EMINENT DOMAIN - The Human Cost

VERA DYER

The voice that answered the phone was soft, gentle.  When I identified myself, her smile was in her voice.  We set a date to meet at her home.

Vera was watching for me when I arrived and invited me into her living room -- a small, cozy room.  Through the adjacent dining room and the sunporch beyond, I could see the tip of what must be a breathtaking view.

We began with small talk about me and about my book Stolen Fields.  Her bookmark identified where she was in her reading.  Vera admitted to being an avid reader, usually having three or four books going at once, but she reads some from mine every day.  She could identify with my family's experience.

BIPARTISAN

I was recently at the Big E in Massachusetts selling my book.  A gentleman approached my table and went off into a spiel about the Democrats in Torrington Connecticut ruining the way of life there and taking properties by eminent domain.  He went on in a volatile manner for about ten minutes and I tried to interject that I thought this should be a bipartisan issue as anyone can be a victim.  He was not hearing me.

Anyone who reads my book Stolen Fields knows that my parents were democrats and that I have pretty much followed suit.  The misuse of eminent domain to benefit private entities is wrong no matter how you slice it.  There it is.

Jean, the Eminent Domain Lady

BUCKSPORT, MAINE - THE DYER FAMILY REVISITED

They're at it again.  Heard in a conversation in Bangor yesterday. Not content with wresting the Dyer family's livelihood away from them -- paying the usual pittance in return -- the government (the DOT?) is now eyeing their family home, residence of the older generation of Dyers.

It's already been determined that the site of the former restaurant (in the family for 50 years) was not needed after all for the approaches to the Bucksport Bridge.  What now do they want with the home?

The Dyers were not happy with what they were paid for the site of the business, and who can blame them.  It was far below market value.  They have been trying to fight for more.  Is this the government's way of shutting them up?  Silencing them?  (If you don't shut up we'll take everything else as well.)  It's just a thought. Where will it end?

Jean, the Eminent Domain Lady