"They are pitching this as a stimulus project, putting my family out of business is not economic development,"
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Posted on 04/25/2010 11:43:31 PM PDT by nickcarraway
The federal government is taking a Franklin County farm family to court. The Department of Homeland Security is threatening to take part of their land through eminent domain to increase border security.
The Rainville's say the move will put them out of business.
The Department of Homeland Security wants to expand its outdated and crumbling border station at Morses Line. Originally the government was in need of 10 acres. But after further review, which revealed only 40 cars use the port each day on average, scaled the project back to 5 acres.
"They are pitching this as a stimulus project, putting my family out of business is not economic development," said Rainville.
The Rainvilles say the plot of land is crucial to their farm. They use it to produce hay for their dairy cows, and the layout of their 224 acre farm prevents them from moving the hay field elsewhere. The government has offered the farm family $30,000 for the land.
"We have never sold one acre for development. My father wanted to build a new house for my mother in 1968 when they got married. My grandfather said we grow hay here," said Rainville.
Since the Rainvilles refuse to sell the land, the government is now moving forward with plans to take it thru eminent domain. According to a letter from the Department of Homeland Security, failing to fortify one port of entry weakens the entire national security system.
"To be put out of business because somebody wants a new building for 2 1/2 cars an hour, you can't justify that," responded Rainville.
Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy understands the importance of improving border security across the nation. Even though the project has been scaled way back, Leahy still questions why the government wants to spend millions of dollars in stimulus money to expand this border station.
"There's a lot of things that are funded by stimulus money that make a great deal of sense, I don't see where this adds jobs, I don't see where this does anything to help us, I don't think this does anything to improve the security of the country," said Leahy.
With the government ready to condemn the land, the Rainvilles are now preparing for a legal battle.
"If DHS wants to take us into the courtroom, they gotta show a public good, and a public need for this project, and their own documents don't support them," said Rainville.
Love the no-nonsense factual reporting here.
The Rainvilles say the plot of land is crucial to their farm. They use it to produce hay for their dairy cows,
5 acres for a border station that sees 2.5 cars per hour does seem like a bit too much.
>5 acres for a border station that sees 2.5 cars per hour does seem like a bit too much.
Indeed, they could do that on an 1/8th of an acre and have a LOT of room to spare. {I live on a single acre.}
“. According to a letter from the Department of Homeland Security, failing to fortify one port of entry weakens the entire national security system.”
If the land is that important it should be worth a good deal more than a pittance of 30k.
One of the first things Obama did when he got into office was sign off on a few million acres of land to conservation. Where did they get this land in the first place - slowly but surely drive people away. This eminent domain stuff has got to stop. They’re using any excuse they can find to run people off their property.
I missed that but you are right, that is shockingly lap dog journalism. Who wrote the article, Leahy himself.
This is ridiculous! Our southern border needs to be fixed first.
Hope they publish the appraisal online...bet it will get plenty of commentary.... just a hint
This is the CANADIAN border...............
Read the article called “That’s Outrageous” that is in Reader’s Digest from a couple of months back.
One Canadian border crossing location that got less than 10 cars a day got a $million plus dollar ‘improvement’.
No government can waste money as well as the USA Federal government.
This eminent domain stuff has got to stop. They’re using any excuse they can find to run people off their property.”
The Feds control over 84% of the land in Nevada.
What a joke----DHS pretty much wants to build a new Maginot line along the Canadian border while completely ignoring the Mexican border. And the targeted land here is worth a LOT more than $30,000.
Thieves and liars---all of them in the federal government.
Betcha betcha that the farmer is a Republican.
$30,000 for five acres flat enough for hay? Taking the land is wrong on so many levels, but that property is worth at least 3 times that much in fair market value.
No, this isn’t about border security, its about control. The libs want state property and state controlled food.
Would make more sense to remove the border station entirely and close off the road to the border.
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