERS
POSTED.
From:
Aquaphobiacs - local_gov - JHS(P)
Ask
3/26/2009
Saying homeowners don't do much to add to the pollution
is a lie. Homeowners tend to use a
bunch of fertilizers on their lawn. And they always tend
to use WAY too much then needed.
The homeowners can send their soil off and get it tested
for like $10 to see how much
fertilizer is actually needed. Farmers can also do this.
And this will decrease the amount of
excess nutrients running off the land and into the
streams.
From:
Ashby CBF - CBP_Fed - TAHS
Ask
3/27/2009
You mentioned that pollution mostly comes from cattle
farmers and crop growers, but
you didn't mention that pollution also comes from
poultry industry and developers. Plus
you can't just tax the farmers when they don't have any
extra money. We are in an
economical crisis. Farmers are already having to sell
land and cut back on the animals
they have.
From:
Roy Roy the Water People - Waterman - JWHS(T)
Statement
3/31/2009
WHY ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT CANCER? The topic is cleaning
up the bay! Use the tax
money to go towards the bay and helping the defenseless
life in the bay that can't help
themselves. AND IT DOES SOUND LIKE YOUR PERSONAL
OPINION. Get some facts,
bud. And paying teachers to educate the "ignorant"
people? Excuse you, but some people just
aren't aware of the problem, it doesn't make them
ignorant. Maybe you need some of those
teachers.
From:
The Black Panthers - farmer - JWHS(T)
Ask
3/31/2009
The county of Talbot is our new BEST FRIEND!:) If the
tax money is going to the teachers
who could educate those ignorant people, then maybe you
should look into some night school.
You are way too busy pointing fingers at everyone else
to realize homeowners use way too
much fertilizer to make their lawns look pretty. When we
use the fertilizers its actually
being useful. We need to reach a middle ground and quit
blaming each other. Farmers aren’t
even responsible for half of it. So get your facts
straight.
From:
Bay Huggers - farmer - JWHS(T)
Ask
4/3/2009
One question that I have is the fact that you have
several "rules" that you must abide by.
What are these rules? There are barely any state
regulations (in the state of VA) concerning
personal property and the need to keep it pollutant
free. And your are correct on the fact
that a large portion of Home Owners don't live near
water, However the runoff that occurs
after rain fall does eventually go to water somewhere.
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