Posted on 12/09/2003 2:56:08 AM PST by John W
ABBEVILLE, S.C. (AP) - A father and son angered by a state plan to seize some of their land allegedly shot and killed an officer who went to the home, sparking a 13-hour standoff that ended in a "horrendous gunfight" in which another officer was killed, authorities and neighbors said. At least 100 officers surrounded the rural home of Arthur Bixby in western South Carolina on Monday. Bixby's wife then holed up in an apartment in town and threatened to shoot bystanders if her husband or son were injured; she was promptly arrested, State Law Enforcement Division Chief Robert Stewart said.
It began Monday morning when a magistrate's officer went to the house in a rural part of the state to follow up on an incident from the previous week involving a dispute between Department of Transportation workers and someone from the house, officials said.
When the officer failed to return, two deputies went to the Bixby home looking for him.
What happened next is unclear, but the deputies called for help and law enforcement officials surrounded the home, and the standoff began.
Eleven hours later, officers unsuccessfully tried to storm the home and were shot at with powerful weapons, Stewart said.
"I've never seen so much force," Stewart said. None of the family members tried to negotiate with officers during the standoff.
"This was planned," Stewart said.
The gunfight lasted about 10 minutes and police fired tear gas inside the home. Bixby's son, 36-year-old Steven Bixby, surrendered. Two hours later, officers entered the home and arrested Arthur Bixby, who apparently was wounded in the gunfight. He was hospitalized and his condition was not available early Tuesday.
No formal charges had been filed as of early Tuesday.
At some point during the standoff, the Bixbys destroyed two remote control robots authorities sent into the house to figure out what was happening, Stewart said.
Inside the home, authorities found a dead deputy and what they described as anti-American literature and suicide notes. Similar material also was found inside the apartment in town where Bixby's wife was arrested. Authorities did not say whose apartment it was.
Stewart said the family had prepared for the standoff and fortified the house's doors to make it harder for police to break in.
Authorities identified the two dead officers as Danny Wilson and Donnie M. Ouzts.
Ouzts apparently had been shot from a distance with a rifle, state Public Safety spokesman Sid Gaulden said; Wilson was found inside the home. Authorities would not say which one first went to the house.
Gene Land, Bixby's neighbor who lives about a half-mile away, said Steven Bixby was angry because the state planned to take some of his land to widen the highway. The Bixbys had lived in the house for more than 10 years, Land said.
A dispute Thursday between state transportation workers and someone from the home on Highway 72 precipitated the incident, DOT spokesman Pete Poore said.
AP-ES-12-09-03 0519EST
It began Monday morning when a magistrate's officer went to the house in a rural part of the state to follow up on an incident from the previous week involving a dispute between Department of Transportation workers and someone from the house, officials said.
and A dispute Thursday between state transportation workers and someone from the home on Highway 72 precipitated the incident, DOT spokesman Pete Poore said.
They couldn't have been in the process of widening the road on Thursday, they don't have the land yet, right? If we ever get to hear more about the nature of this dispute, it might shed some light on what happened later. Or maybe not.
But I have to say it's looking to me like they were laying in wait for somebody with a badge to show up, ever since the incident (whatever it was) on Thursday. They took the deputy hostage when he showed up.
And, and, and rub out the little flower garden! Oh, the botany!
Nevertheless, we have to recognize that it is impossible for societies to exist without public utilities such as roads, fire departments, telephone lines, etc. The U.S. Constitution permits Federal government "takings" of private property provided due process is followed and just compensation is offered. State constitutions generally have parallel provisions. Provided the South Carolina authorities followed the constitutional guidelines, they were justified in requiring that the family leave the premises.
The Bixby house has had low ceiling room added to the rear. The next door house has had the garage converted to a room. The stone house with the cathederal windows is most telling. Here you can see, on the front of the home, a vertical HVAC discharge duct that elbows into the attic. That duct is likely 18 gauge and is acting as support column. To the left of it you can see where the corner of the house has settled and above the duct there is a large crack where the roof and the eave attach.
From the article we know that Bixby bought the house in '94. I would suggest that at the time he bought the house, the road was already a traffic jam and anyone with common sense would conclude that the road would be widened eventually. Futhermore, in '94 the planning commission had likely already published their intent to widen the road. Municipal projects of this nature generally lag 15-20 years behind time.
Was Bixby taking a financial hit on this? Not hardly. Any loss of value as owner-occupied residential would not apply to the property as a rental unit. Addionally, the widening of the road would hasten the commercial value of the property, which will always be higher than residential.
These men are kooks and anyone that condones their actions are also kooks.
BTW, did you know that there were cuniform tablets unearthed that document the fact that when the irrigation canals were built in Sumer 6000 years ago, some of the property owners had their land condemned?
LOL - I know what you mean. The day a cop becomes pro-Constitution will be the day that hell freezes over.
Some of these cops are so illiterate and prosecutorialy-politicaly correct one-sided about the cases they are even sent for, it is scary. The constitution? Ah! Try have them do their job and provide you an accurate situational awareness of the case... then maybe we can start talking about testing them on the constitution.
Cops, in the US and like everywhere else seem to be trained to be idiots at times.
killing people is not the issue, but murder
It is the wrong strategy, I agree. That said, an honest duel on his property would settle it - meaning a frank armed stand off declared and a following battle.
The trap he apparently made of his house for the cops coming was no fair play, IMHO, but plain murder.
It's probably time to ban the Constitution. It no longer applies but it gives some kooks the idea that they own the property they bought.
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