Better to die like a man upon your feet than lick the boots of your tormentor. I'm wondering if you'd have let the Redcoats occupy your home in 1776. It's a good thing we didn't have your types at Lexington.
You comparing a town via democratic process deciding to lose a dozen homes, gaining a huge commerical base, and greatly reducing property taxes for the remaining residents--with the Revolutionary War??? These are the woman's fellow citizens who have decided this, not some outside Redcoats; not the EPA, not the FBI. C'mon already.
She should have gotten a seat on the Council, or bribed (or blackmailed) someone to alter the development plans. That is how things really work in America. It does one no good to remain naive about it.
I know of someone who took photos of the Town Board's President cavorting with an 20-year old girl (who wasn't his wife). He even got some "money shots" through a window carelessly left open. The Board had been screwing him again and again on development plans, permits, taxes, etc. Once he let the President know about the photos, those problems remarkably disappeared. All governments are tyrannies, very often composed by people with low moral character and prone to blackmail. All Americans should take advantage of this when the opportunity presents itself.