A classic case of government causing serious (financial) harm...

I heard a case on the internet recently of a man who had purchased land within the city limits of Everglade City, Florida over a decade ago, and since then has been fighting with the Army Corps of Engineers {shudder...} over whether or not he can develop his land.

Obviously there are certain restrictions to people simply developing whatever you want, wherever you want. You can't put a "dump your old oil here and burn it" business right next to Grandma's house (unless of course you can somehow guarantee the fumes won't reasonably interfere with Grandma's right to breathe decent air). And so the man who bought the property goes through all the proper government hoops to be able to develop the property (the property mind you is inside the city limits, on a plot of land that is obviously meant to be developed, look at the picture here: http://www.ecotourlodge.com/Everglade_Web2/aerial_propertyvu.jpg)

Now, the owner of the property has done every single thing the government told him to do, then they come back and say "well just do this and you're good", and so he jumps through another one of their hoops. Then they come back and say "well, do this study, and this..." and HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS and multiple engineering, scientific, and legal studies later, the state of Florida has nowhere left to legally turn to, he's complied with literally everything they could throw at him (including purchasing at his own expense SIXTY acres of wetlands to simply GIVE to the Florida government to set aside for conservation, so that he can develop his ONE acre of land), and the state of Florida said "dangit, ok you can develop your one acre".

And then the Army Corps of Engineers comes in and says "nope, sorry, can't do it" (even though he's complied with every single "reason" they came up with already, they still denied his permit). And so after hundreds of thousands of dollars, the government has jerked this man around, and when he complied with everything they wanted him to (the process meant to wear people out so they will just give in), THEN they blatantly ignored their own laws and denied him the right to develop his own property.

Eventually he got in touch with a high-position person at the Corps of Engineers who notified the Florida division of the Corps of Engineers and said "It appears he's right. You must review his case within X days". It's been years since then, and they refuse to review it.

The full story is here: www.ecotourlodge.com (click on the "THE REAL TRUTH" link on the left side of that page)

It really disgusts me that they do this. The sad thing is, it's not the first time he's been dinked around with by the government (especially the Corps of Engineers). He's involved in a court case now where the Corps of Engineers illegally siezed his property without payment. He filed a case in court and won, and the Corps of Engineers was forced to return his property. Two weeks after they returned it, they seized it again and gave him pennies for it. Only thing is, about a mile away, a developer had purchased and developed property upon which they built multimillion dollar homes. His land was valued at hundreds of thousands of dollars, and the Corps of Engineers gave him almost nothing for it. And so another court case has been raised, and even if he wins the case, I would be extremely surprised if they actually paid him.

Why is that? Because there's a well-known case in Florida where a man's gravel pit was seized illegally, he fought it in court and won around 14 million dollars for his compensation. The Corps of Engineers said "oh, ok. Yes, we owe you 14 million dollars now". And that's it. They've never paid him, know why? Because you have to budget a 14 million dollar payment, and those in charge at the Corps of Engineers don't write it into the budget.

THIS is the sort of thing I'm talking about. The Constitution exists, but it's not followed anymore. We've since left our Constitution behind, and the only time it's brought up is when it benefits the government or someone with a lot of money like the ACLU or Planned Parenthood, who often take it and twist it to suit their agenda.

It's up to you and I to know what our Constitution says, know our rights, and join together and take a stand against even the smallest government oppression, or things will only get worse. We'll have new government agencies created to protect us from ourselves, and to protect this and protect that. And our Constitutional "freedoms will be taken from us in this manner as surely as if they were taken by conquest".