EMINENT DOMAIN AND THE SOMERSET COUNTY MEMORIAL

There is a piece of land in Somerset County, Pennsylvania that has become the center of a dispute between the US government and the land’s owners.  The land includes, and surrounds, the site where United Airlines Flight 93 crashed on September 11, 2001.  This is where the Boeing 757, which had been hijacked by terrorists, came down after a valiant, and successful, effort on the part of the passengers and crew, to prevent it’s use as a weapon to inflict death and destruction, most likely in Washington, D.C.  It is believed that the plane was headed for the White House, in an attempt to do what the other planes, on that fateful day, did to the Pentagon and the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center.  In other words, the hijackers intended to use this plane as a weapon.  The passengers on this flight knew what the hijackers had in store for them and the country, and in a display of true heroism, decided to do everything in their power to stop them.  They succeeded, but the cost was phenomenal.  40 crew and passengers died that beautiful fall day in 2001.  We will never know how many lives were saved by their bravery.  They truly gave their lives to defend our way of life.

Therein lies the problem that I have with the government’s plans for this memorial.  According to the National Parks Service, this memorial will cover 2,200 acres.  This does not merely encompass the crash site, but also a big chunk of the surrounding farm and wood land.  Land that has been in some of these families for several generations.  Now, if the owners are willing to sell this land to the government, and the government is willing to pay them what the land is truly worth, then there is no problem.  Personally, I don’t understand why the memorial has to be 2,200 acres,  but that is neither here nor there.  The real problem is that there are some people who have not come to a decision about whether they want to sell their land to the government for them to build a memorial on.  Some of this land is within several feet of the crash site, which is admittedly causing a problem, but there is also some land that is on the perimeter of where the National Park will be, further from the crash site.  One family will lose 62 acres of their 100 acre homestead.   So instead of changing the plans, making the memorial smaller, or checking for any other options, the government has decided to use Eminent Domain.  Eminent Domain is a phrase that should strike fear into the heart of any land owner.  It means that the government can offer you what they deem to be fair market value for your private property, and if you don’t want to sell, or think your land is worth more, and so won’t settle for their offer, they can simply take what is yours, and pay you what they want (their ideaof fair market value).  They do this by stating that your private land is going to be put to public use.   Public use can encompass the building of a strip mall, a parking lot, a highway, or anything else the local or federal government deems necessary.  It doesn’t need to be a true necessity, the government just needs to feel it is.  Personally, I believe that there are times that Eminent Domain may well be needed, and in those instances, the government should pay the owner for the property and even a little extra for the inconvenience involved.    However, I do not think that the government should be able to pull out the Eminent Domain card every time someone doesn’t want to sell their land to them.  Just because the government has  decided that the city, county, state, or country cannot possibly live without their latest boondoggle (and I am not calling the memorial in Somerset County, PA, a boondoggle, merely the other 95% of Eminent Domain cases), doesn’t mean, when the owners of the piece of property that government officials have their eye on, won’t sell it to them,  that they have the right to say “Too bad, this is for the good of the public, so we are going to buy it, whether you want to sell or not.  Now get out.”  In my opinion, that is wrong and it is against the general principals that this country was founded on.  The government should never be able to just take property they want, for a project that may or may not be essential to the good of the public, if  the owner of the property doesn’t want to sell.  It is just not right. 

The memorial in Somerset County, PA will be built.  The parks service is saying that in order for this memorial to be ready for a ribbon cutting on September 11, 2011, the construction needs to begin by November.  I wonder what the people who gave their lives on that fateful day would say if they knew the government was going to take the land of  private citizens in order to build a 2,200 acre national park to honor them?  Would they say, as I do, that the solution is to just make it smaller, and use the land they already have?  Or would they say, take the land, because the public simply cannot continue to advance without this memorial.  After all that is why Eminent Domain laws were originally written.  So that when the government deemed that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one, they could act in  the best interest of the city, county, state, or country.

To the families who lost loved ones on 9/11 and especially to the families of the passengers of UA Flight 93, I will never forget what happened on that day, and the sacrifice that the passengers on that flight made, and am sure no one else will either.  It is now as much a part of this country’s heritage as the Constitution, the fight for independence, the Civil War, Pearl Harbor, and so many other things that have happened that shape who we are today.  God Bless and keep you and yours.

 

For more info:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/05/29/flight.dispute/index.html?iref=hpmostpop

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THE DAY WAS SULTRY, OR SUMMER IN MISSOURI

Well, it is getting hot here in the mid-west, or for those who didn’t know, Missouri, not too far from St. Louis and the Mississippi, Missouri, and Cuivre Rivers.  So not only is the temperature rising, it is getting  HUMID!!  Or, as Anne Ramsey says in “THROW MOMMA FROM THE TRAIN”,  it is getting “sultry”.   And with the heat and humidity on the rise, getting the outside chores done has become an early morning, late afternoon endeavor.

The tiller is still in pieces in the garage, and appears destined to stay that way.  Such a shame, but I refuse to throw it out, as you just never know when that part may fall into my lap, like manna from Heaven.  So for now, it will lay on the garage floor, like an old toy that has been forgotten by it’s owner.   The neighbor has managed to borrow a tiller from an uncle, so when it cools off this afternoon, we will till and weed the vegetable garden.  The plants are growing nicely, but so are the weeds, and they always grow faster than the crops.  

We have several other projects in the works.  We are going to paint the shed to look like a barn, but we need to clear the forest that has grown around it before that will be possible.  Of course, we need the chain saw for that.  So, naturally, it spent 15 out of the last 21 days in the shop, over a span of 5 trips.  ARGHHHH!!!  Every piece of power equipment I touch this year has decided that it doesn’t like the idea of manual labor, and has crapped out on me.  I did get it to work long enough to finish the rebuilding of the retaining wall around my flower bed under the bedroom windows.  In pulling the weeds last week, I discovered it was rotting and needed to be replaced.  So, intrepid homeowner that I am, I decided that we would tackle the job ourselves.  For those who don’t know me personally, I am very stubborn when it comes to these types of thing, and once I decide that I can do it, I will not admit defeat.  It took 3 days and the help of the hubby and the son, but it is DONE!!!!!!!   WE pulled the 6x6x8 timbers out from another bed that we decided we didn’t want enclosed anymore, and recycled them into a new wall.  I used the chain saw to cut the timbers, and yes, I did do part of them.  Jacob (the son) did one, I did the rest.  When we were almost done,with the exception of the last 4 pilot holes for the 12″ spikes to tie the timbers together, the drill died.  So I drove those last 4 spikes with the sledge hammer!  So the hubby, the son, and I built that wall all by ourselves. Granted it is not a very big wall and it is not perfect, but none the less, we did it!   I told the hubby that by the end of summer, if we keep this up, I will be a buff, tanned, 50 year old, short person, and he will be a buff, tanned, 57 year old, tall person. 

Well, I need to get the inside chores done, so that I can get to the outside ones that are scheduled for today.  Hope all of you have a great Memorial Day weekend, and for those who serve, both active and veterans,  THANK YOU !!!!!   Don’t forget to thank our service men and women, and to remember those who gave the ultimate sacrifice in defending our freedoms.  

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THE TILLER SAGA CONTINUES AND VARIOUS OTHER TIDBITS

Thought I had found the parts for my tiller, but they have been discontinued.  The tiller is only 8 years old (found the date on the tiller) and they have already decided to stop making the individual parts for the transmission, but they will sell me the whole thing.  I spent most of yesterday searching for a used part, finally found it, the fella was going to sell me the gears that I needed for about $25 each, I was going to come home and put it back together myself.  Then I made the mistake of telling him the reason I needed to buy it from him, he called the supplier, found out that it was truly no longer available, and decided he could not sell me just the parts, but now I had to buy the whole darned used transmission.  And he would so generously lower the price from $300 to $200 and throw in a 30 day warranty.

The whole time he was trying to sell me this “new” transmission, which had grass wrapped around both the wheel and tine axles, he was complaining about how we are a throw away society.  I explained to him that I did not have $200 to spend on the tiller, and that I really wanted to just buy the pinion and the gear assembly.  No go.  He got dollar signs in his eyes.  I then told him that there was no way those transmissions (he had 2) were new, that they were rusted, pointed out the grass wrapped around the axles, and the paint that was peeling off.  He then informed me that was because the fellow that owned them, used to work for Sears, and that he did repair work in his off time, and the building had flooded, so that was why they looked so used.  I then asked him if they were new, why were they in the guy’s repair shop.  He replied that he suspected that the man had stolen them.  That was my cue to leave, but not before informing him, “I will be sure to tell everyone I know how helpful you were to me.”  

I then went to Wally World (anyone who read my previous blog, knows how I feel about them, but they are the only store around with halfway decent prices) for some wasp spray.  I noticed some bald faced hornets on the back porch, and they are mean, so if and when I find the nest I will spray it and kill them.  But I digress.  While in Wal-Mart, I noticed a small tiller, just the size for me, I thought.  I asked the price and the associate told me $99.  That is a deal.  I went back out to the van, told the hubby, and went home to make us a late lunch, and discuss it.  When I got home I got on the Internet and looked for the parts for the old tiller.  Absolutely no luck at all. So we talked about it, and decided that for $100 it was worth it so that I don’t have to hoe the 10,000 square foot garden.  So off we went to Wal-Mart again.  We looked at  the tiller, they offered an extended warranty, we discussed it and decided to buy both the tiller and the extended warranty, as that would give us a total of 4 years coverage.  And we asked, once again, what the price was and were told $99.  We took it to the register, rang it up and the total was $237.  BACK THE TRUCK UP!!!!  $99 plus $19.97 and tax is NOT $237.  She said it must be a mistake, deleted the item and re-rang it.  Nope, she was the one who made the mistake.  It was $199 not $99,  so we left, once again, empty handed.  Guess there is a reason that I am having such a hard time with these tillers, and though I don’t know what it may be,  for now I am giving up the ghost.

When I got home, I got out the power washer, and cleaned the large patio out by the pool.  At least that worked.  When we turned on the pool, the pump wasn’t working, but after calling the pool guy (and informing him that he left part of the stoppers in the pool lines out, that the pool was green as grass because he didn’t put enough chemicals in it, and that this has never happened in the 20 years we have had the pool),  he told me how to fix the pump motor, rather than coming out and charging me $75 for the trip, then $75 an hour, with a 1 hour minimum. I was very nice to him, as I always am.  I don’t generally get upset, as it doesn’t accomplish anything and generally makes things worse.  The person you are talking to gets defensive, and then doesn’t want to do anything to help you, even if they can.  So maybe he picked up on the tension in my voice, as I had really had it with things breaking down by this point.  At any rate, he told me to take the back off the pump motor, spray the shaft with WD-40, then use a pair of pliers to move the shaft.  Put the cover back on, and turn on the pump.  Well, after about 5 tries it finally worked. 

Hopefully, that was the last major breakdown (although the spa still needs an electrician), and now I can get back to my yard and get the rest of the spring work done.  I have 2 more flower beds to clean out, the rest of the concrete to power wash, the screened porch,  garage and shed to clean out, and the rest of the railroad ties along the driveway to take out.  So we are getting there, slowly but surely, and by the end of summer, we probably will be done and ready to hunker down for winter.  AHHH the life of the homeowner.  LOL!!!

Below is a picture of a bald faced hornet nest, taken on my driveway, in one of my red sunset maples.  It appeared almost overnight.

                                                                                       

 This nest was about 18 inches long and 14 inches across.  The hornets (crawling around the outside of the nest) are about 1/2 to 3/4 inch long, black and white, and have the temperment of all wasps and hornets.  In other words, they are usually angry. LOL!!

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AND WHAT A WEEK IT’S BEEN

Have you ever had one of those days?  You know the kind that  I mean.  Everything that you try to do, or touch,  just seems to fall apart.  I know that everyone knows what I am talking about, and you’re probably all sitting there nodding your heads in agreement.

Well, I just  had one of those weeks!  It has been just awful.  It started Sunday.  I am in charge of the coffee at church.  Our church services are held in the common room of a local elementary school.  I arrive about 1 hour early to set up the tables to put the coffee on, another one for information, and 2 for people to sit at and visit before church starts.  The pastor’s father always brings about 4 dozen Krispy Kreme donuts and I bring about 5 or 6 dozen homemade cookies.  I also bring fresh flowers from my gardens, if they’re blooming, to put on the table with the coffee, donuts, and cookies.  I arrived at the regular time on Sunday, to find that the trailer with the coffeemakers, the tables, the information booklets, cups, napkins, creamer, sugar, etc. wasn’t there and neither were the donuts.  Normally this wouldn’t be a big deal, but unbeknownst to me, we had special guests.  The St. Charles County Youth Choir was performing.  The choir members and their parents, numbering about 75 total, arrived before I did.   I hadn’t made any extra cookies, brought any extra cups, and we hadn’t printed any extra programs.  Fortunately, I always try to have extra coffee, and try to keep extra creamer and sugar on hand.  But we didn’t have nearly enough cups.  After frantically searching for someone to run to the store (and finding no one), the pastor’s wife happened to find some extra cups in with the  Sunday school supplies.  In the end everything turned out fine, but I think the guests were a bit shell shocked when they discovered that the guy with the jeans and t-shirt was the pastor, and no, he wasn’t going to change his clothes.  

I  noticed last Saturday that the rabbits had been in the vegetable garden and we had lost 2 cabbages and 1 banana pepper plant.  So I headed out to the local Co-op to find something organic to use to keep the little critters out.   When I got home from church, I needed to put it on the plants, and replace the plants that had been chewed  off at the ground by the rabbits.  So my sister, Montecat, and I planted more cabbages, some broccoli, more peppers, and some herbs.  Then we mixed up the spray to keep the rabbits and deer out.   Success, it works, but good golly lolly, does it stink and now,  instead of rabbits and deer, we are attacked by flies everytime we enter the garden!!

On Monday, I decided that the lawn needed mowing.  Our house sits on 3 acres.  About 1 acre is woods, the rest is lawn and flower gardens.  There are shrubs, a pool, decks, sidewalks, pump house, shed, trees,  and did I mention flower gardens????  I decided that before I mowed, we needed to clean out the flower beds (actually the hubby does this for me as my Mother’s Day gift), and my son was planning to move the arbor arch and plant some clematis for me as my Mother’s Day gift from him.  This is a tradition.  Every year, since they were old enough to do so, my sons have planted a new garden for me for Mother’s Day.  Hence, all the flower gardens.     But before we started,  we headed to the local Wal Mart, to run in and out, for the clematis.  Now I am not sure what your Wal Mart is like, but when I say run in and out, I am speaking optimistically.  I called ahead of time, was told, by the sales associate,  “Yes, we have clematis”, after the young lady went outside to make sure.  I arrived at Wal Mart, parked right next to lawn and garden, and hurried in.  I asked where the clematis was and was told, “I don’t know if we have any.”  I assured the assistant manager that I had called, they had checked, and yes they did have clematis.  WRONG!!!! The sales associate couldn’t find any when I called, so she just made it up.  LOVELY!  I called the local Orscheln’s and they had them.  I went and picked them up, a quick in and out, and headed home.               

 

 

 

                        

                          CLEMATIS               (This was taken from my front sidewalk, and is one of the plants, in one of my gardens)

 

After we got the arch moved, the clematis planted, the flower beds cleaned out, and all the debris toted to the burn pile, the day was over,  so I decided to mow  Tuesday.

I know it appears that I am rambling, but, trust me,  it gets better (or worse depending on your point of view).

I got the lawn mower (a rider) out Tuesday morning, and started mowing.  I had changed the oil and filter, the gas filter, cleaned out the gas tank and fuel line, and cleaned the air filters on Sunday, so she was ready to go.  After about 30 minutes, she died.  I waited a bit, opened the hood, and checked the oil and fuel.  All good, so I started her up again.  I noticed that my brother-in-law, who lives across the street, was attempting to cut up some trees that were taken down last summer, using a hand saw.  I went over to give him a hard time about not borrowing the chain saw, and the mower died again.  I finally got it going, and headed home, and it died again, and again, and yet again.  I finally had to get the hubby to help push it home.  After consulting with the lawn mower repair man, it became apparent that we were going to need a new mower.  We ended up buying a nice little rider, but we had to dip into the emergency fund.  I did get to try it out for about 30 minutes before it got dark, though.  Very nice.

I  got up Wednesday, climbed on the new mower and away I went.  Meanwhile, my son was going to cut up some pines that were dead.  He got out the chain saw, and it wouldn’t run, so I had to stop mowing and take it to the shop.  I went to the local chainsaw repair shop, and was told he doesn’t work on the brand I have, but he would be glad to sell me a new one.  Otherwise, I would need to go to the repair shop about 15 miles away.  One more unexpected trip and an $18 deposit just for them to look at it.  When I got home, I got out my weedeater, a walk behind, and started the weed whacking.  About 3/4 of  the way through, it suddenly got very, very loud.  I looked down and the dad gummed muffler was burning it’s way through the plastic shield.  I just kept going.  By the time I was done, it was like my ears were packed full of cotton.  I fixed the weed eater myself. 

While I was mowing and weed eating, the hubby decided to open and fill the spa.  I thought, “Ahh, after I am done, I can soak my aching bones.”  MEEEEEEP.  I got called back to the deck as the spa seemed to have a leak.  Boy, howdy, I’ll say.  Water was running out the air control valve, because the maufacturer had glued the pvc pipe into the threaded control valve. Luckily, the local hardware store had everything I need to fix it, picked it all up yesterday, and will do the repair tomorrow.

Yesterday, Thursday, was fairly uneventful.  I finished up what I hadn’t done the previous days, and nothing broke!! Did the 5 hour oil change on the new mower, and it went just like it was supposed to.  No surprises!!!

Woke up this morning to storms and torrential rain.  Yay!!! I had gotten all my outside chores done yesterday, so the only thing I needed to do was clean the house.  But (there is always a but), we were out of CLR and the shower needed to be cleaned with it, so off to town we went.  We also needed salad stuff and cat food, so I got to go to Wally World again. YAY!!! Can you tell I’m ecstatic??  While on the way, the lawn mower repair guy called, and said he finally got the tiller taken apart (he has had it for almost 3 weeks) and the news is not good.  They do not make the individual gears needed, so I will need to buy the whole assembly. ” Hmm, sounds expensive,” I think.  “Probably going to cost me $150-$200 to get the darned tiller fixed.”   THINK AGAIN, STEF!  Parts, $600, yep,  you saw right, $600.  So I tell him to put it back together and I’ll come get it.  He gets almost apoplectic, and informs me it will take him a full day just to put it back together.  After telling him, “Sorry, I cannot afford to put $800 more into a machine that only cost $649 to begin with”,  he tells me he will put it outside and I can come to pick it up when I have time.  He also informs me that  he already has a $45 charge for pick up and $100, maybe more for the labor to tear it apart, just so he can tell me it is going to be too expensive to fix it.  About 5 minutes later he calles me back and tells me if I will come and get it “right now”  he will only charge me $75.   It is now in the back of my van, in about 15 pieces.

The day wasn’t quite done with me yet.   Right after leaving the mower repair shop, with my now disassembled tiller in the rear of my conversion van, I got out my new reading glasses (got them last week) and looked up a phone number on my phone, dialed it, took my glasses off, went to fold them up and put them away, and THE EAR PIECE BROKE OFF at the lens.  They literally FELL APART!!!!! Back to Wally World!  LOL !!!  They got them fixed in 5 minutes and it was…… FREE!!!!!!!! 🙂

And how was your week??????????

May your God bless, and keep, you and yours.

 

🙂

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JUST A FEW WORDS…

Well, I am going to try the wordpress blog and see how it goes.  I am hoping that it will be a pleasant experience for me and for those who choose to read what I write.  My opinions tend to be strong, but  are not unchangeable, when I realize that there is a better way. 

I voted for President Obama, and I still feel that he is the best hope for this country.  I haven’t seen anything to change my opinion thus far, but I am open-minded.  I firmly believe in reading and researching, and although I do not agree with everything that the president has done  to date, I do have to say that for the most part, he is doing what I helped elect him to do. 

So, now I have started.  Let’s see where it goes.  I don’t have the time to spend on here that some do, but I will make a concerted effort to check in several times a day, and keep up.

In closing, may your God bless, and keep, you and yours.

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