Auto repair owner can stay

A St. Louis auto mechanic whose repair shop was targeted for acquisition to make way for a “Media Box” will get to keep his land after all.

The board of directors for Grand Center, the development agency which presides over the arts district of the same name, voted this morning to drop its eminent domain suit against Gentle “Jim” Day, owner of Royal Auto Repair.

Since Day’s plight became public earlier this year, the son of Arkansas sharecroppers has received an outpouring of support from opponents of eminent domain at a time when the issue has reached the national spotlight.

Eminent domain is the power granted in the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution that allows local governments to acquire private property for public benefit.

This is "copy" of the letter I sent to the author.

Hello Mr. Wagman,

In an article you composed, published at the website, stltoday.com, titled, “Auto Repair owner can stay,” you stated the following:

“Eminent domain is the power granted in the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution that allows local governments to acquire private property for public benefit.”

This is not an entirely correct statement.

Amendment V: “nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation.”

You did not include the most important statement of Amendment V. When property is taken, the owner must be compensated. Why did you not include the compensation portion of the 5th in your statement?

Also, you failed to cite the Missouri Constitution on this issue.

“The board of directors for Grand Center, the development agency…” and thus, Grand Center, is a “private property” company. The Missouri Constitution, Article I, Section 28 states,

That private property shall not be taken for private use with or without compensation, unless by consent of the owner, except for private ways of necessity, and except for drains and ditches across the lands of others for agricultural and sanitary purposes, in the manner prescribed by law; and that when an attempt is made to take private property for a use alleged to be public, the question whether the contemplated use be public shall be judicially determined without regard to any legislative declaration that the use is public.

Since the Grand Center, “voted this morning to drop its eminent domain suit against Gentle “Jim” Day, owner of Royal Auto Repair,” it appears that the Grand Center is really acknowledging that constitutionally they were prohibited from taking the “legal” action they had contemplated and they were going to lose in court.

Thank you for your time spent reading this e-mail message.

The thing that really gets me is that no matter what the city or Grand Center group say yoou KNOW they were aware of the constitution(s) beforehand. They just thought they could steamroll the guy becuase they have the power to do so.

These "Public Servants" are something else.

The French answer to this was:

guil·lo·tine n.

1. A device consisting of a heavy blade held aloft between upright guides and dropped to behead the victim below.

2. An instrument, such as a paper cutter, similar in action to a guillotine.

tr.v. guil·lo·tined, guil·lo·tin·ing, guil·lo·tines

1. To behead with a guillotine.

2. To cut with or as if with a guillotine.

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