@MDL:
So you say that this part is a lie? ^
A bit late on this, sorry.
I took a gander at the article, and unfortunately, it does not in fact appear to be the one I saw all that time ago. However, a quick google search, while not turning up the article I had read, did find one that refers to what I was mentioning:
@Huffington:
Apparently, once upon a time, the state did indeed allow Harrington — code name: “Rain Man" — to collect water in his reservoirs. However, officials reversed their decision the same year, 2003, that the three permits were issued, citing a 1925 law that states the city of Medford holds all exclusive rights to "core sources of water" in the Big Butte Creek watershed and its tributaries.Despite withdrawal of the permits, Harrington kept on defiantly collectin’ under the belief that the laws did not apply to his situation, adamant that the water was coming strictly from rain and snow melt and not from tributaries flowing into the Big Butte River as officials had claimed. Harrington tells CNSNews.com: "They issued me my permits. I had my permits in hand and they retracted them just arbitrarily, basically. They took them back and said, 'No, you can't have them.' So I've been fighting it ever since."
It gets even more messy with accusations of water diversion and a three-year bench probation issued against Harringon in 2007. In that case, Harrington plead guilty and agreed to open up the gates of his reservoirs only to close them back up again shortly thereafter.
Oregon Water Resources Department Deputy Director Tom Paul tells the Medford Mail Tribune: “Mr. Harrington has operated these three reservoirs in flagrant violation of Oregon law for more than a decade. What we're after is compliance with Oregon water law, regardless of what the public thinks of Mr. Harrington.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/16/gary-harrington-oregon-water-rainwater_n_1784378.html
Link for the whole article.
So, basically, yeah. I mean, as far as I know, it comes down to a he-said, she-said sort of thing, but really, the guy comes across as one of those crazies that insists the law doesn't apply to him, and the original article linked by No Maam just caters to those types.