Kelo Report, Part 2

[Kat Kanning]

Go William!   

[Kat Kanning]

Darn, I went to the Fox CT station (http://fox61.trb.com/) and found this:

Prison Break
Prison BreakThe prison erupts into a full-scale riot...

but realized it was only a TV show 

[tracysaboe]

A recall vote of the leadership is long overdue, IMHO.

Too bad they abolished voting.   

I actually supported that. Not a big fan of democracy. Even amoung volentary organizations

Tracy

[FTL_Ian]

Do you still support it?  I think democracy is fine for voluntary groups, because you can always leave and start your own group.

Now instead of having people run for the board positions, having them explain their vision and their plan, then voting on them, we have a group of people that just do whatever they want!  Think someone's doing a lousy job?  Tough!

I sort of understand their alleged reasons for changing to this way (they claim they did not want an invasion by white power loonies), but I think that any dangerous people like that would be outed during the election process.

[Kat Kanning]

The FSP Board is more the antithesis of anarchy.

[Russell Kanning]

Any news from the Kelo 7?

[Kat Kanning]

http://www.theday.com/eng/web/news/re.aspx?re=59931f3c-1c28-40e2-84ed-1fc0f6ad7343

Jailed Eminent Domain Protester Breaks Silence During Interview
?When I Get Angry I Can't Talk'

By ETHAN ROUEN
Day Staff Writer, Police/Fire Reporter
Published on 10/4/2005

East Lyme ? For 15 days, Lauren Ann Canario has been sitting alone in a cell in a prison psychiatric ward, her only entertainment a large window overlooking a bucolic setting.

Without books, television, radio, pens, pencils or writing paper, she spends much of her time sleeping and listening to other inmates yell to one another through their doors, she said Monday during an interview in the Janet S. York Correctional Institution visiting room.

It was only the second time she has left her cell. The first was for a court appearance last week. Prison officials assigned her to the psychiatric ward because she refuses to talk, Canario said.

On Sept. 19, Canario, 48, was standing at the top of the New London City Hall steps, looking into a council meeting filled to capacity. She had moved to New London about a month before to help Fort Trumbull homeowners fight the city's plan to take their homes by eminent domain.

Police officers tried to clear the hall because so many had shown up for the meeting, but Canario said she refused to move until the meeting was adjourned. Then she began doing what she has done since they handcuffed her: nothing.

?I was so angry I didn't care if they pulled a gun,? she said.

Police removed her from the building and charged her with first-degree criminal trespass, interfering with police and refusal to be fingerprinted.

She refused to walk, so she was taken by wheelchair to the courthouse. She refused to talk, so the judge sent her to York.

Bill Von Winkle, a Fort Trumbull homeowner from whom Canario rented an apartment, helped her get a lawyer, but ?when she saw that I wasn't walking, that I was dragged, she decided she didn't want to represent me,? Canario said.

The silence that has frustrated two judges was not planned, she said.

?When I get angry, I can't talk,? she said.

What has enraged the Las Vegas native is not a complicated philosophy, she stressed.

?The Supreme Court made a wrong ruling, and they need to know it was wrong,? she said. ?The government is there to protect our property rights.?

The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 4-3 decision in June, ruled that New London can seize 15 properties on the Fort Trumbull peninsula to pursue economic development.

A month later, Canario visited New London to examine the Fort Trumbull neighborhood. Upon her return home, she could not shake the issue from her mind.

She said she often wondered about whether the residents still had electricity, whether there were bulldozers on their front lawns. On a drive from Las Vegas to San Francisco to visit friends, she decided to move to New London.

?It was convincing the husband that was the hard part,? she said. Her husband, Jim Johnson, has said he'll join his wife in New London.

On Aug. 14, Canario moved into one of the properties slated for demolition.

A former Army firefighter, Canario is a staunch Libertarian and member of the Free State Project, a non-profit organization whose goal is to move 20,000 people to New Hampshire.

Although Canario participated in anti-Communism rallies in the 1980s and protested to keep Cuban immigrant Elian Gonzalez in the United States, she said she has never been arrested or even argued with a police officer.

After moving into Von Winkle's house, she took a job testing electronics in Pawcatuck and planned to stay ?until they get their deeds back or the whole place gets bulldozed,? she said.

There have been two rallies to show support for Canario. The first, in front of the prison, attracted about 10 people. The second, held Sunday in anticipation of her next court date today in New London Superior Court, attracted about 25.

Still, many personally involved in the eminent domain battle have treated Canario with scorn or indifference. Several have complained that an outsider attached herself to a local issue.

?I'm a new resident of New London,? she said. ?But still, I'm a resident. If they didn't want me to come and live here, they should have put up walls.?

The Free State Project has distanced itself from her, and the Institute for Justice refused to comment on her arrest because it has nothing to do with the institute's case.

The lack of support has not concerned Canario. She said she did not expect to remain in jail so long, nor did she expect the rallies, but she has no plans to compromise her values to get released.

She would not say whether she will speak at her court appearance today, but swore she will remain locked up as long as she needs to.

She recently received letters from her husband and one supporter, but her contact with the outside world is limited to what the inmate janitors tell her when they pass her door to sweep the floors or deliver meals.

She had not heard about the confirmation about Chief Justice John Roberts and was curious about whether President Bush had named another Supreme Court nominee.

As the door to the visiting room sealed shut leaving her alone with a correctional officer, she asked, ?Is it the Red Sox or the Yankees??

[tracysaboe]

Do you still support it? 

Yes.

Democratically controlled volentary groups are frequently very easily hijacked by people opposed to the cause. Now, perhaps if the Board of directors was controled by doners and everybody get respective voting power based on how-much they donated -- simular to a corporation, I would support that. But just simple 1 person 1 vote democracy is too easily hijacked in my oppinion. I've seen it happen many times.

TRacy

[Michael Fisher]

I guess I was wrong about Lauren.  She never seemed angry in any of the photos and she was studying our acts of civil disobedience, so I assumed anger was not her source.

*shrug*

[Russell Kanning]

She handles being angry very well.

Has she not gotten out of the cell to shower or does she have everything she needs? When I was in, I only got out to shower once a day. All this .... and she has not even been convicted of anything. We live in a police state.

I am very glad she could talk ... and she is. The press and others should like her from conversations.

We knew she didn't need no stinkin lawyer. She sounds like she will stand strong and the government will have to give in to her.

[Russell Kanning]

"She refused to walk, so she was taken by wheelchair to the courthouse."

I should have thought of that ..... those ankle cuffs are annoying to wear and walk in .... a ride would have been nice.

[Kat Kanning]

Lauren is free!!!

[president]

Then why did she join the Free State Project?

[Russell Kanning]

Apparently the court released Lauren this afternoon after 15 days and dropped the charges.  What a farce. 

--
Doug Schwartz

[Russell Kanning]

Then why did she join the Free State Project?

to free you