Posted on 11/25/2007 6:31:07 PM PST by joanie-f
How many times have we heard about government abuses of the right to own property going on in neighborhoods across America, in the form of the invoking of the right of ‘eminent domain’, and the corruption of other legal concepts? Kelo vs. New London is probably the most publicized of such unconstitutional atrocities, but similar atrocities occur daily across this country.
How many of us have attempted to help the victims of such abuses of power? I myself have done so no more than once or twice.
I ask any FReeper who happens upon this thread to take ten minutes of his or her day to read about one such abuse of power. In terms of land area, it is a small abuse, and it affects only two ordinary American citizens who wield no more power than you or I. But its ramifications are enormous. If we’re not going to decide to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the two relatively anonymous Americans I’d like to introduce to you, exactly when will we decide that it’s time to unite in revolt against the growing ‘privileged elite’ in this country, and the menace they represent to us all? The so-called legal/justice system is using all manner of wicked precedent to commit major, obscene private land grabs ... all such crimes tracing back to a desire for more wealth and power on the part of those who already wield more than you or I.
Before inserting the precious words ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness’ into the Declaration, our Founders seriously considered using the wording ‘life, liberty and property’ (as originated by John Locke). I believe the latter to be a more powerful representation of our inalienable rights, but apparently the modern American government/judicial system vehemently disagrees with either expression.
Don and Susie Kirlin own a vacant lot, worth roughly a million dollars in today’s market, on the outskirts of Boulder, Colorado. They purchased it about twenty years ago with the idea of eventually building a home there. It is located just down the road from their current home, they walk by the land regularly, and they have been paying taxes on it faithfully for the past two decades.
Unfortunately for the Kirlins the couple that owns a home adjacent to their lot consists of a county judge, Richard McLean, and his wife, Edith Stevens, who is also an attorney. McLean and Stevens have been active, and powerful, in Boulder County politics for decades. It seems that this ambitious couple has been using a portion of the Kirlins’ land to occasionally hold their own private parties, and, in doing so, they have also created worn pathways through portions of that land.
It also would appear that these two believe that, if the Kirlins build a home on the land they purchased for just that reason, the view of the surrounding landscape from their own home would be diminished.
When the Kirlins attempted to build a fence on a portion of their vacant land before beginning construction on it, McLean and Stevens had a restraining order issued against them, stating that, since they had been using the land themselves for some time, they had become ‘attached’ to it and they are claiming it as their own. The restraining order was issued within a few hours of their request for it. Apparently the wheels of justice move at lighting speed, if the person requesting the moving has the right connections.
As a result, McLean and Stevens have invoked the doctrine of ‘adverse possession’, which allows a citizen to claim another’s property simply by virtue of using it for a specified period of time, in order to declare one third of the Kirlins’ land as their own. A Boulder judge has ordered the Kirlins to hand over to McLean and Stevens one-third of their land, which will result in their no longer owning sufficient land on which to construct not only their dream home but any home at all.
As if the preceding weren’t evidence in itself of unmitigated chutzpah, McLean and Stevens are not only claiming to ‘own’ a large portion of the land in question (without ever having paid a penny for it, or any of the taxes incumbent in its ownership), but they are also asking the court to rule that the Kirlins must pay any legal fees that they incur in order to achieve this particular theft.
Thus, as is becoming increasingly common in Amerika 2007, two people in power have decided to use a corrupt system to steal from someone else of lesser political stature -- in this case, out in the open, and without conscience or remorse.
Needless to say, the Kirlins are appealing the ruling (and amassing large, and no doubt growing, legal fees in the process). But I wouldn’t be taking any bets on their success. ‘Fighting city hall’ is fast becoming an empty phrase anymore, because the concepts of government of, by and for the people -- originally made possible by public servants who value individual rights more than government power -- is fast heading for extinction, as corruption, greed, and lust for power achieve a momentum that has become virtually relentless and unstoppable. Not to mention the fact that both the eighth (re: coveting) and tenth (re: stealing) of the Ten Commandments have essentially been declared null and void.
This case vividly portrays the battle between the average American citizen and our modern American 'ruling elite'. Yet too many Americans are more interested in the comfort of our couches, and the proximity of our remote controls, than we are in the plight of the likes of the Kirlins -- victims of a system gone awry.
Unless we Americans start giving a damn about the abuses that our neighbors suffer under tyrannical government dictates, those abuses will someday affect us, and there will be nobody left who can turn the tragedy around.
The only difference between appeasement and surrender is the passage of time.
Contact Information for Boulder, Colorado officials (and thanks, in advance, to all who avail themselves of this source of redress):
Cindy Domenico, Boulder County Commissioner
Ben Pearlman, Boulder County Commissioner
Will Toor, Boulder County Commissioner
Joan Fitzgerald, Colorado State Senator, District 16
Brandon Shaffer, Colorado State Senator, District 17
Ron Tupa, Colorado State Senator, District 18
Alice Madden, Colorado State Representative, District 10
Jack Pommer, Colorado State Representative, District 11
Paul Weissmann, Colorado State Representative, District 12
Claire Levy, Colorado State Representative, District 13
Dianne Primavera, Colorado State Representative, District 33
Resources:
Legal Landgrab Should Be Overturned on Appeal
Boulder Couple Accuses Former Judge, Mayor of Land Grab
Hard Feelings on Hardscrabble Drive
~ joanie
Allegiance and Duty Betrayed
Thanks for the pings. Thanks george76 for the ping to the article you posted the other day.
An easement is one thing...out and out ownership of 1/3 of the land is another. Particularly when the intent of such laws was never meant to rise to this level. It is an abuse of the law, and theft under the color of that law, and should not have been entertained.
Thanks for all of your good work.
Hopefully, we can make a difference.
If you own land, you keep tresspassing folks that are landscaping it and using it openly as access to their own property off. If the other neighbors think the treesspassers own it, and they don't know who the real owners are and have never met them, the owners are not being responsible for hteir own land.
"Are we required to monitor our land a regular intervals, just in case someone else decides to use it?"
Absolutely! If you fail to do so for ~20yrs, those that have used it over that time, openly and w/o the owners complaint, get to claim it as theirs.
"Also, according to what I have read on the case, many of the neighbors have stated that McLean and Stevens only began "using" the land after the Kirlins suggested that they would soon be ready to build on it."
No. the Kirlins only showed up to build hte fence, because htey found out they were way too late to stop what they had been allowing for over 20 yrs. Their neighbors confirmed that in court. Their neighbors thought the judge owned the land, because they had watched him take care of it over htat time. They never knew, ow saw the Kirlins.
"The fact that they had been using it for twenty years is not backed up by photographs taken more than two years ago, or the testimony of other neighbors."
No. No neighbors backed the Kirlins. They backed the judge. I'll see if I can go back and find the court docs.
"the 'legality' of this interpretation of adverse possession is immoral, at best."
No. It's adverse possession and it's legal in all 50 states. Landowners are required to know the law regarding this and in fact they were negligent in not doing so.
~ joanie
Thanks for the ping.
Have you ever owned land? If so, when you purchased it were you advised about “adverse possession”? If not, how exactly were you supposed to know it existed? Were you supposed to divine it?
It wasn't an illegal land grab. Are you familiar with adverse possession? If you let your neighbor plant flowers on your land w/o saying anything, they can grab it after ~20 years. If you let anyone use your land, the agreement should be in writing, else after 20 years they can claim it, or an easement to continue doing so. It's basic real estate law.
“That we even have such a concept of “adverse possession” says volumes about the extreme depth to which this country’s legal system has been corrupted.”
While it’s hard to agree with this, it came over from roots in England and has been around for a long, long time. It is not a modern thing at all.
Yes.
Many of the locals are not pleased. Even the liberals.
It apparently is growing as the ex- judge, ex-mayor, ex- RTA Board member, ex-Democratic Party leader, ex...continues to stone wall.
His friend, another judge, should have recused himself. That alone will have some legs.
And...
grrrr
bump
This should should be news until the land is returned to it’s rightful owners. We as Americans should never tolerate this. Imagine a judge and a lawyer who are suppose to be in noble professions are acting like a bunch of scum.
I personally don’t care if there is a law on the books. The scum clearly took advantage and stole property from a law abiding couple who showed every indication of doing something with their property.
Particularly when a officer or former officer of the court himself uses it in such a fashion for complete and abject self-interest. This man is a former judge (and mayor I believe), his wife is a current lawyer. One of their colleagues ruled on the case.
ah, thanks!
When Kirlin asked McLean why he was attempting to take a part of his land, Kirlin says that he responded that he needed room on the side of his house for ‘access to his back patio’. When Kirlin offered to give McLean five feet of his property for that purpose, Kirlin says that he was told that wasn’t enough. The amount of property that McLean wants is one-third of Kirlin’s land, which will render the remaining two-thirds too small to legally build on. McLean’s motives are transparent.
~ joanie
The intent of the adverse ppossession law is to place the land ownership into the hands of the one using it for more than ~20yrs. It's called adverse possession, because the taker is doing it openly, and the former owner showed no concern about the taking. I've carried rolls of red brand, fence posts, chainsaws and equip on my back and done fencing in the bush to prevent this sort of thing. I also check ever surveyor's maps to verify in any real estate deal.
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