--Okay, maybe this will require a little logical reasoning, but why would a man go to the trouble and expense of digging up a sewer line, if it weren't leaking?--
It was clogged?
Look, stick to the subject at hand, if you want to continue the debate with me. The fact is there was obviously some kind of problem with the sewer line, which the city wouldn't fix. He fixed it himself, and evidently, the city wouldn't compensate him for it. They then decided to take more of his property without due process. The rest is history.
If you want to split hairs and launch into red herring diversions, that's fine...I have better things to do. If you want to debate property rights and the logic or illogic of what Mr. Watson did, please stick to that subject.
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!