Posted on 10/05/2007 5:49:29 AM PDT by Red in Blue PA
CLARKSVILLE, Tennessee (AP) -- A business owner shot and killed himself during a City Council meeting Thursday night after members voted against his request to rezone his property, witnesses said.
Ronald "Bo" Ward, owner of Bo's Barber Shop, had told the council his business would go under if he couldn't get his home rezoned as commercial. After the 5-7 vote Thursday night, Ward stood and walked toward the council.
"Y'all have put me under. ... I'm out of here," he said before shooting himself in the head with a small handgun.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Please read the thread. Surrounding property zoned commercial.
No, my address is correct:
wideawake, you might need so more caffeine. He wasn’t after free money, he needed to restructure his debt. The balance of power is out of proportion in favor of these zoning boards. You should be free to do what you need to do unless someone can show it will cause significant harm. If he lost the vote 5-7, it doesn’t seem logical that his plan was going to be a detriment to the community.
So many cliches...so little time! /s
Yup.
How often do these boards change their tune if a request for rezoning comes in from a big company promising a development that will result in higher tax revenue.
They did allow it.
But they were not going to rezone his home so he could apply for a commercial loan.
This is not about a zoning council forbidding him from running a business out of his home - it is about him hoping that the zoning commission would give his property a commercial zoning certificate, allowing him to get a favorable reassessment of his property value, qualifying him for a larger commercial loan.
It is not the zoning board's responsibility to help him game the system for his profit.
No, it isn't.
You say he had nothing to lose - had he been sane, he would have realized he had plenty to lose.
No, I said that "people who feel they have been forced into a situation by those officials where they nothing to lose, have nothing to lose". There is a big difference. Facts and logic are not always the determining factors when people decide to act - sometimes it's human nature and raw emotions.
Don’t let facts get in the way of a good “anti zoning laws” rant.
Read the article.
He was hoping that he would get his property rezoned as commercial in order to inflate his property value.
If the zoning board gives you a special exception that boosts your property value from $100K to $125K which you can then borrow against - you are getting free money.
It isn't the zoning board's responsibility to help people restructure their debt by doing them special favors.
Talk about “sore loser”!
He's not a martyr, he's a self-murderer. Murder is not martyrdom.
I wonder which would have collected more taxes for the city; his property zoned as residential or his property zoned as commercial? On its face, at least, his application for re-zoning did not seem to be unreasonable. Assuming that it would have cost them nothing to allow his rezoning request then they were just callous and indifferent to the man's plight. Not to be unexpected from government, I guess. That's what government does best.
He was obviously in some sort of extremely distraught mental state, he desperately needed help and I can't necessarily blame him for that. But still, suicide like this is one of the most selfish, self-centered acts a person can perpetrate. He inflicted the sight of his own bloodshed on other witnesses besides the City Council. It is not maryrdom.
Cordially,
RIGHT! (I just wanted to make sure this comment was repeated again to increase the chance that it will sink in among the less liberty minded among us)
“Zoning laws are theft. They are always theft. If you own something, you have the absolute, inalienable right to use it as you please, with the only restriction being that you must not violate the rights of others.”
I presume you are a radical Muslim, since that is the only relgion I know of that considers killing oneself over politics an act of martyrdom.
Among Christians and Jews, one can only be a martyr if someone else kills you for your confession of faith.
I hadn’t read that fact when I expressed surprise that he had any votes. This fact would indicate that the "nay" votes may have been unfair. The poor man may have won in court.
As far has it being his home I personally believe the zoning that keeps business owners from living in the same quarters as their business has contributed to the rot of the inner cities and the death of “downtown” as a shopping mecca. I have said for years that if you want a viable downtown you’ll have to let people live there
Agreed. Living above the grocery store, pizza parlor, or law office, definitely should be allowed in downtowns. It’s an American institution but has sadly been outlawed in many places.
They weren't asking him to shut down his shop.
He was asking them to rezone his house to enhance his property value - there is no "right" to demand the government artificially enhance your property value.
I'm in complete agreement with your comments.
Me three!
IMO, posters in here should have to take an aptitude test before getting posting privileges.
So if I open a chicken form on my 1-acre lot next to yours, the smell and noise, not to mention the crushing blow to your property values, aren't impinging on your rights?
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