Free County continues the campaign

    The Washington County Board of Supervisors passed a zoning ordinance early this month, much to the chagrin of the anti-zoning group known as Free County. Since the passage of the ordinance, Free County has vowed to continue to fight against county zoning and to educate the public about the effects of zoning.

    James Graham is the spokesman for Free County and is one of the two co-chairpersons along with Mary Leedy. Graham said Free County began as an informal group of activists who cared about freedom. He said the group will now become more formal and will likely become a Political Action Committee, or PAC. Free County now has a treasurer, Peg Roberts, and a secretary, Sarah Lillie.

    The No. 1 objective of Free County is to get rid of zoning, said Graham. At the same time, he said the group is not merely interested in county zoning. In fact, he said that Free County would still be in existence even if zoning had been defeated.

    ?We want to increase awareness of issues relating to personal freedom,? said Graham. ?Zoning is just part of the problem. It?s the tip of the iceberg. We don?t like how the government is stripping people of their freedom, and how there is increasing reliance on government planning and interference. We?re trying to minimize that at the local level.?

    Graham said that zoning will remain the group?s key issue for the present time.

For more, see our March 31 print edition.