Staff Report
BAY MINETTE, Alabama — In a political commentary that sometimes seemed like a tent-revival exhortation, Baldwin County Commissioner Frank Burt held forth for more than 20 minutes Tuesday on the evils of a 1992 United Nations initiative known as Agenda 21 that he characterized as a threat to U.S. sovereignty.
“We are all for protecting the environment,” Burt said, “but this is something that has seeped in amongst us. I don’t think we need the United Nations to tell us what to do.”
He said, “We’ve got the EPA taking over the country. If the Senate approves (Agenda 21), they can come into New York City or wherever a raindrop falls and tell us what to do.”
Under Agenda 21, he said, the U.S. Supreme Court will give way to the international court located in The Hague.
Commission Chairman Bob James offered support for Burt’s assessment.
“This country used to be easy enough for a caveman to understand,” James said, a reference to a Press-Register editorial cartoon depicting James and Burt as cavemen for refusing to grant a school board request for a tax referendum. “People need to wake up and take this country back.”
Both commissioners predicted a groundswell of voters in November’s national elections that would restore the country.
Their comments came in response to a resolution passed unanimously by the commission Tuesday opposing regulations along Fish and Magnolia Rivers that limit the size of boathouses and piers to 100 square feet. Those areas fall within the jurisdiction of the Weeks Bay Reserve — which operates under a federally approved management plan — and are subject to rules passed decades ago to preserve the sensitive area.
