Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Locke Foundation: Turkey, NC takes on Property Owners

From The Locker Room.

Fayetteville: Businessman must pay for city’s error

From The Fayetteville Observer: Pete Porreco wanted everything to be perfect — and legal — for a tailored sign to showcase the new location of his remodeling business in western Fayetteville.

He called City Hall and said he wanted to put up the biggest sign he could on a stretch of Raeford Road. He then hired a contractor, who designed a plan that the city approved with a $40 permit.

The lighted sign, which stands 14 feet high on a pole, went up in mid-October at Porreco’s business, Home Exteriors. About two weeks later, a city inspector came knocking and served Porreco with a written notice that sickened and surprised him.

The sign was too big, the notice said. He had to remove it or face $500 daily fines. more...

Related: Myron Pitts column

Monday, November 26, 2007

Railroad stakes claim to its right of way on which ministry building sits

The News & Observer: Clayton Area Ministries volunteers were ecstatic three years ago when an anonymous benefactor gave them a building for their food pantry. It seemed a castle compared with the dilapidated, cramped quarters they had been renting.

Thanks to donors, the only payment the charity group faced with their new home was a monthly phone bill. Or so they thought. Then a representative of the state-owned N.C. Railroad told them half their building was sitting in its right of way. more...

Sunday, November 18, 2007

Judge Says Couple Has to Leave Farm So County Can Expand Landfill

A Superior Court judge has ordered a Mount Airy couple to leave their 95-acre farm, ending a 10-year battle in which Surry County commissioners imposed eminent domain to purchase the property to expand the county landfill.

Judge Richard W. Stone ordered Donald and Faye Terrell to leave their farm by November 28. But Donald Terrell, 69, said he will not go. It's where he was born, he said. And though Surry County paid him $653,000 for it in March, it's worth much more. more...

Thursday, November 08, 2007

Eminent domain: Onslow steps up

Editorial from the Jacksonville Daily News: Robin Hood, or so the legend says, took from the rich and gave to the poor. The fact that he did it by force made him no less of a folk hero because his actions benefited a grossly downtrodden class of individuals. The U.S. Supreme Court, as interpreted by a slim majority of its justices, did just the opposite in 2005 when it decided the case of Kelo v. New London. In that instance, the court chose to allow government to legally rob private property owners on behalf of private developers and businesses.

It's a terrible precedent that chips away at both the spirit and consequences of the law. more...