I told Edwards that this article would be seen...

B

badbob

Moderator
..and I always keep my word. Here it is:
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/112/story/79067.html

GUN, PROPERTY CONDITION FUEL ILL WILL
Elizabeth Edwards afraid of neighbor
She has never met `rabid Republican,' but wouldn't be nice
MIKE BAKER
Associated Press

AP
Elizabeth Edwards, wife of democratic Presidential hopeful John Edwards, introduces him at a campaign town hall meeting in Davenport, Iowa, on April 4.

RALEIGH --
Elizabeth Edwards says she is scared of the "rabid, rabid Republican" who owns property across the street from her Orange County home -- and she doesn't want her kids going near the gun-toting neighbor.
Edwards, the wife of Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, particularly recalls the time neighbor Monty Johnson brought out a gun while chasing workers investigating a right of way near his property. The Edwards family has yet to meet Johnson in person.

"I wouldn't be nice to him, anyway," Edwards said in an interview. "I don't want my kids anywhere near some guy who, when he doesn't like somebody, the first thing he does is pull a gun out. It scares the business out of me."

But Johnson defended the occasion he brandished a gun, saying those on his land didn't have the proper approval.

"I use the gun for protection, and I considered that an appropriate time," Johnson said. "Sometimes you have to take drastic measures."

Edwards views Johnson as a "rabid, rabid Republican" who refuses to clean up his "slummy" property just to spite her family, whose lavish 28,000-square-foot estate is nearby on 102 wooded acres.

Johnson, 55, acknowledges his Republican roots. But he takes offense to the suggestion he has purposefully left his property, including an old garage he leases for use as a car shop, in dilapidated condition.

Johnson said he has lived his entire life on the property, which he said his family purchased before the Great Depression. He said he's spent a lot of money to try and fix up the 42-acre tract.

"I have to budget. I have to live within my means," Johnson said. "I don't have millions of dollars to fix the place."

Johnson, who has posted a "Go Rudy Giuliani 2008" sign on a fence just 100 feet from the entrance to the Edwards' driveway, has criticized Edwards for the scale of their nearby home. The property and home, which includes an indoor basketball court, an indoor handball court and an indoor pool, is valued at $5.3 million.

The Edwardses are still putting the final touches on the property, which they purchased in 2003.

"I thought he was supposed to be for the poor people," Johnson said. "But does he ever socialize with any poor people? He doesn't speak to me."

Johnson said he has put his property on the market, in part blaming the high property taxes for his decision to leave. He also wants to move for another reason.

"I don't want to live somewhere where someone's always complaining about me," he said.
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badbob
 
I'd like to know what they mean by "brandishing" and if those people were actually on his property of "near" it as the article states...but if he wasn't in fear for his life then no, such drastic measures were not appropriate.

Also, if you own 42 acres you are far from poor. :P Sucks that the guy has to move, though.
 
He doesn't have to meve. He just feels should because of the negativity from the Edwards'

Although even though he owns 42 acres he might not be able to afford much after property taxes. Just because you own a large quantity of land does not mean you have a treasure chest of gold buried on it somewhere.
 
Sounds like two neighbors that don't much like each other. I don't exactly see a victim here.

If anything, his property value went up. Good for him for cashing in on it.
 
He doesn't have to meve. He just feels should because of the negativity from the Edwards'
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That's what I meant. Sucks that the negativity is so strong that he feels the need to move from his family's land.
Although even though he owns 42 acres he might not be able to afford much after property taxes. Just because you own a large quantity of land does not mean you have a treasure chest of gold buried on it somewhere.
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I was referring to the comment he made about Edwards not talking to poor people. :P Still, owning 42 acres takes one completely out of the "poor" category unless one also has an equal amount of debt. He may not have gold buried on it but selling 42 acres - especially when his property value just skyrocketed due to a rich neighbor - keeps him well in the upper-middle class range.

Still sucks that he's selling his family's land. :( I'd have a hard time dealing with that.
 
I deeply resent the fact that a guy who is that out of touch with reality gets to be called a "Republican." If the road-builders "invade" your property, in violation of your "rah-ahtz," you do NOT get to chase them off the land with a gun! You get to sue them afterward for tresspassing. That's your remedy at law, and it's your ONLY remedy at law.

This guy doesn't deserve to be called a "Republican." This guy is what I like to call a "felon."

I wish guys like Edwards didn't form their opinions of Republicans based on their crazy neighbor...
 
Still sucks that he's selling his family's land. I'd have a hard time dealing with that.
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Ditto. My dad has 56 acres of uncultivated land in West Salem Wisconsin out by Bergum Coulee and if I inherited it the only time I would sell would be when the city limits are moved outside that little oasis of nature. Of course we cut trails and stuff like that, Be hard to sell even if I couldn't afford to pay taxes on it.
 
I live in Orange County, NC, where all this has taken place. Property taxes here are unheard of, for a southern state. If that gentelman has 43 acres of land, I feel sorry for him. The taxes alone are costing him a large portion of his income, no doubt.

Its these same property taxes that cause me to have to rent an apartment. I dont make enough money to buy a home here.

Its a trend in this county. The close proximity to several colleges, tech. centers, and the state capitol are attracting very wealthy people. These wealthy people are rasing the property values through the roof, and causing people who have lived here for their entire lives to move out. Its a very sad thing to happen.

I for one support this gentleman, and hope that he can finish his years on his family home place, and keep his right to protect his property.
 
Still, owning 42 acres takes one completely out of the "poor" category unless one also has an equal amount of debt. He may not have gold buried on it but selling 42 acres - especially when his property value just skyrocketed due to a rich neighbor - keeps him well in the upper-middle class range.
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Comments like this really PISS ME OFF!

My wife and I live on 134 acres that her parents bought for nothing in 1963 when her dad (a Pearl Harbor vet) retired from the Navy. It had belonged to a drunkard who let the house (built in 1904) fall in around him. My mother-in-law literally broke her back fixing this place up and running the farm. It was so difficult to make ends meet that my father-in-law had to come out of retirement and get a job working in a factory.

When they got so old that they could no longer take care of the place, my wife and I took over. Now I'm working a full-time job and breaking my back on this farm. We've chosen this lifestyle and we love it. Does that mean we're "upper middle class"? I have a stack of unpaid bills, my truck has 175K mi. on it and every bit of work that has to be done around here falls on me because we can't afford to hire it done.

Yes, we could "cash in" but why should we have to? Why should we be forced to move just because everyone around us is selling out to developers? Our property taxes are so high that it's like having a mortgage with the government. We pay through the nose every month just for the privilege of keeping what has already been bought and paid for. I guess that makes me "rich".
 
I'm not saying you should cash it in but it doesn't change the fact that a hundred acres of land is a very valuable asset. Poor is someone living in a run down apartment in Chicago that can't pay the electric bill because he makes minimum wage. I never said this guy was rich, just that it's a very far cry from poor.

You said it yourself:

We've chosen this lifestyle and we love it.
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Regardless of the lifestyle you've chosen having that much in assets puts you in the upper middle class. I didn't say anything about selling because of developers, I simply pointed out that landowners have an asset they can sell or rent. Those in poverty, the "poor" mentioned in the article, do not.
 
This guy is what I like to call a "felon."
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If that were so would he have not been charged with something?
Perhaps Ms Edwards is exaggerating her claim

Poor is someone living in a run down apartment in Chicago that can't pay the electric bill because he makes minimum wage
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That is the definition of an unmotivated person who has made some very bad decisions in life

Having land only makes you appear rich to those that don't.

If his family bought the land before the depression and it has stayed in the family all these years I doubt seriously that he planned on "cashing in" co that he could move into town on a quarter acres lot.
 
That is the definition of an unmotivated person who has made some very bad decisions in life
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or possibly someone that's had a lot of bad luck or possibly someone that grew up in poverty and was never given the proper education and motivation to succeed. the desire to do something with one's life is not hardwired into our brains, it's taught to us as children. but in general I'd say that your description matches

But it's not all-encompassing.
Having land only makes you appear rich to those that don't.
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oy

Again, I never said he was rich. I don't consider anywhere in the middle class to be "rich". I simply said that owning land does preclude someone from being poor.
If his family bought the land before the depression and it has stayed in the family all these years I doubt seriously that he planned on "cashing in" co that he could move into town on a quarter acres lot.
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But the point is that he can. Whether or not he chooses to is besides the point but he does have the assets to do so.
 
Land ownership in no way makes one not poor. That's the same uninformed mindset that has people saying "Well, he owns a business, he's got money". :rolleyes: No, and no.

And a felon? Sometimes I am amazed by what shows up on this board. :barf:
 
Just from watching the news you can tell Ms Edwards is a genuine kind of person. If her neighbor had played it smart he'd made pals with both long ago and eventually asked them to the range on a nice day with low recoiling single actions. It ain't rocket science. The only people adverse to guns are people who've never been to the range.
 
Okay, maybe I over-reacted because that is a hot-button issue with me. One of my Great-grandfathers owned 300+ acres of river-bottom land in TN. I grew up on that land but we didn't have two nickels to rub together. I didn't realize it until I got older because most of my friends were worse-off than us.

My cousins still live there and they are poor dirt-farmers who have all gotten jobs to help support the family because the farm damn sure couldn't.

Selling out and moving to town was never considered because that lifestyle and home was all we had ever known. Yes, we had the option but expecting us to do that to escape poverty is like expecting a leopard to change its spots.

I have an education and a decent job now because my family emphasized the value of hard work. I joined the Army and put myself through college (no GI Bill and no student loans).

My wife and I have substantial assets so I guess we are middle-class by the technical definition. The problem with that definition is that we don't have any disposable income so we feel poor but we are far from desperate because we do have options.

I see my neighbors building McMansions and driving Mercedes and I wonder what they do for a living. I guess they look at me and wonder how I can afford all this land. :rolleyes:
 
we had the option but expecting us to do that to escape poverty is like expecting a leopard to change its spots.
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But to some that expectation is more reasonable than expecting someone with no motivation to succeed who has chosen not to take advantage of the free education system in America to pull themselves up and get a better than minimum wage job.
 
This guy doesn't deserve to be called a "Republican." This guy is what I like to call a "felon."
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Are you serious? What basis do you have for that statement? Mrs Edwards recollection of an event?


And about land ownership...I feel sorry for these families who inherit land and farms from parents, grandparents, etc. who have passed away. The tax on an estate is ridiculous and to pay the tax, most are forced to sell the property. I am sure many of us think property taxes are extremely high in our area, but the more important issue is the death tax...it is insane. :mad:

Sorry, thats the accountant coming out
 
I feel sorry for these families who inherit land and farms from parents, grandparents, etc. who have passed away.
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I don't. Not one bit. They should expect nothing from their parents. Those families that have siblings fighting over wills are very sad and it shows the worst side of personal greed.
 
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