When the property was taken doesn't make the taking any more just.
But that's not what happened here. The city wasn't satisfied with the easement they had and wanted another one - better, larger, longer - whatever.
Normally when somebody wants an easement, they PAY the landowner for it, if he agrees to grant one.
If I had a small easement to use part of your road for ingress and egress to my property, and I decided I needed to expand that so I could drive directly to an outbuilding I planned to put at the back of my property, I would have to come to you and ask for the easement. You would then say "Yes", "No", "Hell no", or "Okay, but pay me $x,000.00 for the easement." We would then lay out the length, width and what the usage of the easement would be, reduce it to a legal description, you grant it to me, I pay you, and I go record the easement.
The city didn't do that. They were warned to get off his property. He shouldn't have shot them, but they pushed him over the edge. The real tragedy is that it was just city workmen sent to do a job, including the deputy, who were shot instead of the city managers who made the decision.
The man who did the shooting worked at a battery recycling plant. He obviously couldn't afford to fight the city machine with lawyers, so he used the means afforded by the Second Amendment of the Bill of Rights. The real tragedy is that he shot himself. There's a good chance the jury would either nullify his actions or certainly give great weight to the mitigating factors. If I was on the jury, I would. My argument with him would be that he shot the wrong people.
Maybe next time the city decides to steal access to someone's property they'll think twice and do it the right way - negotiate and PAY for it!
I think you missed this part:
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.
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.
i believe there was to be a change in the easement, but it doesn't elaborate... i owned land with a power line easement... which allowed power line employees access... they broke into my shed and stole 400 bucks worth of tools... from then on i demanded to be notified of their access or i would put up a fence... they called...
i believe he was pushed...
teeman
The path we've travelled finally landed us in the briar patch. Governments abused their power to take land by process, payment, and purpose. People abused the courts by holding up needed projects with frivolous lawsuits to can extort the system. Corrupt officials and citizens used the power of eminent domain for personal enrichment.
Now how do we fix it? I could tell you how to amend the US Constitution to mitigate the damage done by rogue courts, but I haven't got even a guess how to force governments to treat people with respect and pay them approprately for their land.
The 'guy' worked nights. He got off work at 5 AM. The city crew showed up at 7 AM.
God only knows how many 'negotiations' were attempted while the man would normally have been sleeping.
Anyone else here have more than a passing familliarity with sleep deprivation?
What is not being said is what would be dug up, either, but the bottom line is that despite the warning, the city folks just went ahead and moved in. He only did what he said he would.
I wonder what, if any concessions were made to try to work with the guy?