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He said, 'If you come on my land, I'll kill you'
http://www.enterstageright.com/archive/articles/1000land.htm ^

Posted on 01/27/2007 1:36:11 PM PST by tpaine

By Vin Suprynowicz

For years, Garry Watson, 49, of little Bunker, Mo., (population 390) had been squabbling with town officials over the sewage line easement which ran across his property to the adjoining, town-operated sewage lagoon.

Residents say officials grew dissatisfied with their existing easement, and announced they were going to excavate a new sewer line across the landowner's property. Capt. Chris Ricks of the Missouri Highway Patrol reports Watson's wife, Linda, was served with "easement right-of-way papers" on Sept. 6. She gave the papers to Watson when he got home at 5 a.m. the next morning from his job at a car battery recycling plant northeast of Bunker. Watson reportedly went to bed for a short time, but arose about 7 a.m. when the city work crew arrived.

"He told them 'If you come on my land, I'll kill you,' " Bunker resident Gregg Tivnan told me last week. "Then the three city workers showed up with a backhoe, plus a police officer. They'd sent along a cop in a cop car to guard the workers, because they were afraid there might be trouble. Watson had gone inside for a little while, but then he came out and pulled his SKS (semi-automatic rifle) out of his truck, steadied it against the truck, and he shot them."

Killed in the September 7 incident, from a range of about 85 yards, were Rocky B. Gordon, 34, a city maintenance man, and David Thompson, 44, an alderman who supervised public works. City maintenance worker Delmar Eugene Dunn, 51, remained in serious but stable condition the following weekend.

Bunker police Officer Steve Stoops, who drove away from the scene after being shot, was treated and released from a hospital for a bullet wound to his arm and a graze to the neck.

Watson thereupon kissed his wife goodbye, took his rifle, and disappeared into the woods, where his body was found two days later -- dead of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Following such incidents, the local papers are inevitably filled with well-meaning but mawkish doggerel about the townsfolk "pulling together" and attempting to "heal" following the "tragedy." There are endless expressions of frustration, pretending to ask how such an otherwise peaceful member of the community could "just snap like that."

In fact, the supposedly elusive explanation is right before our eyes.

"He was pushed," Clarence Rosemann -- manager of the local Bunker convenience store, who'd done some excavation work for Watson -- told the big-city reporters from St. Louis. Another area resident, who didn't want to be identified, told the visiting newsmen, "Most people are understanding why Garry Watson was upset. They are wishing he didn't do it, but they are understanding why he did it."

You see, to most of the people who work in government and the media these days -- especially in our urban centers -- "private property" is a concept out of some dusty, 18th century history book. Oh, sure, "property owners" are allowed to live on their land, so long as they pay rent to the state in the form of "property taxes."

But an actual "right" to be let alone on our land to do whatever we please -- always providing we don't actually endanger the lives or health of our neighbors?

Heavens! If we allowed that, how would we enforce all our wonderful new "environmental protection" laws, or the "zoning codes," or the laws against growing hemp or tobacco or distilling whisky without a license, or any of the endless parade of other malum prohibitum decrees which have multiplied like swarms of flying ants in this nation over the past 87 years?

What does it mean to say we have any "rights" or "freedoms" at all, if we cannot peacefully enjoy that property which we buy with the fruits of our labors?

In his 1985 book "Takings," University of Chicago Law Professor Richard Epstein wrote that, "Private property gives the right to exclude others without the need for any justification.

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."

"Unfortunately," replies James Bovard, author of the book "Freedom in Chains: The Rise of the State and the Demise of the Citizen," "federal law enforcement agents and prosecutors are making private property much less private. ...

Park Forest, Ill. in 1994 enacted an ordinance that authorizes warrantless searches of every single-family rental home by a city inspector or police officer, who are authorized to invade rental units 'at all reasonable times.' ... Federal Judge Joan Gottschall struck down the searches as unconstitutional in 1998, but her decision will have little or no effect on the numerous other localities that authorize similar invasions of privacy."

We are now involved in a war in this nation, a last-ditch struggle in which the other side contends only the king's men are allowed to use force or the threat of force to push their way in wherever they please, and that any peasant finally rendered so desperate as to employ the same kind of force routinely employed by our oppressors must surely be a "lone madman" who "snapped for no reason." No, we should not and do not endorse or approve the individual choices of folks like Garry Watson. But we are still obliged to honor their memories and the personal courage it takes to fight and die for a principle, even as we lament both their desperate, misguided actions ... and the systematic erosion of our liberties which gave them rise.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: castledoctrine; kelo; privateproperty; propertyrights
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To: Dr. Bogus Pachysandra
the guy surely lost it, but you seem to miss the key phrase in here:

"Residents say officials grew dissatisfied with their existing easement, and announced they were going to excavate a new sewer line across the landowner's property."

you have rights outside your easement ?

try and effect a repair on an easement without going outside the easment.
121 posted on 01/27/2007 3:23:53 PM PST by stylin19a
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To: tpaine

Sewer-cide is ugly. He is dead Jim. And by his own hand.


122 posted on 01/27/2007 3:23:55 PM PST by narses (St Thomas says "lex injusta non obligat.")
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To: Jezebelle

Even if that's 100% true, it doesn't justify attempted murder. They weren't trying to abduct his children or rape his wife.

If that's accurate, and I mean the whole truth, which I doubt it is, he should have protested, allowed it to happen, and then sued their a$$ off, which is just what the court system is for.


123 posted on 01/27/2007 3:24:16 PM PST by zbigreddogz
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To: zbigreddogz

Not even mentioning that little 'blue' ice that falls off as they descend to warmer altitudes.


124 posted on 01/27/2007 3:24:40 PM PST by UpAllNight
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To: tpaine

I think you miss the point. Vin isn't justifying the killing, he's explaining it.

Vin wrote a book with "Carl Drega" in the title, another guy who was pushed too hard by an oppressive goverment. Worth a read.


125 posted on 01/27/2007 3:24:52 PM PST by Atlas Sneezed (Your FRiendly FReeper Patent Attorney)
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To: tpaine
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?

Do you have any idea how long it takes for grass seed to grow and get that land looking like its original condition again?

Then again, when he drives into town, he almost certainly drives on some road built on an easement through someone's property and the pissed off owners could practice their sniper skills on him the next time he drives down that road.

Quite a dilemma there. < /sarc>

That extreme degree of lone wolf territoriality is not compatible with a school of piranhas let alone human society.

126 posted on 01/27/2007 3:24:57 PM PST by Polybius
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To: tpaine

I wuz kinda thunkin he was one of them perverts too. You know, they say first it is trashcans, then it progresses to dumpsters and finally they end up in a county dump. LOL


127 posted on 01/27/2007 3:26:37 PM PST by biff
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To: zbigreddogz

I realize that....probably just in a playful mood and jerking your chain a bit. ;^)


128 posted on 01/27/2007 3:27:06 PM PST by DCPatriot ("It aint what you don't know that kills you. It's what you know that aint so" Theodore Sturgeon))
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To: tpaine

What a despicable coward this guy was. Sniping a couple of unarmed workers from 85 yards away. Wow, what a real man. Then on top of that he's too scared to face the consequences so he runs off into the woods and shoots himself.


129 posted on 01/27/2007 3:28:06 PM PST by Northeastern_Realist
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To: ClearCase_guy
"In my opinion, the whole reason we have the Second Amendment is that sometimes the King's Men need killing, and the people need to have the ability to do so."

A refreshingly honest point of view. You are right. I think it was Thomas Jefferson who said "The tree of liberty must be refreshed, from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants."

Carolyn

130 posted on 01/27/2007 3:34:18 PM PST by CDHart ("It's too late to work within the system and too early to shoot the b@#$%^&s."--Claire Wolfe)
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To: zbigreddogz
Using this definition, I suppose you think I have the right to launch a rocket at a plane if it is to fly over my property without my permission?

Interesting thought.

Is it under 500 Feet?

131 posted on 01/27/2007 3:36:49 PM PST by Gorzaloon (Global Warming: A New Kind Of Scientology for the Rest Of Us.)
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To: All
Vin Suprynowicz, the pathetic piece of filth who praised the actions of Carl Drega. This idiot is no better than Osama Bin Laden. He wants others to take up arms against the eeevvvvviiiiilllllll big bad government that in his warped mind is out to get him, because he is too scared to do anything himself.

So he'll spread his filth from behind a computer or a piece of paper. He'll try to convince other fools to do his dirty work for him.

Vin Suprynowicz is a piece of garbage. The freak who murdered unarmed sewer workers and shot a cop is a piece of filth. Final Judgment won't be nice for either.

Suprynowicz and his ilk are going to learn one way or the other that they are not God.

132 posted on 01/27/2007 3:38:17 PM PST by ipwnedu50
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To: UpAllNight

I think our founders had more respect for individual rights and property rights than those who run and administer government today. If those who administer government today were more cognizant of just who their employers are, they'd find that constructive dialogue, performed on a basis of mutual respect, would go a long way to resolving disputes in an equitable manner.


133 posted on 01/27/2007 3:43:46 PM PST by Thumper1960 (Unleash the Dogs of War as a Minority, or perish as a party.)
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To: Lancey Howard
"I think you missed this part:"
Didn't miss it, just wished there were more details. I'd like to know exactly what they were arguing over for years. Were they arguing over a new easement? The old one? Was he being totally intractable? Did the public's need really need a new easement? Etc.. I think the local government totally screwed up. But killin' people certainly wasn't the answer. I've dealt with small town politicians for 30 years, and they can be complete jerks, and, I think, in this case they were. Just wish I had more details.
134 posted on 01/27/2007 3:45:37 PM PST by Dr. Bogus Pachysandra ("Don't touch that thing")
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To: UpAllNight
I hope you relatives are aware of your plans and put you away before you can harm them.

My relatives have nothing to worry about........Its your govt. and its agents who do.

135 posted on 01/27/2007 3:48:24 PM PST by Hot Tabasco (Dear Santa: Next year, READ THE STUPID LIST! Oh, and thanks for the socks....)
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To: 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.

It would be instructive for some of these anarchist loudmouths to read about how George Washington dealt with the Whiskey Rebellion.

136 posted on 01/27/2007 3:57:43 PM PST by ccmay (Too much Law; not enough Order.)
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To: 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.

It would be instructive for some of these anarchist loudmouths to read about how George Washington dealt with the Whiskey Rebellion.

-ccm

137 posted on 01/27/2007 3:59:31 PM PST by ccmay (Too much Law; not enough Order.)
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To: DCPatriot; y'all
An honorable man [driven to a last stand by bureaucracy], would have fired warning shots, ran them off his land, and then tried to justify his action.

LOL! That 'honorable' man would see himself on FOXNEWS LIVE surrounded by SWAT snipers.
And, if Janet Reno were AG, chances are he'd be burned alive.

"-- LOL! Guess a lot of Freepers can't find the diplomatic way to show support for this misguided soul without appearing unbalanced and extreme. --"

But seriously, I posted this to illustrate how misguided men, - 'defending "unfettered" property rights', -- can go totally over the top and work against our basic principles.

138 posted on 01/27/2007 4:00:33 PM PST by tpaine (" My most important function on the Supreme Court is to tell the majority to take a walk." -Scalia <)
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To: tpaine

But the workers could have refused to go on the man's land.
I would have


139 posted on 01/27/2007 4:05:28 PM PST by Quickgun
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To: Thumper1960

Would you recommend peaceful rallies, organizing behind your candidates and voting in those that would or just pulling out the ol' SKS and going down to city hall and whacking them?


140 posted on 01/27/2007 4:14:33 PM PST by UpAllNight
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