Nothing personal... just business....
Posted on 12/21/2006 8:42:35 AM PST by Graybeard58
NEW LONDON -- The woman at the center of a national battle over property rights has sent some not-so-joyous tidings to people involved in taking her house to make way for private development.
Susette Kelo's holiday cards feature a snowy image of her pink house and a message that reads, in part, "Your houses, your homes, your family, your friends. May they live in misery that never ends. I curse you all. May you rot in hell. To each of you I send this spell."
The cards were conceived and produced by a friend of Kelo's and sent to city officials and members of New London's development agency.
Kelo said she also considered sending the cards to five U.S. Supreme Court justices who ruled in June 2005 that New London had the right to take homes in the Fort Trumbull neighborhood to make way for a riverfront project slated to include condominiums, a hotel and office space.
On Wednesday, after news accounts carried details about the cards, Kelo apologized in a statement released by the Institute for Justice, which represented the homeowners in their legal battle.
"My card was meant as much in humor as it was in frustration," she said in the statement. "What I wrote shouldn't be taken as my literal wish for anyone. I'm heartbroken that this will be my last Christmas in Fort Trumbull and what I wrote rose out of that fact, but the bottom line is, it was over the top."
Kelo, one of the last holdouts, earlier this year accepted a $442,155 settlement, more than $300,000 above the appraised value of her home in 2000. Her pink cottage will be moved elsewhere in the city. She has until June 15 to move.
"It's amazing anyone could be so vindictive when they've made so much money," said Gail Schwenker-Mayer, a supporter of the development project who received one of the cards.
New London Development Corp. member Reid Burdick said he put the card on his mantel with his other Christmas greetings.
"I think the poor woman has gone around the bend," he said. "I haven't gotten any mail from her in years. I still feel bad for Susette. The sorry part of this is that the things she's angry about were not done to be mean-spirited toward her personally."
Fellow NLDC member George Milne, a former top executive at Pfizer Inc., called the card "immensely childish."
"It's sort of sad she elected to do this," Milne said. "We were trying to do things for the city. It was nothing personal."
Kelo, a nurse who handles lead paint and lead poisoning cases for the city of New London, said the card was her idea.
"This all could have been solved and ended many years ago," she said. "They didn't have to do what they did to us, and I will never forget. These people can think what they want of me. I will never, ever forget what they did."
i wonder how some of these political clowns would feel if it was their home that was condemned for the same reason?
Meadow Muffin
Taking someone's home is "nothing personal"???
What dope would buy a condo in an area built on illegally seized home sites? What happens when the next round of "urban renewal" goes down, brotha?
Fellow NLDC member George Milne, a former top executive at Pfizer Inc., called the card "immensely childish."
It's not personal - it's just business. Isn't that a cliche from gangster movies, just before someone gets whacked?
How dare she say mean things when all we did id undermine the very basis for rights in this country - property rights?!? She hurt my widdle feewings!
These idiots don't have a freaking clue what they have wrought.
Maybe somebody can return the favor to this guy in the future.
APOLOGIZE!! They TOOK your home for God's sake . I would have been much harsher than her if it was my property . Probably would have made National news . This crap has to be stopped .
She was a lot more civil than I would have been. How much do you want to bet that someone who got one of her cards will get a lawyer and whine about how the card is "intimidating"?
Gail has obviously never had her property forcibly taken from her, and then to add insult to injury, have someone describe the taking as her having "made so much money".
bkamrk
Let's be clear about this - whatever it is that they are doing, it's not eminent domain. Technically this is just confiscation.
Well,sweetheart,money isn't the end-all and the be-all for some people....but you wouldn't understand that.
And,BTW sweetheart....I,too,hope you rot in hell.
"...but I'm not bitter."
"... and I helped send her there."
Really? And what do you call the unconstitutional confiscation of a person's home? How 'bout, immensely criminal?
That about sums it up. Taking someone's home is "nothing personal." What a royal ass!
Curses notwithstanding, I have a feeling that the developer had better get some damned good fire insurance.
Nothing personal... just business....
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.