Lane/Tommy: What scares us the most about the direction the Windham Priority Task Force is undertaking has been the discussion about using that vile term eminent domain. We think that it could result in someone abusing our property rights to promote their own personal agenda.
Webster’s New World Dictionary and Thesaurus defines eminent domain as “the right of a government to take or purchase private property for public use, with just compensation to the owner.” The Founding Fathers of our country believed in the necessity of protecting our property rights, which is contained in the Fifth Amendment of our nation’s Constitution.
Tommy: Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court made a horrendous decision regarding property rights that has become known as Kelo vs. New London. That gave a developer a right to petition New London, Conn. officials to seize personal property for private development rather than government use. Do you believe that such a thing could happen in Windham and other Maine towns? At least one member of the Windham Priority Task Force made a statement regarding the use of eminent domain in another state. The head of the task force mentioned Kelo vs. New London as an example of how easily property can be seized. The task force is recommending changing codes and ordinances along with modifying various property zones which should serve as a warning of the dangers for property owners in Windham.
Lane: Windham is known for its mainly rural setting and its agricultural history. What I fear most about the use of eminent domain by any government is that the land commandeered will be for someone’s personal use, not government uses such as for schools or fire stations. As most of Windham is within farm zones, I feel that there is a threat to property owners who have large tracts of land hijacked to become commercial or industrial zones. I believe that there is potential for disaster by the inappropriate use of eminent domain for economic development. After doing some research online, I was pleasantly surprised that there are many examples of government losing court cases about their attempted seizure of personal property.
Lane/Tommy: There was a brief mention about the use of eminent domain by the Windham Town Council when they were discussing adding lateral roads in North Windham. The carrot that has been cited to entice land owners to give easements for lateral roads has been promises of changing the use their property to commercial thus increasing the value of their property. We have the opinion that the use of eminent domain to change rural or farm zoning to commercial or industrial uses is not proper or in the best interests of Windham or other towns. We were pleased that one councilor had the courage to say that he didn’t want eminent domain to be heard in the Council Chambers.
Tommy: Let’s talk a little bit about farming in Maine, its glorious past and possible flourishing future. Farms which are big or small are undergoing a revival in America. This revival is much more evident at the local farm level, especially with the news being inundated with tainted food products coming to the United States from abroad. With the emphasis on biofuels, organic foods and food quality, will our community be on the cusp of a bright future or fall into a dismal, smog-covered industrial zone which was empowered by the loss of rural land by the misuse of eminent domain? Or will proponents of eminent domain pave over the hay fields and build more shopping malls, ripping the heart out our community?
Lane and Tommy are studying ways to become better farmers in order to produce their own meat, vegetables and fruits because of rising food prices and to avoid eating tainted food from abroad. Raised gardens will appear in their yards next year. After receiving their doctorate degrees in nanotechnology, they also plan to grow Mercedes and BMWs, along with giant tomatoes and especially long ears of corn to manufacture a gasoline substitute.
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