July 17, 2012

Bureaucrats Bully Family Farms in D.C. Exurbs

By Mark J. Fitzgibbons
Fauquier (/fɔːˈkɪər/) County, Virginia has become a new battleground against the sprawl of Washington-style government bullying.  Under the guise of business zoning authority, Fauquier is now depriving an agricultural community of its liberty to live the farm life when a little commerce is, and even is not, involved. The county, you see, wants to regulate and fine farm residents on grounds of holding pumpkin carvings, birthday parties for little girls, and Boy Scout jamborees. Fauquier County is an agricultural community in the beautiful Piedmont mountain region about an hour west of Washington.  Its motto is "life as it should be."  To some county bureaucrats and officials, that means "life as we tell you how it should be." The growth of the federal government, along with its bureaucratic mentality, has sprawled into Northern Virginia, and mostly up to now, just shy of Fauquier.  In once-bucolic Loudon County to the north of Washington, where family farms...(Read Full Article)