Liberty
Matters News Service
February 10, 2006
Souter's Justice
Residents of Weare, New Hampshire, declined to take steps to oust Supreme Court Justice David Souter from his home to make room for the Lost Liberty Hotel and Just Desserts Cafe. Last month, a petition was circulated and signed by the necessary 25 residents, to place an initiative on the ballot that would lay the groundwork for taking the home of Justice Souter by eminent domain and turning it over to another private party for development. The project was the brainchild of Californian Logan David Clements, who was so incensed by the Supreme Court's Kelo decision that he sought revenge upon Justice Souter, who voted with the majority. However, 200 townspeople didn't agree, and offered amendments to the initiative that effectively killed the effort. Furthermore, the amendment instructed the Weare representative to the New Hampshire State Assembly to "bring forth and support a state law that would make it illegal to take land by eminent domain and give it to a private developer."
N.H. Town Rejects Plan to Evict
Souter
Panthers and Bears, Oh My
Florida is going to have to increase their populations of panthers and bears, according to what environmentalists and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are prescribing. A recent U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service report says only 80 panthers remain in the wild in south Florida and advises moving some of the animals to other locations in the Southeast to insure their viability. 600,000 acres of private property were designated panther habitat in the early 1990s, although officials have allowed people to build in areas of Lee, Collier, and Hendry counties. The "endangered" Florida panther is hardly that since the government imported Texas cougars into the state and then claimed them to be rare subspecies. Environmental groups are getting into the land control act too with a lawsuit aimed at placing the "Florida" black bear on the endangered species list. According to the state, the "Florida" black bear is a subspecies of the American black bear that once numbered in the thousands, but now is down to only 3,000 scattered throughout the South. "[A black bear] needs a lot of space and the way development is going in South Florida, the room it needs is being lost, degraded and fragmented," said Laurie MacDonald, Florida director for Defenders of Wildlife. The whole exercise isn't about saving the bear or the panther, but yet another step in the Florida Forever scheme passed by the Florida legislature in the 1990's (see www.TakingLiberty.us). Florida Forever hopes to lock up as much as 80 percent of the state's landmass reducing the habitat of all humans and advancing the Wildlands Project to remove more than 50 percent of all land from human use. Florida wants 30% more.
Wildlife Officials Propose
Relocating Florida Panthers
Federal
Protection Sought for Fla. Bears
Just Take It
Another egregious eminent domain case is unfolding in Yolo County, California where county supervisors have taken it upon themselves to seize the 17,300 acre Conaway Ranch to "save" it from development. "We want to keep it from being developed," explained Supervisor Mike McGowen. The ranch is north of Davis, CA, and borders on Interstate 5, not far from the airport. By the way, the owners have 50,000 acre-feet of water rights for irrigation purposes where they farm thousands of acres of rice and alfalfa, a fact not lost on the modern-day claim jumpers. The ranch was purchased by the Conaway Preservation Group (CPG) for $60 million after the property went into bankruptcy and shortly thereafter, the county initiated eminent domain proceedings. CPG contends what the county is doing is worse than the Kelo debacle. If Yolo county wins, says spokesman Tovey Giezentanner, it will be the first time "government got into the business of trying to run an existing business." The county doesn't plan to use taxpayer money for the purchase, either. It's hooked up with a local Indian tribe, the Rumsey Band of Wintum Indians to provide the front money. The tribe just happens to own the Cache Creek Casino and it may view the Conaway Ranch as a dandy location for another lucrative casino.
Another Government Taking
Conaway Ranch
More Kelo Shenanigans
New London's mayor believes she has come up with a solution to the thorny problem the city created when it seized the homes of Fort Trumble residents to replace them with high-dollar development. The mayor has proposed a "compromise" that will allow four of the six remaining homeowners to stay in their homes on the condition that they pay rent to the city. Neither Susette Kelo, the namesake of the infamous eminent domain case or another plaintiff, Michael Cristofaro, has any intention of paying rent. "The ongoing battle of the last eight years has not been to allow us to live in our homes and pay rent to the city of New London until we die," Kelo said. In September, the New London Development Corp. sent letters ordering some homeowners to vacate their premises, a move that angered Governor M. Jodi Rendell enough to pressure the agency to rescind the letters. The city council dug a deeper hole last Monday when it voted to collect the rent from the remaining homeowners, even as Law Director Thomas Londregan looks into the legality of the mayor's proposal.