Election results and feedback

For anyone who doesn't know, the Crestline Sustainable Energy Ordinance, which would have banned ethanol production in the City for sale and distribution, failed, although it received 43% of the vote. Turnout was relatively high, despite cold windy weather, and the absence of any statewide races or issues.

Thanks to everyone who voted yes for the sustainable energy ordinance. To those who thanked me and others for allowing them to vote on the issue and for standing out in the cold on election day, you're welcome. Thanks to everyone who helped out gathering signatures, publicizing meetings, and having the guts to speak truth.

There's no getting around the fact that we lost this issue, but yet I'm still impressed that 43% of Crestliners stood up to council and voted to protect their families and community.

Congratulations to our opponents. Not for winning, but for manipulating the truth. You knew you would lose by arguing jobs, or safety. So you decided to scare people with misinformation. I wonder how many people voted "no" because they thought the City would have to pay punitive damages. I wonder how many people voted "no" because they thought they could be fined for not changing their energy use. I wonder how many people voted "no" because they thought they wouldn't be allowed to cut firewood any more. Could the answer be 7% or more? Anyone who thought these things, which are not true, probably got the idea from the Safety Service Director, the publisher (not the editor) of the Advocate, and from other individuals who published this misinformation.

Anyway, congratulations. It worked. But even so, you have to admit that the City is deeply divided on these issues.

To those who have asked me what we do now, it depends. Perhaps someone will put another similar ordinance on the ballot. I don't know. It's a lot of work, but people are willing to do a lot when their families and homes are threatened. All I can say for now is that the fight is not over.

If the Andersons and Marathon oil are silly enough to build a plant where almost half the voting population (not to mention other local residents) supported a so-called "radical" ordinance to try to keep them out, then we'll have round two. Or maybe round two will happen regardless. The fact is, I'm not in charge of everything that happened, or will happen in the future in this battle. I'm flattered by the suggestion, but a group of us merely brought the issues into the sunlight, and it took off from there.

I've learned a lot in this fight. I can only hope that our opponents have also.

For example, despite the personal attacks, etc., I'm still willing to point out that there's an easy solution: change the zoning back to the way it was, and focus on wind and solar energy production. Attract the businesses who want to produce these products. Get some grants and set up a demonstration wind turbine and get some free electricity in the process.

For our supporters in the townships, and in Crestline, remember, this is not a dispute between folks on different sides of the City limits. Pollution doesn't respect that line. The biggest dispute is between the current Crestline leadership and everyone else. How that plays out I don't know.

Myths and Facts about the Sustainable Energy Ordinance

Recent opinions in print make clear that some are misreading parts of the Crestline Sustainable Energy Ordinance, which will be on the ballot Nov. 6, 2007. On certain other blogs, I fear some are purposely misrepresenting the ordinance in order to scare people. A complete copy of the ordinance appears in a previous entry on this website.


MYTH: People in Crestline will have to change their energy use, or face fines of $1000 per day.
FACT: The ordinance states a GOAL of reducing unsustainable energy use by 20% per year. There is no penalty on anyone for failing to reach that goal. See section 6.

MYTH: Individuals will not be able to use gas fireplaces or furnaces, etc.
FACT: The ordinance only prohibits unsustainable energy PRODUCTION for sale or distribution. It does not prohibit any type of energy USE. It does NOT prohibit any kind of energy production for use on site at a residence, business, or in a vehicle. Currently, I know of no existing business in Crestline that produces energy for distribution or sale, so no current Crestline business would be affected. See section 8, and section 7 (definition of "unsustainable energy production").

MYTH: The City cannot afford "unfunded mandates" or punitive damages.
FACT: The ordinance does not force the City to adopt any particular financial measures now, or at any time in the future. Section 14 looks forward to the time when City Council, or the people directly, find it necessary to assist residents in voluntarily adopting sustainable energy use. The punitive damages provisions would only apply to corporations engaged in unsustainable energy production who cause harm to the City, its residents, or natural communities. The City would not pay damages, it would RECEIVE damages if the City or its communities were harmed. See sections 16.5 and 17.


MYTH: This ordinance goes beyond the ethanol issue.
FACT: True! Citizens against the ethanol plant are not just negative. This is a positive action. If passed, Crestline can look forward to being on the cutting edge of energy technology, instead of being in the dark ages. Imagine attracting businesses that manufacture wind turbines or solar panels. Imagine a wind farm in Crestline supplying cheap electricity to residents and City facilities. Bowling Green is doing it. Cleveland is doing it. If you were considering whether to move your family or business to Crestline, would you prefer to live in the shadow of air pollution, or be a part of a real solution to our energy problems.


MYTH: This is being pushed on Crestliners by outsiders.
FACT: Crestliners supported the petition to put the ordinance on the ballot by an overwhelming margin. Crestliners alone will be able to vote on the issue. If you are AGAINST the ethanol plant, vote FOR the Sustainable Energy Ordinance.

MYTH: The ordinance has nothing to do with ethanol.
FACT: Ethanol production is unsustainable, and would be prohibited (production for sale and distribution, anyway). The process uses massive quantities of natural gas or coal, and water. It also takes corn away from food use, and encourages unsustainable farming practices such as mono-cultures, soil depletion, and over-reliance on oil-based fertilizers and genetic engineering.

I hope we can all make our decisions based on what the ordinance really does, and not hype and assumptions.

Public Forum Oct. 9 - Information on Crestline Sustainable Energy Ordinance

Who Decides What Energy Production Looks Like in Crestline Ohio?

If not YOU, then you don’t have local democracy!

Vote for Sustainable Energy Production in Crestline on November 6, 2007!

Frustrated with your elected officials making important decisions without your consent?

Concerned about the environmental, economic, and cultural damage the proposed ethanol plant will cause to your community, your health, your businesses?

Shouldn’t YOU decide what kind of energy is produced in Crestline?

Are you tired of having outside corporations tell you how your community will be run?

Come to a public forum to learn more about the Crestline Sustainable Energy Ordinance!!

Where: Crestline Public Library, basement meeting room

When: October 9, 2007 7:00pm

The Crestline Sustainable Energy Ordinance:

• Declares that the people of The City of Crestline reject the current unsustainable and anti-democratic energy policy enabled and regulated by the State of Ohio and the United States and through this Ordinance adopts a sustainable, locally-defined energy policy based on truly renewable energy sources;

• Commits The City of Crestline to exploring the reduction of the amount of energy generated from unsustainable energy production by 20% during each three year period, through the installation and use of sustainable energy systems, until the residents and businesses within the City are relying on energy generated by unsustainable energy systems only for energy that cannot be generated by sustainable energy production;

• Prohibits any new energy production for transmission or sale that relies on the use of unsustainable (dirty) energy sources, such as hydrocarbon-based and fossil fuels, and nuclear power;

• Strips energy corporations of legal privileges that allow them to override the decisions of the citizens of The City of Crestline as they codify and enforce a community sustainable energy policy;

• Recognizes that the residents of The City of Crestline possess fundamental and inalienable civil and political rights, including the right to self-government and to set policies that directly affect the health, safety and welfare of the people in the City; the residents of The City of Crestline possess the fundamental and inalienable right to a healthy environment, which includes the right to unpolluted air, water, soils, flora, and fauna;

• Recognizes the fundamental and inalienable right of natural communities and ecosystems to exist and flourish within The City of Crestline;

• Commits The City of Crestline to exploring adoption of all necessary financial measures, including the issuance of general revenue bonds, to assist and subsidize residents to transition from unsustainable energy systems to sustainable energy systems, and to create local jobs to attain that transition.

• Exempts corporations and persons already using unsustainable systems to produce energy within the City under a pre-existing contractual agreement, but only for the duration of the existing contract.

• Provides for enforcement of the provisions of the Ordinance and empowers individual citizens to enforce the provisions of the Ordinance if the municipality fails to do so;

• Recognizes and codifies the civil rights of residents and natural communities, including the right to compensatory and punitive damages to remedy the violation of those rights.

You can vote on this issue in the November election if you are registered to vote in Crestline. If you need to register to vote or change your address, contact the Crawford county Board of Elections at (419) 562-8721 .

To help with the election campaign, or for more information, contact: Thelma Taylor (419) 683-2366

Press Release: Crestline Sustainable Energy Ordinance

[For the complete text of the Ordinance, see the prior post below.]

Let the People of Crestline Decide Which Types of Energy Should be Produced in the City

Ballot Initiative for Sustainable Energy Production in Crestline to be voted on in November, 2007 Election

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Greg Reichenbach, Crawford County Citizens Against Ethanol (419)-529-8300

A sustainable energy ordinance will appear on the ballot in Crestline for the November, 2007 general election. Citizens in Crestline concerned that major decisions about energy production within their city were being made by a handful of people—and not the people who live in the city—signed petitions to put “The City of Crestline Sustainable Energy Ordinance” to the voters.

The ordinance gained widespread support from Crestline residents who both opposed a proposed ethanol plant and believed that it should be up to the people who live in the city to make the decisions that will affect all their lives for generations. As Crestline resident Thelma Taylor said, “If you don’t have democracy where you live, where do you have it? The voters weren’t asked whether we believed an ethanol plant was the best way to produce energy in our community. So who is making these very important decisions? Shouldn’t it be We the People?”

Crestliners are livid that City Council appears to be making decisions for the people of the city on behalf of a few directors from outside corporations, and not the people of Crestline. People don't like the top-down imposition of corporate interests at the expense of the people’s safety, health, economic livelihood, and general welfare of the community.

“It was easy to collect the signatures we needed because Crestline residents know that their elected officials no longer represent us. We need to set our own energy policy. We're the ones who will deal with the consequences. The people in City Hall just keep saying the ethanol opponents are only a few outsiders. Well, people here in town are smarter than that. City Hall needs to be reminded that the source of their authority is the people.” said Thelma Taylor.

“People are seeing that local officials are acting as pawns of corporate interests, and that explains why the public was kept in the dark until after a decision had been made. What is most troublesome is that the public officials elected by the people of Crestline are making decisions for out-of-town corporate directors and not for the community,” said Taylor.

The ordinance declares that the people of Crestline reject the current unsustainable and anti-democratic energy policy enabled and regulated by the State of Ohio and the United States.

Drawing on the founding ideals of this country in the Declaration of Independence, the ordinance recognizes that the residents of The City of Crestline possess fundamental and inalienable civil and political rights, including the right to self-government and to set policies that directly affect the health, safety and welfare of the people in the city. Additionally, the ordinance recognizes that the residents of Crestline possess the fundamental and inalienable right to a healthy environment, which includes the right to unpolluted air, water, soils, flora, and fauna.

The ordinance further

• Commits the city of Crestline to exploring adoption of all necessary financial measures, including the issuance of general revenue bonds, to assist and subsidize residents to transition from unsustainable energy systems to sustainable energy systems, and to create local jobs to attain that transition. It exempts corporations and persons already using unsustainable systems to produce energy within the City under a pre-existing contractual agreement, but only for the duration of the existing contract;

• Strips energy corporations of legal privileges that allow them to override the decisions of the citizens of Crestline as they codify and enforce a community sustainable energy policy;

• Provides for enforcement of the provisions of the Ordinance;

• Recognizes and codifies the civil rights of residents and natural communities, including the right to compensatory and punitive damages to remedy the violation of those rights;

• and empowers individual citizens to enforce the provisions of the Ordinance if the municipality fails to do so.

Over the next several months, backers of the Ordinance will hold meetings and provide more information on the ordinance. Anyone interested in assisting may contact Thelma Taylor at 419-683-2366.

Crestline Sustainable Energy Ordinance

[What follows is the text of The City of Crestline Sustainable Energy Ordinance, which will be on the ballot in Crestline for the November 2007 election. See the press release above.]

The City of Crestline

Ordinance No. 2007-

AN ORDINANCE OF THE PEOPLE OF THE CITY OF CRESTLINE, OHIO, PROHIBITING UNSUSTAINABLE ENERGY PRODUCTION WITHIN THE CITY; MANDATING A TRANSITION TO SUSTAINABLE ENERGY SYSTEMS WITHIN THE CITY; PROVIDING FOR THE ENFORCEMENT OF THE ORDINANCE AND THE RIGHTS OF RESIDENTS AND NATURE; AND PROVIDING FOR FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE FOR THE CONVERSION TO SUSTAINABLE ENERGY SYSTEMS

Section 1— Name The name of this Ordinance shall be the “The City of Crestline Sustainable Energy Ordinance.”

Section 2— Authority This Ordinance is adopted and enacted pursuant to the authority granted to the City by all relevant state and federal laws, and by the inherent right of the people of the City of Crestline to self-government, including, but not limited to, the following:

§ The Declaration of Independence, which declares that governments are instituted to secure people’s rights, and that government derives its just powers from the consent of the governed;

§ The Ninth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which declares, “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people”;

§ The Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which declares, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people”;

§ The Ohio Constitution, Article 1, §2, which declares, “All political power is inherent in the people. Government is instituted for their equal protection and benefit, and they have the right to alter, reform, or abolish the same, when ever they may deem it necessary; and no special privileges or immunities shall ever be granted, that may not be altered, revoked, or repealed”;

§ The Ohio Constitution, Article 1, §19, which does not declare that claimed rights to future profit are superior to the self-governing authority of the People, but does declare that “Private property shall ever be held inviolate but subservient to the public welfare”;

§ The Ohio Constitution, Article 13, §2, which does not declare that unsustainable energy production shall be governed by private law and regulated only under the U.S. Commerce Clause, but does declare that “Laws may be passed regulating the sale and conveyance of other personal property, whether owned by a corporation, joint stock company or individual”;

§ The Ohio Constitution, Article 18, §3, which declares that “Municipalities shall have authority to exercise all powers of local self-government and to adopt and enforce within their limits such local police, sanitary and other similar regulations, as are not in conflict with general laws”;

§ The Ohio Constitution, Article 18, §7, which declares that “Any municipality may frame and adopt or amend a charter for its government and may, subject to the provisions of section 3 of this article, exercise thereunder all powers of local self-government”

Section 3— Purpose A general purpose of this Ordinance is to declare that the people of the City of Crestline possess the authority to establish energy policy within this City, and decisions about energy investments, technologies, production, transmission and use should always be made locally by people who live in this community. Another general purpose of this Ordinance is to declare that current energy policy is not sustainable because it is based upon non-renewable fossil, hydrocarbon based, and nuclear fuel sources. Extraction, combustion, use, and shipping of those fuels - and disposal of wastes resulting from use of those fuels – have been creating government-backed corporate assaults on communities and the natural environment. A final purpose of this Ordinance is to recognize that the health, safety, and welfare of The City of Crestline residents also depend on other municipalities’ transition to sustainable energy systems, and that this Ordinance will contribute to a regional, and then national, transition to sustainable and appropriate energy production and use.

Section 4— Declaration of Unsustainability The people of the City of Crestline, through their City Council, recognize that the current energy policy of Ohio and the United States – based on non-renewable fossil fuels, hydrocarbon based fuels, and radiation-creating nuclear fission for energy generation – is inherently destructive to the health of human and natural communities, requires tremendous infrastructure expenditures and military control over oil resources, results in atmospheric damage caused by global warming, and makes inevitable the emission of radiation harmful to all life. The people, through their Council, recognize that the energy policy of Ohio and the United States has long been directed by a handful of oil and other energy corporations and the directors of those corporations. That control, in turn, has denied the ability of people and communities over the past century to create and implement their own sustainable energy futures – to make sane, logical, and appropriate decisions about energy investments and technologies.

Section 5— Declaration of Sustainable Energy Policy for The City of Crestline The people of the City of Crestline, through their City Council declare that they reject the current unsustainable and anti-democratic energy policy enabled and regulated by the State of Ohio and the United States, and therefore, through this Ordinance, adopt a sustainable, locally-defined energy policy based on truly renewable energy sources. Energy investments, production, transmission, and use within the City of Crestline shall be guided by that principle, and that principle shall serve as the foundation for the development of an annual Sustainable Energy Plan for The City of Crestline.

Section 6— Declaration of Sustainable Energy Goals Use of energy within the City of Crestline generated from unsustainable energy production shall be reduced by 20% during each three year period, through the installation and use of sustainable energy systems, until the residents and businesses within the City are relying on energy generated by unsustainable energy systems only for energy that cannot be generated by sustainable energy production.

Section 7— Definitions As used throughout this Ordinance, the following words and phrases shall have the following meanings:

“The City” – “The City of Crestline,” the governing authority of the City of Crestline, which is responsible to and governed by sovereign authority of the people living there, who at all times enjoy and retain an inalienable and indefeasible right to self-governance through their use of the municipal corporation known as the "City of Crestline" to make law that benefits the sovereign people.

“Corporation” – any corporation organized under the laws of any state of the United States or under the laws of any country. The term shall also include any limited partnership, limited liability partnership, business trust, or limited liability company organized under the laws of any state of the United States or under the laws of any country, and any other business entity that possesses State-conferred limited liability attributes for its owners, directors, officers, and/or managers. The term shall also include any business entity in which one or more owners or partners is a corporation or other entity in which owners, directors, officers and/or managers possess limited liability attributes.

“Energy Production” – the combustion of a fuel to produce heat, power, or electricity.

“Person” – a natural person.

“Renewable” – refers to energy derived from existing flows of energy generated by on-going natural processes, including, but not limited to, energy generated from the sun, flowing water, wind flows, and geothermal heat flows. The term shall not include energy generated from fossil fuels, hydrocarbon based fuels, nuclear fission, or any derivative of those energy sources.

“Sustainable energy production” – the production of energy from sources other than fossil fuels, hydrocarbon based fuels, nuclear fission, or from any other fuel source that is not renewable. The phrase shall include, but not be limited to, energy derived from the sun, closed and open loop geothermal systems, wind flows, and installations, siting, and measures taken to retrofit buildings to improve energy efficiency and energy conservation.

“Sustainable energy systems” – systems and processes using sustainable energy production to heat, cool, and provide electricity or other power for household, commercial, industrial, and agricultural use.

“Syndicate” – any limited partnership, limited liability partnership, business trust, or limited liability company organized under the laws of any state of the United States or any country. A syndicate shall not include general partnerships, except general partnerships in which corporations or other limited liability business entities are partners.

“Unsustainable energy production” – the production of energy from fossil fuels, hydrocarbon based fuels, nuclear fission, or any other fuel source that is not renewable. The phrase does not include combustion of wood and wood products, or the use of propane, kerosene, heating oil, coal, or natural gas when combustion of those fossil fuels is used solely to generate on-site heat or power and the energy produced is not sold, transmitted, or distributed. The phrase also does not include combustion of gasoline, diesel fuel, or kerosene within engines used within The City of Crestline if the energy produced by that combustion is not distributed, transmitted, or sold. The phrase shall include actions that use energy to transform any non-renewable fuel source into another non-renewable fuel source intended for energy production.

“Unsustainable energy systems” – systems and processes using unsustainable energy production to heat, cool, and provide electricity and other power for household, commercial, industrial, and agricultural use.

Section 8— Statement of Law No person, corporation, or syndicate shall engage in unsustainable energy production within The City of Crestline.

Section 9— Statement of Law No corporation or syndicate engaged in, or planning to engage in, energy production within the City of Crestline shall be protected, or empowered by, the Bill of Rights to the United States Constitution, or by rights claimed within the text of the United States or Ohio Constitutions, within the City of Crestline. No corporation or syndicate engaged, or planning to engage in, energy production within the City shall be deemed a “person” for purposes of the Ohio or United States Constitutions, nor shall those corporations or syndicates possess the authority to enforce State or federal preemptive law against the people of The City of Crestline. Within the City of Crestline, corporate claims to “future lost profits” shall not be considered property interests under the law, and thus shall not be recoverable by corporations seeking those damages.

Section 10— Statement of Law The City of Crestline shall be the governing authority responsible to and governed by the residents of the City. Use of the "The City of Crestline" municipal corporation by the sovereign people within the City's boundaries to make law shall not be construed to limit or surrender the sovereign authority or immunities of the people to a municipal corporation that is subordinate to them in all respects. The people at all times enjoy and retain an inalienable and indefeasible right to self-governance in the community where they reside.

Section 11— Statement of Law The residents of The City of Crestline possess fundamental and inalienable civil and political rights, among which is the right to a republican form of government and the right to self-government. The residents of The City of Crestline also possess the fundamental and inalienable right to a healthy environment, which includes the right to unpolluted air, water, soils, flora, and fauna. City residents also possess a fundamental and inalienable right to the integrity of their bodies, and thus have a right to be free from unwanted invasions of their bodies by pollutants.

Section 12— Statement of Law Natural communities and ecosystems possess inalienable and fundamental rights to exist and flourish within the City of Crestline. It shall be unlawful for any corporation or syndicate, or its directors, officers, owners, or managers to interfere with the existence and flourishing of natural communities or ecosystems, or to cause damage to those natural communities and ecosystems. The City of Crestline, along with any resident of the City, shall have standing to seek declaratory, injunctive, and compensatory relief for damages caused to natural communities and ecosystems within the City, regardless of the relation of those natural communities and ecosystems to City residents or the City itself. City residents, natural communities, and ecosystems shall be considered to be “persons” for purposes of the enforcement of the civil rights of those residents, natural communities, and ecosystems.

Section 13— Statement of Law No permit, license, privilege or charter issued by any Regulatory Agency, Commission or Board to any person or any corporation operating under a foreign or domestic State charter, or any director, officer, owner, or manager of a corporation operating under a foreign or domestic State charter, which would violate the provisions of this Ordinance or deprive any City resident, natural community, or ecosystem of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by this Ordinance, the Ohio Constitution, the United States Constitution, or other laws, shall be recognized as valid. Any person or any corporation operating under a foreign or domestic State charter or permit, or any director, officer, owner, or manager of a corporation operating under a foreign or domestic State charter or permit shall be deemed a “state actor.” Additionally, any employee, agent or representative of any Regulatory Agency, Commission or Board who issues a permit, license, privilege or charter to any person or any corporation operating under a foreign or domestic State charter or permit, or any director, officer, owner, or manager of a corporation operating under a foreign or domestic State charter or permit, which would violate the provisions of this Ordinance or deprive any City resident, natural community, or ecosystem of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by this Ordinance, the Ohio Constitution, the United States Constitution, or other laws shall be liable to the party injured and shall be responsible for payment of compensatory and punitive damages and all costs of litigation, including, without limitation, expert and attorney’s fees. Compensatory and punitive damages paid to remedy the violation of the rights of natural communities and ecosystems shall be paid to the City of Crestline for restoration of those natural communities and ecosystems.

Section 14— Statement of Law The City of Crestline shall adopt all necessary financial measures, including the issuance of general revenue bonds, to assist and subsidize residents to transition from unsustainable energy systems to sustainable energy systems, and to create local jobs to attain that transition.

Section 15— Exemption Corporations, syndicates and persons using unsustainable energy systems to actively produce energy within the City prior to, and on the date of, the adoption of this Ordinance shall be exempted from the operation of this Ordinance only if those corporations and persons are producing energy under a valid and pre-existing contractual agreement. This exemption only applies for the duration of the existing contractual arrangement under which corporations and persons are engaged in energy production within the City.

Section 16—Enforcement

Section 16.1: The City of Crestline shall enforce this Ordinance by an action brought before a court of competent jurisdiction in the same manner provided for the enforcement of misdemeanor offenses under the Ohio Rules of Criminal Procedure.

Section 16.2: Any person, corporation, syndicate, or other entity that violates any provision of this Ordinance shall be guilty of a misdemeanor offense and, upon conviction thereof by a court of competent jurisdiction, shall be sentenced to pay a fine of $750 for first-time violations, $1000 for second-time violations, and $1000 for each subsequent violation.

Section 16.3: A separate offense shall arise for each day or portion thereof in which a violation occurs and for each section of this Ordinance that is found to be violated.

Section 16.4: The City of Crestline may also enforce this Ordinance through an action in equity brought in a court of competent jurisdiction. In such an action, The City of Crestline shall be entitled to recover all costs of litigation, including, without limitation, expert and attorney’s fees.

Section 16.5: All monies collected as a result of actions brought by the City of Crestline for violation of this Ordinance shall be paid to the Treasurer of The City of Crestline.

Section 16.6: Any City resident shall also have the authority to enforce this Ordinance through an action in equity brought in a court of competent jurisdiction. In such an action, the resident shall be entitled to recover all costs of litigation, including, without limitation, expert and attorney’s fees.

Section 17—Civil Rights Enforcement

Section 17.1: Any person, corporation, or syndicate acting under the authority of a permit issued by the Environmental Protection Agency or any other State or federal regulatory agency, any corporation or syndicate operating under a foreign or domestic State charter, or any director, officer, owner, or manager of a corporation or syndicate operating under a foreign or domestic State charter, who deprives any City resident, natural community, or ecosystem of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by this Ordinance, the Ohio Constitution, the United States Constitution, or other laws, shall be liable to the party injured and shall be responsible for payment of compensatory and punitive damages and all costs of litigation, including, without limitation, expert and attorney’s fees. Compensatory and punitive damages paid to remedy the violation of the rights of natural communities and ecosystems shall be paid to The City of Crestline exclusively for restoration of those natural communities and ecosystems.

Section 17.2: Any City resident shall have standing and authority to bring an action under this Ordinance’s civil rights provisions, or under state and federal civil rights laws, for violations of the rights of natural communities, ecosystems, and City residents, as recognized by any section of this Ordinance.

Section 18—Effective Date and Existing EPA Permit holders This Ordinance shall be effective immediately, at which point the Ordinance shall apply to any and all unsustainable energy production within the City regardless of the date of applicable federal, state, or local government or Ohio EPA permits.

Section 19—Severability The provisions of this Ordinance are severable. If any court of competent jurisdiction decides that any section, clause, sentence, part, or provision of this Ordinance is illegal, invalid, or unconstitutional, such decision shall not affect, impair, or invalidate any of the remaining sections, clauses, sentences, parts, or provisions of the Ordinance. The City Council of The City of Crestline hereby declares that in the event of such a decision, and the Council’s determination that the court’s ruling is legitimate, it would have enacted this Ordinance even without the section, clause, sentence, part, or provision that the court decides is illegal, invalid, or unconstitutional.

Section 20— People’s Right to Self-Government and Duty of Separation The foundation for the making and adoption of this law is the people’s fundamental and inalienable right to govern themselves, and thereby secure their rights to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. Any attempts to use other units and levels of government to preempt, amend, alter, or overturn this Ordinance, or parts of this Ordinance, shall require the City Council to hold public meetings that explore the adoption of other measures that expand local control and the ability of residents to protect their fundamental and inalienable right to self-government. It is declared that those other measures may legitimately include the partial or complete separation of the City from the other units and levels of government that attempt to preempt, amend, alter, or overturn this Ordinance.

Section 21—Repealer This Ordinance hereby repeals the provisions of any prior ordinances that are inconsistent with this Ordinance only to the extent necessary to remedy the inconsistency.

ENACTED AND ORDAINED this ___ day of __________, 2007, by the ______________of The City of Crestline.

By: _____________________

____________________________

____________________________

Attest: ____________________________

Building local democracy

[The following is a guest editorial by Kat Walter, Co-Founder of Project Democracy Ohio. Please attend the talk on May 16, 2007, 6:30pm, at the Jefferson Township Hall]

A fascinating discussion is taking place around the city of Crestline, Ohio. Citizens who have pleaded with the city council not to pass an emergency zoning measure to usher in an enormous ethanol plant quickly realized their pleas for the council to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the community fell on deaf ears.

Or should I say on ears tuned to the frequency of a few corporate ethanol plant directors. But certainly not to the greater community. Land developers, energy giants, and large agribusiness corporations influence local zoning changes on a regular basis. Zoning is not a solid deterrent to unwanted assaults on the community.

So what are people in the community discussing? Discussions bear striking resemblance to those that took place in this country about 230 years ago when American colonists rejected the dictates of the British government. After begging King George and the British Parliament to please stop abusing the colonists’ basic rights to govern themselves, the American revolutionaries finally said “Enough!” But the colonists’ beef was not just with the British government. They knew well the control the British East India Company had over their lives as its directors worked closely with the British crown to secure a monopoly over tea in the American colonies.

The corollary here is that the citizens of Crestline were not the ones to decide whether an ethanol plant could site in the community, whether the people polluted by unsustainable energy production would make the governing decision that would affect their community for decades, if not more. Where is We the People in this process? And are local government officials making governing decisions based on the will of the people, or on the will of the few corporate directors behind the helm of the agribusiness energy giant?

Truth be told, corporations have more rights than citizens to make governing decisions in communities throughout the United States. The question many people in Crestline are eventually left trying to answer is why corporations have greater rights than the citizens of this city. In asking that question, they're joining citizens across the United States who have watched as their own rights to self-government are routinely trumped by corporations using their own city councils against them.

Answering that question requires exploring the history of state and federal court rulings that have bestowed the constitutional rights of "persons" onto corporations. Today, as illogical as it may sound, corporations assert all of the Bill of Rights that American Revolutionaries fought, bled, and died for, from the Lexington Green to Concord. What that means today is that corporations—and the handful of people who run them—can hide behind the cloak of the First Amendment to deliver political contributions and manage state legislatures.

Some people see through the brilliant marketing schemes flooding out of the giant ethanol corporations—and even out of the Statehouse in Columbus and the Capitol in Washington, D.C. But facts are not enough to stop corporate bullies from trumping decisions made at the local level, or dictating a community’s future. Changing how local decisions are made is a start.

Throughout the neighboring state of Pennsylvania, people are working with the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) to organize differently and do just this. They are organizing locally to prohibit unwanted corporate assaults in their communities—from longwall mining to factory farms to the spreading of municipal sludge. The Legal Defense Fund has helped over one hundred communities pass these laws.

Organizing to build local, majority decisionmaking and challenging minority decisionmaking that wields the U.S. and Ohio Constitutions against the citizens is now happening in Ohio. Project Democracy Ohio is a nonprofit formed to carry on the work of CELDF in Ohio. CELDF co-founder and Executive Director, Attorney Thomas Linzey, will be speaking to the citizens of Crestline and Crawford County about this exciting work on Wednesday, May 16^th at 6:30 PM at the Jefferson Township Hall, at 2119 St. Rte. 598, Galion, Ohio, 44833. For the folks around Crestline Ohio—and throughout this state—the question Who Decides? is answered by a resounding We Do!

Don't be intimidated

Reports have come to me that some of you who have spoken out against the proposed ethanol plant have been intimidated by Crestline officials. Apparently some City residents and some outside the City have received phone calls from City officials asking why you are stirring up trouble, or "What is your problem?"

We want you to know that we stand with you, regardless of where you live. Regardless of Gene Toy's comment at the April Regional Planning Commission meeting ("I don't want this to be a forum..."), we still live in a democracy, and the First Amendment still allows all of us to express our opinions.

Some would like this issue to be about Crestline residents against the townships. But we all know now that people inside and outside the City share the same concerns over safety and pollution, which doesn't stop at the City corporation lines.

Don't be intimidated by those whose power may be limited after the next election.