This article by Amy Oberlin appeared on the kpcNews website on July 14th, 2019. BRYAN, Ohio — A Williams County, Ohio citizens’ charter initiative to establish home role is running up against road blocks and deadlines. Monday, the Williams County Board of Elections deemed the charter — signed by 2,534 Ohio residents — unconstitutional. Tish [...]
Board of Elections refuses to certify signatures, deems county charter unconstitutional The media release was published by the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund on July 11th, 2019. BRYAN, OH: On Monday, the Williams County Board of Elections (BOE) attempted to block a proposed county charter initiative brought forward by residents seeking to protect the Michindoh Aquifer [...]
Two ideas that could save us and the planet: community democracy in the name of sustainability, and the rights of nature This article by Thomas Linzey was published in Common Dreams on July 2nd, 2019. In May, an international group of scientists warned that over a million of the Earth’s species are being driven to [...]
A pending state ban on Rights of Nature. Anonymous legislators. A lawsuit to enforce the lake’s rights. A new county petition… This press release was published by the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund on July 1st, 2019. COLUMBUS, OH: The Lake Erie Bill of Rights (LEBOR) made history when 61 percent of Toledo, Ohio, voters approved [...]
Both the House and Senate have approved language to ban Rights of Nature enforcement. A press release published by the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund on June 27th, 2019. COLUMBUS, OH: This Sunday, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine is scheduled to sign off on a new state budget for 2020-2021. Hidden within the 3,000+ page document are [...]
This press release was published by the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund on June 27th, 2019. Today, citizens of Toledo, Ohio will be filing a Pro Se Complaint to validate the Lake Erie Bill of Rights at the Lucas County Courthouse, 10 a.m. As citizens of the City of Toledo, Michael Ferner, Bryan Twitchell, and [...]
This letter to the editor by Judy Wanchisn appeared in the Indiana Gazette on June 24th, 2019. She is the Queenmother to the East Run Hellbenders Society Inc. and member of Grant Township, Pennsylvania. In a recent letter to the editor Mike Butler, a CEA director, attacked Grant Township and CELDF using some hot button [...]
This article by Tom Henry appeared in The Toledo Blade on June 22nd, 2019. The so-called “rights of nature” movement that led to the high-profile Lake Erie Bill of Rights in Toledo has now moved west over to Williams County in the form of an effort aimed at limiting water withdrawals from the Michindoh Aquifer. The Williams County Alliance, [...]
This letter to the editor by Dena Eakles appeared in The County Line on June 20th, 2019. I was invited to attend the Monroe County hearing on ordinances for nonmetallic mining. My interest in community rights and ordinances springing up across the country to return local control over environmental issues facing us brought me to [...]
This editorial by Stacy Long appeared in The Hawk Eye on June 20, 2019. GRANT TOWNSHIP — This missive addresses Mike Butler, author of a May 28 letter to the editor of The Indiana Gazette. Mr. Butler, mid-Atlantic executive director of Consumer Energy Alliance, made a wildly condescending attempt to sound frightening to Indiana County residents and to [...]
