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Did they shoot his dog?
Sounds like Douglas County and Enbridge Energy Partners L.P are going to be forking over a chunk of change to this guy.
So, yeah, he was on his own land but on the easement holder's part of it ~ more a landlord/tenant situation the way I read it.
So, ACLU? Where are they? Not likely ACLU will ever come to the defnese of a landlord.
I’m looking forward to hearing more about this.
There was an earlier thread, with some good comments;
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2400258/posts
It is a utilities right-of-way. Everyone makes the mistake of yelling at the guys on the job. They have nothing to do with the situation. These guys are doing what they are told in order to have a job. I did power line maintenance for 8 years. You would be very surprised to find out where I can go on your property if you have a transmission line through it, and I need to get to a structure. Just saying.
In recent years we've had FOUR cable companies run additional lines in the phone company easement.
One of the installation companies has so far managed to bust up three sewer lines between homes and the street. In this county, if not your own, the cable companies are subject to TRIPLE DAMAGES for busting up sewer or water lines.
Your damage from a broken sewerline could run to over $45,000 in just a few days ~
Engelking said workers told him he was in an unsafe place and asked him to come to an equipment staging area, where he continued to argue his case.
Thats where he should have gone home and called the sheriff to discuss.
The power company has lines that come down through our pasture. Last year they knocked at the door and told me they were planning to replace the poles, so they’d be higher and closer together. I said, “OK, fine. Thanks for telling me.”
I wouldn’t expect to delay them until they paid me for the privilege. Seems kind of silly, since they were doing an improvement to the power system.
Does the power company pay for an easement? I don’t know. I inherited it. But we do need power in our neighborhood.
“To me, it appears there are three situations which might have authorized the police to arrest of this man: 1) violating a court order regarding this right of way dispute. This was not mentioned, so I will presume there was no order of the court; 2) an arrest pursuant to a warrant, which was also not mentioned; 3) a warrant-less arrest, which in the case of a trespass, requires the officer to personally witness the violation of law, but also, in the case of trespassing, for there to have been a complaint made by someone authorized to make a complaint (the owner or his agent). This is not mentioned here either. Police can typically only make trespassing arrests in the absence of a complaint if the owner has appointed the police as agents for such purposes (also not mentioned, but it seems highly unlikely given the circumstances.)
Unless the reporter failed to report relevant information (sadly, a common occurrence in today's media), this officer appears to have made a warrant-less arrest, and, based on what is reported here, it appears he lacked probable cause to do so.
If I were the officer, I would be worried. Lacking probable cause to arrest the man, the officer could be held in court to have deprived the individual of his civil rights “under color of law”, which could subject the officer to severe criminal and civil penalties. Furthermore, the officer would likely not be able to claim conditional immunity, and so he could be sued in his personal capacity (without his department also being sued), which could be financially devastating to the officer no matter the final verdict.
It will be interesting to see how this case pans out. I wonder if the ACLU will get involved? This is exactly the sort of case they like. The individual might also choose to file a criminal complaint with the FBI.”
Interesting article.
Read the comments, they run just like a thread here might look...
Trespassing was most likely the wrong charge disorderly conduct most likely would have fit better.
The family refused payment for the easement. So the next step would be for Enbridge Energy Partners L.P. to file a suit in court for easement access and let the judge sort it out.
That the idiot sheriff’s deputy arrested him is cause for a major lawsuit against the moron sheriff. The energy company was clearly trespassing and the man had every right to question them.
The sh*thead deputy should be fired immediately for obeying a clearly illegal order by whomever gave it. I’m assuming the moron sheriff. That he arrested this man on his own property, for me, is clear grounds for suing this deputy into the poorhouse. The sheriff needs to be arrested for giving an illegal order and trespassing on the man’s individual rights in his property.
We have to remember, though, that the Duluth area is infested with the putrid offspring of proto-socialists who arrived here between 1890 and 1920 during the great immigration invasion from red flag waving eastern Europe.
These 20 million proto-Marxists from Europe were enough to push through the 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th amendments in our constitution. Thank Woodrow KKK Wilson and the swine oligarch bankers in New York City. The nascent communist and anarchist unions and that ugly old pig Mother Jones destroyed countless great American companies, including the Calumet & Hecla Mining Co.
This era began the socialist movement in America and provides bread crumbs to trace back why we’re suffering under that ghetto fascist pig obuma.
What pisses me off is that each succeeding generation from 1910 onward didn’t do squat to prevent this Marxist take-over of America.
We had a good shot of removing all these Marxist pigs when Sen. McCarthy exposed them and America was filled with hard-core combat veterans who fought in WW II. Instead, hardly anyone defended McCarthy and let him slide into oblivion.
Then the so-called “Greatest Generation” voted overwhelmingly for that swine LBJ and his fascist “Great Society.”
As you can see, I’m not too fond of the “Greatest Generation.” They removed the threat of fascism and communism in Europe, and then allowed it to blossum and grow here.
Okay, end of rant.
According to court documents, Enbridge sent a $15,000 check to Jerry Engelking and also tried to hand-deliver payments, but Engelking refused to accept them.
Sounds like Engelking was looking for a fight.