He said, 'If you come on my land, I'll kill you'

http://www.enterstageright.com/archive/articles/1000land.htm ^

[DCPatriot]

you admit it? You have no idea why the Second Amendment exists?

Quit the suspense....and tell us.

[Sloth]

I don't know how you can consider yourself a conservative or a member of a "free" republic and think the government takes supremacy over something as fundamental as private property ownership rights.

How much did Mr. Watson respect the city's rights to their property (the existing sewer main, for which they had a proper easement)?

[UpAllNight]

--By all means, don't upset the anti-gunners. They're reasonable folks, after all.--

You miss the point. The battle is fought in the middle and a lot of on-the-fence people see these types of statements as something that is not acceptable and will support gun laws to prevent idiots from shooting up their neighborhood.

[Hot Tabasco]

I would understand it if he threw down his weapon and surrendered after fulfilling his promise, or at least required a warrant.

While I side with his actions, I also recognize the fact that he knew he was faced with imprisonment.

I would have done the same thing........

Rather than die from old age or or some incurable ailment, I would rather go down in a blaze of gunfire or self inflicted injury standing up for what I believe in.......

[cgk]

So very true. I stand corrected :)

[Jezebelle]

"Conservatives believe in establishing governments in order to provide for a better community and to protect property rights using laws established by their elected representatives. Anarchists believe is shooting those that try to enforce the laws."

Enforce what law? Show me a law that says a municipality can give you notice of a taking and show up two hours later to take. The city had a lesser or different easement than what they showed up to take and do with it.

That's tyranny, not law and order.

[DCPatriot]

When the men of the Boston Tea Party threw tea into Boston Harbor they did not first shoot the men of the merchant ships and the dock workers

How do you know that? Because it didn't make it in the story?

Don't forget. The victor writes the history.

[UpAllNight]

--Rather than die from old age or or some incurable ailment, I would rather go down in a blaze of gunfire or self inflicted injury standing up for what I believe in.......--

I hope you relatives are aware of your plans and put you away before you can harm them.

[DCPatriot]

Nonsense. Digging up and destroying or upsetting the earth is not the same as an airplane passing overhead.

[Jezebelle]

No, he didn't say that. He said the 2A was intended as a right against governmental tyranny.

[Thumper1960]

It is an indication of the ignorance of too many so-called citizens that they sit upon a fence and fail to appreciate the meanings and intents of our founding documents; the battles and arguments that went into forming those documents and the value and virtues of seeing oneself as a sovereign citizen who is unbeholden to a powerful "lord of the manor".

[Jezebelle]

READ the article! The city decided that easement was insufficient. They wanted a different/better/wider/longer/whatever sewer line access than the existing easement accommodated, so they gave his wife notice when he was at work the night before the early morning they planned to just show up and TAKE what they wanted.

[dljordan]

"So I came in his trash cans, instead."

Laz, you seriously need some professional help. :)

[UpAllNight]

Sec. 24-115. Easements.
The inspector and other duly authorized employees of the city bearing proper credentials and identification shall be permitted to enter all private properties through which the city holds duly negotiated easements for the purposes of, but not limited to, inspection, observation, measurement, sampling, repair and maintenance of any portion of the sewage works lying within the easement. All entry and subsequent work, if any, on the easement, shall be done in full accordance with the terms of the duly negotiated easement pertaining to the private property involved.
(Ord. No. 357, art. VIII, § 3, 9-4-79)

[tpaine]

"-- Indeed, it is the ability to act at will and without need for justification within some domain which is the essence of freedom, be it of speech or of property."

Normally, I agree with Vin.

But Killing these working men for "the principle" of the ability to act at will and without need for justification" is beyond rationality.
A new sewer line running under his ~property~ was a justifiable cause for killing?"

Retorically speaking, why is it that there is always a "but" in these things.

Happy now? The "but" is just a convention of writing, -- it doesn't change the meaning of what I wrote.

Do we have to have some tribunal meet to declare that the government is acting in a tyranical manner? Just where is the line that must be crossed before good men are allowed to act?

I eagerly await your response.

Semper Fi An Old Man

My line would be crossed if the city 'took' an easement without reasonable compensation. ---- I would go after the officials responsible, not the workingmen.

[zook]

Agree. This guy was nothing but a twisted murderer.

[zbigreddogz]

Digging in the earth doesn't equal destroying, and flying overhead isn't necessarily free of consequence. Not even bothering with noise pollution, it leaves behind jet smoke and has the potential to rattle things off the walls, break windows, etc.

I'm not saying they are exactly equal, but anybody who thinks he can draw bright lines that make perfect sense and are always applicable in every circumstance is fooling themselves.

[Redcloak]

From what's written here, this doesn't sound like a simple matter of repairing or upgrading the existing easement. This sounds like someone in public works was determined to show the land owner who's got the biggest d*** in the county. Unfortunately, "Mr. Johnson" got a bunch of other people killed. They got in this guy's face and, as you say, he lost it; a very avoidable conclusion.

[old gringo]

people are like a bucket of water,when it gets full it runs over.

[UpAllNight]

I don't think our founding fathers were thinking of going around administering vigilante justice against the local sewer guy. You are totally misreading the values and virtues of our founding fathers.