For the past year I've been watching a legislative battle that has been going on between the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and folks who own along Lake Erie. Property owners farther from the lake should be watching it too.
Our family is interested because we rent a place along the lake that could be severely affected by that the ODNR is trying to do.
Basically, the ODNR says that all property between the lake and the historical high water mark is public property. However deeds to the properties give the owners control of the land to the water line. That is what the owners bought and paid, or are paying for.
It would be like waking up one morning to find that the government is creating a state park around your kids' jungle gym.
This is not an Eminent Domain issue. There would be no payment to the property owners for the loss of control of the property in which they have made substantial investment. Governor Taft, of course, supports the ODNR in the controversy.
Many property owners have gotten together and created The Ohio Lakefront Group to try to fight the ODNR move.
The OLG is headed by Tony Yankel, who has been fighting the fight for a long time.
The group managed to get a bill passed in the Ohio House last year that would minimize the effects of the ODNR property takeover.
However, the measure, Senate Bill 218, got stalled in the state Senate this year. As an alternative, the OLG filed a lawsuit late last month in Lake County Common Pleas Court.
The lawsuit asks for a declaratory judgement upholding the property owners' right to control their property to the waterline. Judge Eugene Lucci said he expects to hold hearings on the suit in three or four months.
Yankel also has taken another, even more interesting tack.
In an email to members of the OLG, Yankel explained that he has written to the Bush-Cheney Campaign Committee. In his letter, Yankel highlights the Ohio issue.
He also informs the campaign that he is withholding his support for the incumbent administration unless it can change the Governor's mind and is urging other members of his organization...and other Republicans to do the same.
Yankel points out to the President's reelection organizers that most lakefront property owners likely are Republicans and reminds the campaign of the old saw that "No Republican has ever been elected President without carrying Ohio."
On one hand, it would seem proper that, since Lake Erie is a public resource, the public should have access to it.
On the other hand, the public does have access to the lake. There are state owned beaches, parks and marinas all along the lakeshore.
There also is property that has been bought and sold for generations as extended to the waterline.
It would be easy to say that, "It serves them right, those millionaires with vacation homes on the lakeshore. I should have the right to walk to the lake anywhere I want."
That attitude, with its Bolshevist element, flies in the face of the basic right to own property and enjoy the fruits of your labor.
Also, those of you who own property along the Sandusky River should be wary. If the ODNR's power to appropriate privately owned land along public waterways is upheld, you can expect it to be applied next to river frontage. Imagine sitting in your backyard while fishermen and canoeists walk across your property to get to "their" river.
You can learn more about the issue and even join in the group's class action lawsuit, by going to www.ohiolakefrontgroup.com