Chris Santee Shows Support For Rainvilles In Franklin

[Henry]

Chris Santee is shown above in a WCAX Photo up in Franklin yesterday at a gathering showing support for the Rainville Family

Is it an effort to keep the country safe, or just a wasteful government land grab? The debate in northwestern Vermont is heated and was the subject of a public meeting Saturday.  Click on the link below for the story and video:

http://www.wcax.com/global/story.asp?s=12527196

[Suzy]

Here's a link to the petition to support the Rainville Family.  Please take a few minutes to go sign it if you agree that this new facility is a waste of our tax dollars, and a bad idea. 

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/defeat-eminent-domain

There's also a Facebook page you can join as well. 

Hope you're enjoying the weather!  (It was snowing sideways here in Wyoming yesterday!)

Suzy

[special ED]

I bet you that if the gov. offered them a million dollars they would take it

[Chris Santee]

Leahy Wants Border Crossing Closed
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20100524/NEWS02/5240311/1007/Leahy-wants-border-crossing-closed

[Chris Santee]

the following was received by the Fairfax News

The Town of Franklin, Vermont is in a conundrum, and rightly so.  Do we support the Rainville family’s demand to keep the farmland they own and work, or do we support the Custom and Border Patrol (CBP) Agency’s need to modernize an international border crossing?  We need more information before weighing in on either side.   In my initial campaign announcement, I promised I would not be a “politician” who will say anything to get a vote, or merely show up for a convenient photo op.  I promised to be a “statesman” and make rational decisions based upon all the facts.     

First and foremost, the CBP did an extremely poor job of citing why Vermont and the United States needs to keep the Morse’s Point border crossing open.  Their environmental study is poorly written, offering only a cookie-cutter approach for the port modernization.  Yet I do applaud how they found rather ingenious ways to reduce the port footprint, thereby requiring less land.  I still trust our government, and I believe there are many reasons for the port, beyond the need to spend taxpayer money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).    Although we all know that Franklin is one of the safest communities to live in, we need more proof if sleepy rural border crossings, or more importantly the lack of them, are used as crossings for illegal aliens or groups who plan harm against the American people.   

I listened to Brian Rainville’s statements that the loss of 2.2 acres will destroy the economic viability of his family’s farm.  This certainly cannot be disregarded, and must be taken into consideration.  However, we did not hear from local business owners who could also be adversely affected.   I live in Franklin, and I notice just as many Quebec cars at our local businesses as I do Vermonters.     We have no local, county or even a state economic impact study to help us determine the current or future ramifications on all local businesses.   We need a better understanding if the current, or future, economic viability of Franklin businesses will be affected by a proposed closing.   We need business growth, and we need to know if a modernized port could actually increase business for the town of Franklin, as well as all of Franklin County.  Modernized ports offer more international services, and more services could mean increased traffic and international business prospects.    We should not disregard a potential economic growth market, consisting of 7 million residents of Quebec, by making it more difficult to cross. 

It takes an act of Congress to close a border crossing, as well as it should.  There are policy issues on a grander scale to consider, beyond Americans’ inherent distrust of a government that seizes land under eminent domain.  This issue is receiving national attention.  If the Rainville’s win the argument, it may just send a precedence reverberating across our entire northern border.    Will it set the precedence to close more border crossings?  What message will we send to the world?   Are Americans now isolationists, closing our borders to business and international travel, or are we just left more unguarded?

Senator Leahy weighed in, stating he will provide appropriation funds to close Morse’s Point crossing.  This is after he weighed in on appropriating ARRA funds to modernize the ports, and is nothing more than a politician’s remarks to appease an impassioned public in election year.  We need to demand more from our senior senators.  I do feel for the Rainville family.  If I were in their shoes, I would be doing exactly the same thing; fighting for my rights to retain my own land.  It is human nature to fight for one’s own property and way of life.  This issue however, is much bigger than the loss of 2.2 acres.  It could mean the continued degradation of the economic viability of Vermont or even worse, set an international precedence we are not ready to face.  We need to demand more information from all parties involved before a decision is made.  Impassioned politics is one thing; rational decision-making is quite another.     

Judith McLaughlin, Franklin, Vermont

Judith McLaughlin is a candidate for Vermont State Senate.

[Chris Santee]

sent to the Fairfax News from Franklin County Senator Sara Kittell

J.R.S. 64.
Joint resolution relating to the future of the international port of entry at
Morses Line and the proposed federal acquisition of land belonging to the
Rainville family farm.
Was taken up for immediate consideration.
The House proposes to the Senate to amend the resolution as follows:
Whereas, Clement and Elizabeth Rainville own a dairy farm in the town of
Franklin astride the United States–Canadian border at Morses Line, and
Whereas, the Rainville farm consists of 130 acres of cropland and a dairy
operation with 75 milkers and approximately the same number of heifers, and
Whereas, every one of those 130 acres is integral to this Vermont farm’s
economic viability, and
Whereas, the Rainville farm is exactly the type of dairy farm that is all too
rapidly vanishing and that the state of Vermont is making every effort to
preserve as an ongoing agricultural enterprise, and
Whereas, the state of Vermont, through the Vermont Housing and
Conservation Trust Fund, has spent millions of dollars to preserve farmland for
future generations, and the current use program was established to encourage
the conduct of agricultural activities on Vermont land, and
Whereas, Vermont’s farmland attracts tourists who travel to the state to
view the state’s picturesque open spaces, and
Whereas, according to the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and
Markets (VAAFM), the total number of dairy farms in January stood at 11,206
in 1947, 9,512 in 1957, 4,729 in 1967, 3,531 in 1977, 2,771 in 1987, 1,908 in
1997, 1,168 in 2007, and 1,055 in 2010, and
Whereas, the VAAFM has projected that Vermont may lose up to 200 farms
in 2010, lowering the number to below 1,000 for the first time since the state of
Vermont has conducted a farm count survey, and
Whereas, from an economic perspective, the Sustainable Agriculture
Council has estimated that Vermont’s agricultural worth has now grown to
nearly $3.7 billion, and
Whereas, the United States Department of Homeland Security (the
Department) and United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which
is under the Department’s jurisdiction, have announced their intention to
acquire land—by means of eminent domain proceedings if necessary—from
the Rainville farm for use in the construction of a new international border
port-of-entry facility at Morses Line, and
Whereas, the Department and CBP are justifying this project on grounds of
both national security and economic stimulation, and
Whereas, the Rainville family has stated that were it to lose any of its land
used for hay production, this small farm’s self-sufficiency would be lost, and
Whereas, a loss in the available hay would force the Rainvilles to purchase
commercial feed for their herd, adding an expense they do not currently
incur, and
Whereas, in the federal Farmland Protection Policy Act of 1981 (Pub. L.
97-89) (the act), Congress found that “the Nation’s farmland is a unique
natural resource and provides food and fiber necessary for the continued
welfare of the people of the United States” and further stated that the law’s
purpose was “to minimize the extent to which Federal programs contribute to
the unnecessary and irreversible conversion of farmland to nonagricultural
uses,” and
Whereas, this proposed land acquisition is clearly contrary to Congress’
express intent as stated in the act, and
Whereas, the Rainville farm is listed on the National Register of Historic
Places, which is further evidence of the importance that has been attached to
the farm’s continuity and integrity, and
Whereas, although the department’s proposed new border-crossing facility
has been reduced in size, there remains concern that it may be larger than
needed for the amount of traffic that crosses at Morses Line, and
Whereas, there have been suggestions that federal funds would be better
directed at further improvements to the heavily used port of entry at nearby
Highgate, and
Whereas, the Vermont congressional delegation has been closely involved
with the issues related to the proposed new facility at the Morses Line port of
entry and the impact it will have on the Rainville Farm, and
Whereas, on Tuesday, April 27, 2010, while testifying before the United
States Senate Judiciary Committee, Homeland Security Secretary Janet
Napolitano, in response to a request of Senator Leahy, committed herself to the
convening of a public meeting near Morses Line before proceeding, and
Whereas, this meeting will be extremely timely, as in the past few days, the
Rainville family received notice from the federal government that the
condemnation process will be commenced in 60 days if the family does not
agree to sell the requested land, and
Whereas, reducing the economic viability of a small Vermont dairy farm
should not be equated with economic stimulation, now therefore be it
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives:
That the General Assembly strongly urges the United States Department of
Homeland Security to assess carefully the comments offered at the
forthcoming public meeting on the future of the port of entry facility at Morses
Line and to re-evaluate the need to condemn any land belonging to the
Rainville farm in the town of Franklin, and be it further
Resolved: That the Secretary of State be directed to send a copy of this
resolution to Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, United States
Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Alan Bersin, the Vermont
congressional delegation, Vermont Secretary of Agriculture, Food and Markets
Roger Allbee, and the Rainville family in Franklin.

[Mike Raburn]

You all know this made National news,,, at least on Drudgereport and Fox and fark.com.

When I read the headline on Drudge I JUST new it had to be VT.

So so so silly and yet we cannot be allowed to secure the Southern border....
STOOPID.

[Henry]

U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy says the Department of Homeland Security will close the Morses Line border station in Franklin, Vermont rather than proceed with a plan to expand it by seizing a dairy farmer's land.

Leahy tells The Associated Press that Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has agreed with his request to close the station on the U.S.-Canada border.

More on the story below:

http://www.fox44now.com/global/story.asp?s=12590388

[Suzy]

YAAAAAAAAAYYYYY!  Awesome news!!!!!  Thanks to everyone who supported the Rainville Family!  Thanks Chris, for being there, and your hard work on this!  Great news!  Love, Sooz