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History of the Ark Two
The biggest problems in building a shelter are political and bureaucratic. There is a psychology against shelters and the general opinion is that anyone who builds one - is crazy. There is an old saying that you can't fight city hall, and after many years of trying to get a building permit we went ahead and built the shelter anyway because we felt that it was a matter of life and death.Government can cause one endless misery after another and we had to go to court over 30 times to contest wrongful orders that the shelter be destroyed. The government spent over $250,000 dollars fighting us and most people simply do not have the resources, tenacity, or comprehension to endure such battles.
One government agency will assist another. They are all part of a brotherhood. If the fire department wants something done they can't do they will call the police to harass you - and vice-versa. It largely depends upon the individuals involved. We found one honest building inspector who simply said we were being harassed. The Health Department inspector came and I told him that we didn't have a building permit. Not my problem, he said, just do this, and this, and this and I will sign the health permit. So, because of our size we had to put in a big Type IV commercial septic tank like those used in motels. But, he signed the permit. Same with the honest fuel inspector. Redo the pipes this way and that and I will sign the certificate. We did. And he did. Although he let us know he was under pressure to do otherwise.
Many times the harassment was unbelievably blatant. Fire chief reading to me nonsense from fireworks laws about his authority - when we had a licensed dynamite blaster on the site. Police chief refusing us a permit for dynamite when I stood there and clearly showed him the law that said that he could only register us - but not refuse us. Environment agency refusing to give us trees to plant - when they were handing them out to everyone else. All these things are in writing.
One environmental agency fought us for 12 years at the request of the Township Council saying that we were damaging the environment - and then at the end of that time wrote me a letter saying - "Oh, we never said you were damaging the environment."
Anyone can call any agency upon one. Some civil servants just came out and laughed if they had been around for along time and were near retirement. Others put you through the ringer. All sorts of tax inspectors and so forth. Raised our taxes 10,000 percent. Nope that is not a misprint. Figured we would fight it. But we didn't. A few years later out of embarrasment they called up one day out of the blue and said that they were cutting our taxes in half. I bet you have never heard of a tax department before, calling someone up out of the blue and telling them that they are cutting their taxes in half.
One day I went to court by myself. It was a special court hearing just for me and there were dozens of people sitting in the audience, where I went in and sat down myself.
"All rise."
"This court is in session, blah, blah, blah."
"Is Bruce Beach here?"
So, I did join them at a table down front.
Long testimony by one witness after another.
Finally time for a noon break,
and I say to the Judge,
After lunch more long testimony
and explanation by the prosecutor
but finally there comes my turn to speak.
About three minutes later the Judge raps his gavel and says:
"Will you please hurry up?"
This was a very unusual court. So arranged that those being sworn in couldn't quite reach across the double rails and touch the Bible that the clerk was holding, so they just pointed at it and gave their oath. (I only gave an affirmation so that didn't involve me.)
During the proceedings the Judge would every now and then pick up his big law book and thump it at me on the front of his bench. I started to tell him one time that he didn't know anymore what was in that book than in the other (Bible). But I didn't. One must always remain courteous in court. (Look at the word - you will see that is where it comes from.)
At the end the Judge said,
"I haven't heard from the Reeve. -
I would like to hear from the Reeve before we close."
The Reeve says that he would prefer not -
but the Judge insists.
Some nothing questions to Reeve -
and the Judge goes to close -
but then says -
"Unnh. I guess I should let you cross examine."
I said that rather than going to court alone the next time I would take along my dog so that I could have at least one friend in the place where I could put down my hand and have it licked. In actuality, I have been to court alone about the shelter many many times. I of course appealed the decision.
The appeal prosecutor was the son of the Premier of Ontario. He kept trying to find a compromise and we would work something out and he would rush out of the room to make a phone call but would come back each time with his shoulders downcast. I ended up in the foyer of the appeal court begging him one more time that we reach a settlement. He said that there was nothing that he could do. You have to settle with 'him' he said - pointing to the Reeve. I went over and got down on my knees before the Reeve and pleaded that we reach an agreement. But, he just stood there and grinned at me.
There were three vicious enemies who attacked me in this way. Actually, many many more, but three that were particularly powerful like the Reeve. But they are all gone now. God willing, others will not arise.
They didn't win of course. But that wasn't the point. The point was to drive me to such exertion, cost and trauma that I would give up. When I would fight through to the appeal court on one round then they would simply start over again on something else. That is their way and purpose of it all. People worry about World Government but it is never the upper levels that you have to worry about - it is always the local level that will get you. This is the way it was with the Sheriff and the blacks in the Southern US. This is the way it is everywhere. If the local folks treat one another with Justice and are concerned about Justice for one another - then there is Justice. But that is the problem of the times. Everyone is only concerned about themselves and when the powers come for their neighbor - they let them take them away. One of the reasons our society is failing.
They all thought me just crazy of course, and brought this up in court. So I went and had my self psychiatrically examined and was able to present a certificate saying that I suffered from no mental pathological problems. Somethings you have to head off at the pass.
I have dozens of stories. But I will quit with one more. On the last day we were pouring the concrete I put on my red hard hat - so that everyone would watch out for me - that is to say take care of me since I don't know what I am doing on a construction site - and I went down and stood where they were shooting the concrete down a hole. Suddenly the concrete went all over me, covering my glasses so I couldn't see. "What!" I took off the glasses and then the concrete went all over me again. I heard the pumper shut off and I looked down at the truck and I could see the operator was laughing. THEN I realized the guy holding the hose had done it on purpose. "What?", I said.
"You so and so", he said, letting off a blast of profanity. "I have been waiting for the opportunity to do that." "Goodbye", I said. I had never seen this guy before - and he was very recognizable. Anyway, he left - swearing at me and saying, " I will have this place shut down in an hour as an unsafe operation." Well, he was wrong. It took an hour and forty-five minutes for the Safety Department to show up and shut us down for hours while they inteviewed every man on the job individually. They eventually let us start back up. We had been very careful. Every man had the proper safety equipment, all the proper signs were posted, all the rules were followed. We knew we had to be careful because so many were looking for an opportunity to shut us down. Anyone could. And many did. Neighbors said that their chickens had quit laying, or that their roof leaked, or that their woodpile fell down because of the blasting. You name it.
But now on this last day of concrete pouring we had lost hours. The pumper was scheduled elsewhere the next day. The concrete mixer trucks were all lined up behind churning away to keep the concrete from setting, and so with overtime we went into the night and finished the pour by parking everyone's truck and car around the top edge of the hole with their lights shining down onto the top of the shelter.
Many people have suggested that I write a book with the stories that I can tell. For example, of the raid (one among several) captured on National Television with 7 police vehicles, 4 fire vehicles, a K-9 team, and 40 personnel working in military precision. It would never have made TV but I of course didn't know the raiders were coming and the CBC had completely coincidently asked to come that day and showed up 20 minutes after the raid began. The raiders were shocked. I called it Waco North, but the kinder, gentler Canadian kind since I didn't have any weapons - and no one shot me, at least with the TV cameras there.
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