jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Sept 17, 2015 10:05:24 GMT -5
Stupidly set fire to a burn pile that had black smoke producing styrofoam. Me guilty.
1) During burn ban season June -Sept (it was soaking wet after a rain) 2) Burning non-wood material (should not burn plastic, my wrong) 3) They claim I need a permit, which is not true for AG zoned land from Oct-May 4) Claimed I needed a burn fan machine and a deep hole dug if trees were piled by heavy equipment (true for commercial developers, not farm operations)
I had the burn almost completed, sending the smoke South and East like I have been doing for 30 years. Darn wind changed for a few minutes and sent the smoke out to highway. Someone reported the smoke-busto. Sirens roaring for an hour trying to find me. Fire almost went out in time to elude them. Three fire engines and two fire chiefs from two different jurisdictions. I met them down on my driveway and they all stared at me(in my pajamas). Chewed me out for 20 minutes while the fire was left unattended. Yes, I hate that I disturbed them. If I had waited 3 weeks and not burned plastic I would have been legal. They made it clear that I was now on their DO DO list, and a second offense would get in my pocket. But now they want me to get permits and walk thru their regulations. Damn. End of that story. Solution-burn at night with steady wind direction.
Next one angers me. County hires an agency to take care of collecting revenues AND issue licenses/permits and send bills. I pay taxes for the county govt to do this work, not some Mafioso collection agency w/league of lawyers. They drove onto my property one time-bet they won't do that again(loud cussing sounds). They are after me to pay 20 years of back fees and business license fees. Well, I grow produce and by state laws was exempt from having to have a business license. Now they say the county has authority to collect from me, including late fees. Never sent bill one. This matter will see an attorney's assistance. But it will cost me, and provide a job for some county attorney adding to his job security. A big circle. Beat down small biz owners and provide employment for govt employees at same time. Are they trying to kill this country ?
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Post by rockpickerforever on Sept 17, 2015 10:27:36 GMT -5
James, in a word - yes. Beat down the hardworking everyday man. That sucks they are trying to collect taxes you do not even owe. Sounds like someone has a hard on for you. Or you pissed someone off. (Are all those folks out of jail now?)
Shame on you for getting caught TWICE for illegal burning. Ya shoulda waited the three weeks. But you can almost always bend rules a little bit. It's when they change rules up in mid-game to suit them, then try to collect that money retroactively that sucks. Innocent until proven guilty?
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panamark
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2012
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Post by panamark on Sept 17, 2015 10:39:24 GMT -5
I feel for you James. They can be just like a dang horse fly that you want squish. But resist the temptation . Anyway, I think 7 years is the statute of limitations on (most) finances, so I think the 20 yr thing is definite BS. PS: Burning styro is truly bad stuff, so they have a point there
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 17, 2015 11:46:57 GMT -5
No statute on taxes.
Government wins, forever.
Sucks.
Sad to read.
Grab @wampidy and you and Denise disappear into China. They won't find you and never will collect!
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jamesp
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Member since October 2012
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Post by jamesp on Sept 17, 2015 11:48:36 GMT -5
I feel for you James. They can be just like a dang horse fly that you want squish. But resist the temptation . Anyway, I think 7 years is the statute of limitations on (most) finances, so I think the 20 yr thing is definite BS. PS: Burning styro is truly bad stuff, so they have a point there Agreed, the styro was bad on me. Shoulda gotten reprimanded for that one. Me and adjacent farms been skirting those guys for years burning trees. The elite 'Chattahoochee Hills' of Serenbe fame has been trying to annex my outlaw ways into their city limits for a long while. Asked them politely to stop coming to my door to sign petitions. They have surrounded me on three sides. Funny that their police chief showed up w/the rest of the entourage. I resented that. Not his jurisdiction. serenbe.com 'A Proggressive Community'. A great place to stop on the rat bike and get sip a beer, lots of looks. Stopped that when the locals killed their officer. Serenbe, a mixed dialogue of houses with liberal building codes(which is a cool concept) Ave $800,000. But very green people. Makes my place more valuable. They implemented their new police dept. down here about 10 years ago. Giving the farmers tickets every time they cranked a chain saw before 7 AM, and any other infraction. The locals got tired of their harassment and popped a cap in their day officer, killed him. Went way too far, bad on them. But it has not been a good greetings, country boy vs city slicker.
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Post by broseph82 on Sept 17, 2015 11:50:29 GMT -5
Looks like the movie producers need to step it up a notch. Hey Jim, you could always start selling all the coral in your backyard!
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jamesp
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Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,562
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Post by jamesp on Sept 17, 2015 11:51:54 GMT -5
No statute on taxes. Government wins, forever. Sucks. Sad to read. Grab @wampidy and you and Denise disappear into China. They won't find you and never will collect! It is a shame Scott. A new challenge to deviate.
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jamesp
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Member since October 2012
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Post by jamesp on Sept 17, 2015 11:52:42 GMT -5
Looks like the movie producers need to step it up a notch. Hey Jim, you could always start selling all the coral in your backyard! Or make a movie, "Hard Working America vs Regulators"
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snuffy
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Post by snuffy on Sept 17, 2015 12:10:03 GMT -5
Dang that sucks.
snuffy
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Intheswamp
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Post by Intheswamp on Sept 17, 2015 12:33:25 GMT -5
Government... I know you're in Georgia, James, but Georgia's constitution (and other states) may have a line similar to one we have in the Alabama consitution... "That the sole object and only legitimate end of government is to protect the citizen in the enjoyment of life, liberty, and property, and when the government assumes other functions it is usurpation and oppression." Why it it that public officials forget what they are...that being, PUBLIC SERVANTS? They let the power/authority set like quikcrete between their ears. Common sense and simple logic is a foreign thing to most of them. Sure, the styrofoam was nasty...but, getting chastised for burning just after a good rain...and them wanting back permit fees and penalties..those are very questionable. Hired agencies could not care less about what is "right"...they are only interested in turning revenue for their client so as to have a reason to exist. I better stop...blood pressure's going up.
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panamark
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Post by panamark on Sept 17, 2015 13:07:30 GMT -5
Why does our accountant and even the IRS state that you only need to keep old financial records for the latest 7 years?
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Sept 17, 2015 13:08:18 GMT -5
The hired agency was particularly irritating Ed Intheswamp. The county govt can take days to get a call in to. They hire contractors and goof off. thanks for the voice, maybe they will disappear. I got about 6 big piles to burn(just wood). It's gonna happen just like the state allows me to. Sorry county.
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Intheswamp
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Post by Intheswamp on Sept 17, 2015 13:25:00 GMT -5
My father started a business in our little town in 1946. Supported the city and county for over 50 years. In 1998 the city decided they needed his property and was offering to "trade" him some property in a bad part of town that included a building that the city had already talked of demolishing or repairing...the property that they wanted from him was dead center of town. It proceeded on to imminent domain talk.
This went on for about a year. Thankfully my father was well thought of by the folks in the city/county and they turned out for a couple of town hall meetings. The local cable company videotaped one of the meetings. I wrote up a piece about the situation, compiled data, included the videotape in a package and mailed it to ADECA, the state agency who would have given the grant for the "project". The only reason the city didn't roll over us was that ADECA did not give them the grant that they wanted.
My father died in the fall of 1999 from complications from a heart attack. The last year that he lived, after supporting a town for over half a century, he had to live with the spectra of the city taking his property from him. Nice.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 17, 2015 13:31:20 GMT -5
Why does our accountant and even the IRS state that you only need to keep old financial records for the latest 7 years? Cuz that's normal. But I have on three occasions in my adult life seen folks get trouble over 'taxes' that went back over 10 years. One was sales tax. They found $41,000 sales tax due on one customer. they said, we'll stop now, and not go back to the day he started biz. Boss called attorneys, got the promise to not re-assess in writing and wrote a $41,000 check to make it all go away. They made it clear they would go back 28 years to the first day he did business. Attorneys did not balk. I think IRS and all other entities have their own rules.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 17, 2015 14:00:53 GMT -5
Farmers grow a million different crops so there should be no question about that. Tell the tulip farmers in Holland that they are not farmers eh. The Chinese grow a pile of bamboo on their farms. And a lot of farmers make things on the side so they can break even.
I know of people that have a couple of acres with two or three cows on it and they do it to get a farm tax rate.
Super sucks that you now have to prove innocence in this country especially with lawyers that charge hundreds of dollars per hour and have no proof that they put in those hours. One phone call by them is out of my price range.
Maybe I should marry a lawyer and go to visit you. Do they need to speak English? hahaha
I hope you can get it worked out without bankrupting yourself. Maybe you should put some of your holdings in someone else's name. Those bastards that we can not live without or live WITH will stop at nothing. Putting someone under is not a problem for them and of course they are all perfect and follow the letter of the law (in their mind) Jim
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 17, 2015 14:15:56 GMT -5
No statute on taxes. Government wins, forever. Sucks. Sad to read. Grab @wampidy and you and Denise disappear into China. They won't find you and never will collect! Going to the Ukraine this time to fight the Ruskies. hahaha After all of the fear mongering on here I have been thinking about going to Morocco to bring back one of their nice ladies. Thousands available and they love Americans. Can't deal with the ones that wear the scarf covering their hair though. Jim
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Post by gingerkid on Sept 17, 2015 14:42:19 GMT -5
I'm sorry to hear you got busted 2x this month for burning w/out a permit, jamesp. That's why we only burn stuff when it is raining or snowing. J/K, just being a brat. Did they give you a warning (citation) either time? 6 piles of wood is a lot to burn. Since they're probably watching you like a hawk now, please get burn permits.
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quartz
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breakin' rocks in the hot sun
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Post by quartz on Sept 18, 2015 0:46:02 GMT -5
How many times does an area build up, and all the newbee's gripe about what the locals have done for years, and way too often get their way?
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Sept 18, 2015 7:28:10 GMT -5
Yes quartz, exactly the case here. Ha, I stopped by the fire dept. and the chief of my jurisdiction eased my situation and told me to burn away Sept.-May unless it is dry/windy. He was coming down hard on me because the new ever encompassing (Chattahoochee Hills) fire chief was present(trespassing). The Chattahoochee Hills chief will probably be his boss in the near future. That county fire dept aware we have been burning down here for 30 years. For two years the guys 1/2 mile behind me were burning utility cable insulation off cable they had been stealing off the service around here. So burning plastic is gangster activity and they often call the Georgia Bureau of Investigation as they did on my neighbors and locked them up in prison thank God. GBI attacked them one day w/helicopters and ATV's, asking about trails from my place to make a bust. gingerkid, they warned me only. And state laws protect me in burning during allowable times as an agricultural operation. The state also has a conservation program that allows AG operations to have reduced property tax if the farm qualifies. This program cuts county property taxes( in my case $5000 to $1200/year). Funny thing, the county tax agent helped me to implement my (state)conservation program. Got a cool county, no complaints. Just need to obey their rules. But the Chattahoochee Hills bunch may be a problem in the near future. War stories like your father experienced is a nightmare Intheswamp. Eminent domain is another theft mode of operandi the govt. is utilizing. Can not fathom where they got the idea to treat a citizen like that. Their fair market value never = true market value. Cost to defend can be devastating when you paid the govt. lawyer w/your tax money and out of pocket for your attorney. Financing your own demise. Something grossly wrong. Wishing @wampidy well on the Ukraine wife. Will refrain from commenting on that one. Am curious as to what age lady you will be pursuing, or if you turn a blind eye to that parameter. I have hired attorneys on two occasions to sub divide land parcels for resale. One of them said to pay him to accompany him to my county planning office meeting. My proposal went thru in 20 minutes. I was 3 months arguing with those guys. That county planner was wanting me as a white person to be a front man to purchase white owned properties in my area. My attorney was well aware of the situation and had documented past cases of such goings ons. County planners face went pale when attorney crossed the threshold. Attorney laughing all the way as I carried him back to his office. He charged me $75 and had a riot.
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Sabre52
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Post by Sabre52 on Sept 18, 2015 7:48:43 GMT -5
Man James, that sucks. I worked in the AG industry for like 30 years, partially as a regulator in Commiefornia ( worse state of all for regs). What the government does on get is how disproportionately the small grower is affected by excess regulations. Big AG can afford lawyers, book keepers and farm managers to fill out all the damn forms,permits, and reports. Mom and pops or family farms cannot and either violate the rules or spend more time with paperwork, permits etc, than they do making a living. How can you work the fields if you are sitting at a desk filling out gubment forms? Hurts the middle class folks much more than the AG corporations and destroys many small farms which used to be the heartland industry of America......Mel
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