Please tell me how else to interpret your post other than to think that you condone civil violence? Your 'wrong to shoot the messenger' leads one to believe that you would support going down to city hall and shooting the head guy would be justified.
"However, if what I understand to be the case really is the case, damn if someone wouldn't pay for encroaching on my property. Maybe it was wrong to shoot the messenger for the message, but to paraphrase John Wayne in "The Green Berets", sometimes due process is a bullet."
I do not condone civil violence. I condone the right to defend our property against being taken illegally. By not holding public hearings, by not allowing due process, the city was trying to illegally take part of the man's property.
Here in Boise, there is a proposed street widening project that has been working its way through the system for a couple of years now. The Ada County Highway District wants to expand Ustick Rd., and unfortunately, it will shear a few feet off some yards along the street. The process started with a public hearing, during which both sides of the debate were heard. Afterward, the ACHD offered to compensate the property owners, and wrangling has been going back a forth for a "fair" amount. If some, or even one, of the property owners refuses to sell, then it will go to the court. If the ACHD goes through all the proceedings it is legally obligated to do and someone still refuses to sell, well unfortunately, that's just a TS situation. The road will be widened, and the property owner will be "justly" compensated.
The Missouri case, evidently, was nothing of the sort. The city decided it didn't like the easement they had, and on the spur of the moment, decided it was going to "take" part of someone else's property for a new easement. For the life of me, I see no difference between the city's actions, and someone kicking down the man's door in the middle of the night to steal property from his house. Either way, the man's "castle" is being invaded.
Would I do the same if I were in the Missouri man's boots? I'd have to think long and hard about it, but unfortunately, he didn't have the opportunity to think, because they just showed up on his property to start digging. At least he gave them warning before he started shooting.
Are you familiar with the Donald Scott case, about 15 or so years back, in Kalifornia? Similar, but the JBTs kicked in his door in the middle of the night, wearing their ninja suits and carrying MP-5s.
You and I see things differently. That doesn't make either of us insane, it just means my line in the sand and yours are spaced pretty far apart.
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!