Eminent Domain And police action

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Grayfox

New member
As part of a federal noise abatement project, Memphis International Airport has been buying land just across the state line in South Haven, Miss. with the intension of giving this property to the city of South Haven to build a golf course and park. This has been going on for some 12 years under the right of Eminent Domain.
One man in the target area has refused to sell. His argument being that the state is not offering fair compensation for his land. He has been to court several times and lost.
About a year ago, this man was given an eviction notice and a date to be out. (Sorry, I can't remmeber the exact date).
Well it seems this guy is a member of a militia group. When the appointed day arrived, the Sheriffs Deputies arrived to find about 100 militia members from approxamatly 5 states camped around the house. I would like to point out that no weapons were shown nor any violence suggested. These people made it clear however that in order to evict the property owner, the deputies would have to arrest them all. After several days the Sheriff's Dept. backed off, the militia members went home and the issue was headed back to court. All's well that ends well, or so we thought.
Yesterday, Deputies armed with a ruling from the Mississippi Supreme Court showed up unannounced along with two moving vans and heavy equiptment. In a matter of a few hours, this man was removed from his home, all his posessions loaded into the vans and the house was then torn down. They even went so far as to tear up the street to "discourage sightseers."
The eviction was handeled this way to avoid another confrontation with militia members.
To me this action was just plain WRONG! Oh, it was all perfectly legal, but that doesn't justify these sort of tactics. The whole thing scares the hell out of me.
 
It obviously scared the hell out of them to.

I really don't know what to say. It sounds like the whole thing was legal. Eminant Domain has always been a touchy subject and I really don't see how the gov't could justify the need for a Golf Course, but apparently several courts agreed with them.

It certainly could've been worse. I wonder what would've happened if he had been sitting on his front porch with an AR and he refused to move. Or if his pal's had shown up again. Seems like if he'd've had a decent lawyer he'd've known that the new ruling had been made and been ready for them.

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-Essayons
 
Ok, I see the need to clarify a few points.
People living near airports have complained about the noise for years. Efforts have been made to quiet down the planes ,but haven't been too successful. The plan is to buy up this property and turn it into non-residencial areas such as parks. I have no problem with that.
The man in question refused to sell because he felt the offered amount was too low. Seems to me that it would have been faster, easier and cheaper to simply meet his price instead of dragging this through the courts for years. It would appear that is only lead to the property owners resolve to stay put.
I understand the Sheriff's Department's desire to avoid another confrontation.
What I don't like is the way the eviction took place. Especially the fact that the house was immediatly torn down to make sure that this man couldn't return. And what about tearing out the street?
This was an ambush, plain and simple. It bothers me that government would use such tactics against an otherwise law abiding citizen.
BTW: local news program ran a telephone poll on the subject. 88% of those who responded felt the guy got a raw deal.

Eminent Domain is indeed a touchy subject. But surely there must be better ways to handle it.
 
I have friend, a business owner in the internet industry, whose father had his land seized for a ... baseball stadium. Obviously an emergency.

This was to build Bank One Ballpark in Phoenix, AZ.

He tells me that the city offered his dad less than what he paid for the land (in downtown Phoenix) a few years earlier. Now, also recognize that his dad bought the land during an economic downturn, and the city was seizing the land (via eminent domain) during an economic upturn. It seems quite unlikely that the land did not appreciate during the time his dad owned the property.

Who was it that said politics is like sausage - a normal person doesn't want to see either being made?!
 
We recently had a big land grab here in nearby Nashville for the new Oily Titan Stadium. (who cares about foolball anyway, we've got a Hockey tesm now!!)

From what I understand, everyone was paid a fair price for their land. The only controversy here was that a hobo-town on the river was demolished. We actually had people protesting the "eviction" of hobos.

I think you are right, that it would've been cheaper to meet that guys price. but, they were probably worried about the precedent that was being sset. The longer he fought, the more they probably felt like they had to win.

I have to look at this from a point of view that the Sheriff made the best of a bad situation. Nobody got hurt. While the guy may not have gotten the best price for his land, he also didn't die for it. A Sheriff's deputy didn't have to shoot him for it, either, which is a plus in my book.

Let's say he had a few Militia buddies show up and there had been a shoot-out... that's a double negative for me: "Radical gun owners" get bad press and "local LEO's" get a bad rap in the gun community.

Worse, imagine a stand-off that led to federal involvement. Setting the precedent for more Federal LE in local issues.

Believe me, I don't think the guy should've lost his home, certainly not at less than a fair price (for all I know, he wa offered a great deal and was just being stubborn?)), but I've got to be glad that the situation ended without anyone or our cause getting hurt.

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-Essayons
 
Could one of you please explain what Eminent Domain is? This is the first time I have heard of such a thing.

Thanks!



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John/az

"Just because something is popular, does not make it right."
 
Eminent Domain=Divine Right of King?
Seems to be just that, in practive. Could we get Mad George's ghost be back to serve as amoderating influence on the current thugs? Sheesh, talk about Animal Farm scenario coming true!
 
John...

Eminent Domain: "The right of government to appropriate private property for public use"
Examples: the City wants to build a new street or a park, they force out the owner(s) of the existing property.
This happens quite often, basically once a plans are set they do it. The unfortunate thing is that rarely is the compensation fair market value as "value" then becomes judged by the new criteria.

In Burbank Calif 25 yrs ago some of the TV/Movie studios got together with the city with a plan to centralized ancillary businesses. The city liked the concept because it would bring in higher tax revenues than mere residential property taxes. A lot of the pinpointed residents weren't interested so the City began to "artificially" depress the area(2 residential blocks) by skipping streetsweeping, constantly changing (without notification) trash pick up day and ultimately re-zoning the area. This resulted in folks moving away before the property decreased in even more value.

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"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes"
 
Well, I also have another example of Eminent Domain stupidity. I promise this is true because I know the family involved. This family lived on a small farm just outside of Memphis on a state highway. Over the years the city grew and traffic on this road got very heavy. So, the state decides to widen the road into four lanes and in the process took some of the family's property.
Well, some dummy at the Highway department figured the price based on the wrong classification for the property and this family was shorted about $5000. Unable to get the state to correct the error the family was forced to sue. The family won easily, but the state appealed. Seven years and thirteen trips to court later, the family recieved a settlement of 3.2 MILLION dollars. They are now rich because the state was too stubborn to correct a $5ooo mistake. Our government in action,what can I say?
 
Grayfox...

The sick humor in your last story is that the governmental drone that stood in the way of the original 5K payment did it to look good in the eyes of his bosses and probably got some brownie points. He "saved the state" 5K, gets a promotion, all for a mere 3.2M. Ain't it purty? :)
 
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