The Antelope Valley is a desolate stretch of land on the fringes of Los Angeles County. Very few people want to live there except for a band of self-described  rugged individualists. Common sense would dictate that these people have found a place where the government would just want to leave them alone. However, nothing could be farther from the truth. The residents of Antelope Valley are increasingly becoming the victims of SWAT team raids being carried out by local code enforcement agents. These governmental thugs refer to themselves as the Nuisance Abatement Teams (NATs).

Phonehenge

The plight of the Valley's desert dwellers made regional headlines when county officials ordered the destruction of Phonehenge: which is a massive, colorful castle constructed out of telephone poles by retired phone technician Kim Fahey. County officials showed up and tore down the structure and their court system sentenced the bearded retired phone company technician to 543 days in jail because he said he couldn't afford to pay the $80,000 for the demolition of the structure and the subsequent removal of the debris. Fahey served over a year and a half in jail for nothing more than a misdemeanor. His major crime was that "he fought the man".

Fahey Is Not Alone In Saying No

 Fahey was just the first of several Antelope Valley residents who have been targeted by the NAT Agenda 21 SWAT teams. The creation of the Agenda 21 Swat teams which were assembled at the request of County Supervisor Mike Antonovich for the purposes of harassing "off the grid rugged individualists".

We are nearly eight years into this controversy. In 2006, LA Weekly reporter Mars Melnicoff wrote an in-depth article in which she exposed the county's tactic of badgering poor residents with extremely petty code violations but attaching very costly fines to the violations. Over time the fines against these off the grid residents mounts until the residents are faced with little choice but to walk away from their properties without any compensation. Melnicoff concluded that LA County officials "Are picking on the people who are the most defenseless and have the least resources". The NAT SWAT teams armed with M-16's and equipped in full body armor have harassed Antelope residents such as retired veteran Joey Gallo. Gallo faces homelessness if he's forced to vacate his house because he cannot afford to pay the massive fines associated with minuscule code violations. Seventh Day Adventist pastor, Oscar Castaneda, states that he's already given up on fighting the county and>  has moved off the land where he and his wife had lived for 22 years.

The Irony of Nuisance Abatement Teams

 The targeting of impacted Antelope Valley residents by "Nuisance Abatement Teams" has an ironic ring to it. The NATs are mostly about mitigating noise. Most of these residents do not live within a mile of the nearest neighbor. In some cases, 10 miles separates neighbors, which makes one wonder how anyone could be too noisy or pose a nuisance to their neighbors. 

There Is the Reason and Then There's the Real Reason

I have been to Antelope Valley and its landscape is as desolate as the dark side of the moon. You can literally drive for miles and not see a building, a car or a person. The LA County Commissioners should be thrilled that anyone lives on that land because it does generate property tax revenue. The local residents speculate that there is a decided effort to get the Antelope residents off of their land because some deep pocketed people with political connections can make money off this land and the politicians are all too willing to help. I agree that there is an ulterior motive connected to the SWAT team attacks on Antelope Valley Residents. However, the Agenda 21 police play a role as well.

This Sounds Familiar

Beginning in 2003, my rural community was targeted by our state and local politicians as they passed legislation to "restrict" our property rights. Restrict was a nice term for "get off of your land, we have a better use for it and we are not paying you". My community was told that we were in the way of the operations of Luke AFB, 30 miles to the south. The planes coming out of Luke had to fly over a quarter of a million people to reach my rural community, so we knew that was not the case. We subsequently found that three other Arizona communities were having similar restrictions in which the residents were told that if you have storm damage or a fire, you could not rebuild and we would be forced off of our land. This was de facto eminent domain utilizing an illegal practice called inverse condemnation. As I was pouring over maps one late night, I discovered that all of the besieged property owners lived near or on a planned CANAMEX Highway. The odds of this being a coincidence are astronomical. If the powers that be could force us off our land through property rights restrictions under false pretenses, they could acquire the land rights for the highway for free. The CANAMEX Highway is the transportation arm of the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). CAFTA and NAFTA are about connecting Canada, Mexico and the US. This cozy regionalized agreement is a big move towards the creation of the North American Union. The North American Union adheres closely to Agenda 21 policies. Agenda 21 policies also want nobody to live off of the grid in rural areas. The politicians beholding to Agenda 21 policies are committed to moving people to densely populated areas and if their land theft can turn a profit for a political friend, all the better. As you watch the following video, you will see that Antelope Valley residents speculate as to is what is behind the land theft by their county. Is their land being seized because a development is planned? Are people being forced off of their land because there is a highway planned to go through in the area? Is this Agenda 21 and let's force people off of their rural land? Is abuse being perpetrated because everyone must be on the grid and in the system. It is likely that all of their theories are correct. However, and you can take this to the bank, Agenda 21 forces are throwing money at the LA County Commissioners to do what they are doing with Agenda 21/ICLEI grants and loans. And certainly, no off the grid living is allowed and rural residents must move to inner city urban areas.

Conclusion

Before you pat your neighbor on the back and tell them that you are glad that you do not live in Arizona or in the Antelope Valley, you should consider that variations of this theme are being carried out in a neighborhood near you and this will be the topic of the next part of this series. If you do not live in the inner city, you have already been targeted and that will be the topic of part two of this series.