Friday, December 30, 2016

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS

At the beginning of a new year, it is customary to make personal resolutions for improvements in behavior over the following twelve months. For example, a person may resolve to lose weight, or to exercise more, or to get a new job, or to be more kind to an obnoxious relative or neighbor, or even to drink more water. It also is traditional that none of such resolutions ultimately will come true in actual changes in behavior.

Just what is a New Year's resolution? According to the Cambridge English Dictionary, it is defined as "a promise that you make to yourself to start doing something good or stop doing something bad on the first day of the year." No wonder such resolutions can be broken so easily. If a promise to oneself is not kept, who does one sue?

So, perhaps New Year's resolutions can be summarized as simply feel good statements of intentions having little chance of becoming reality. Oscar Wilde said: "Good Resolutions are simply checks that men draw on a bank where they have no account." Mark Twain put it this way: "Now is the accepted time to make your regular good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual."

I think I found one resolution that really makes sense for everyone. Luther Standing Bear, an Oglala Sioux chief, said of the Lakota:

"Conversation was never begun at once, nor in a hurried manner. No one was quick with a question, no matter how important, and no one was pressed for an answer. A pause giving time for thought was the truly courteous way of beginning and conducting a conversation. Silence was meaningful with the Lakota, and his granting a space of silence to the speech-maker and his own moment of silence before talking was done in the practice of true politeness and regard for the rule that, 'thought comes before speech.'"

Simply stated, resolve to "think before speaking." While it may be a challenge to make and keep this resolution, the resulting silence will speak words for a more peaceful world.

©Daniel J. Kucera 2016

Wednesday, December 14, 2016

GHOST RIGHTS TO WATER CAN BE SPOOKY--PART 2

In my previous post, I discussed "ghost" water rights held by landowners. These are rights to divert water from streams and lakes that were established prior to governmental regulation and permitting of such diversions.

Ghost-like water rights also can arise under different scenarios. One reported example is the dispute between the states of West Virginia and Maryland over water rights in the Potomac River.* West Virginia has sought to take additional water from the river for a proposed new manufacturing plant in that state. Maryland has objected to such an additional take. In 1933, Maryland began regulating
withdrawals from the river by users out of state. West Virginia has claimed that such control is limited by a 1785 compact negotiated by George Washington and a 2003 U.S. Supreme Court decision which enabled the state of Virginia to have water rights in the river.

Earlier this year, a South Dakota tribe of native Americans living along the Missouri River filed suit against the United States seeking $200 million as compensation for alleged violations of water rights.** The complaint is premised on a 1908 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the establishment of a land reservation for native Americans includes an implied reservation of water rights for the benefit of the tribe. The claim is alleged that water rights to the river given by the United States to others were not legal.

Fresh water is a scarce but indispensable commodity. Accordingly, what these examples illustrate is that sharing of water sources can be a contentious exercise. If sharing cannot be accomplished by agreement or compact, governmental regulation and ultimately litigation appears to be a necessary and likely consequence.

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*Terlep, "P&G Caught in Water-Rights Feud",
Wall Street Journal, November 26-27,2016,
p. B3

**Tupper, "SD Tribe Wages $200M Water Fight",
Rapid City Journal, November 13, 2016,
p. A1

© Daniel J. Kucera 2016