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LIFE, LIBERTY and
PROPERTY - Due Process, Overdue!
Bruce Mac Cloud lived
on Cooper Avenue for 23 years until recently when The City failing
to provide Mac Cloud with a reasonable offer for his home exercised
the dreaded eminent domain process to seize it so Applied Group of
Hoboken can build "Beach Front North."
In 1776 The
Constitution of The United States of America was drafted and
signed. This historic document founded a new Nation conceived
in Liberty and secured by the lives and blood of those brave and
noble patriots who fought to free themselves from the rule of King
George of England. There are three basic principles that ring
loud in this decree. No Life, No Liberty and No Property can be
taken from a citizen without "Due Process."
For LIFE &
LIBERTY there is a jury. The jury consists of 6 to 12
individuals selected as "peers" to the accused.
These people make the determination on taking the life or the
liberty of the condemned. The process protects the civil
rights of each and every person born in this Great Land.
In Long Branch people
are faced with the powers of Eminent Domain without the Due Process
mandated for Life & Liberty. The Administration pens an
ordinance which grants them powers here in town, even though those
powers may be excessive and even unconstitutional. The
attitude of the City Attorney as expressed in a recent Council
meeting proves the point. He feels the Council does not have
to reconcile ordinances against higher law. He feels the
courts should make the final determination on whether the council's
action are legal or not as compared to these higher laws. That
is a breach of public faith and trust, when the Government, locally,
forces its citizens to spend thousands of dollars to overturn
ordinances that are in direct conflict with State and Federal law.
In Life and Liberty
one gets a jury. In property in Long Branch one gets a kick in
the ass and no fair value for property. Mr. Mac Cloud's home
was a two family 17 room Victorian home built 125 years ago less
than a block from the Atlantic Ocean. The City stole the land
and will destroy the house for $140,000.00. That's more than a
crime, its a sin.
Does anyone hear the barkers?
"Peanuts, popcorn, cold drinks!"
see you next time.
KB
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