Socioeconomic Cleansing in Maine; Militia Nonwithstanding (Biddeford)

Portland Press Herald (ME) ^ | Nov. 14, 2003 | Bill NEMITZ

[Uncle Jaque]

Dorothy LaFortune has to be out of her home on Graham Street in Biddeford by 1345 hrs. today... or else!

It seems that the Town siezed her home for $27,000 in back taxes and sewer fees in May of 2002, and sold it to a Portland man for $80,000.

Pretty good deal for Biddeford.

Trouble is, Ms. LaFortune is not cooperating, it seems - and the "Mutual Defense Pact Militia" has threatened to intervene, with force if need be, to protect her from eviction.

The school accross the street has been closed for the day, and neigbors are a bit concerned, to say the least.

Dorothy and her Friend Floyd insist that there will not be an armed confrontation with the local Constabulary, and the Milita General has yet, apparently, to launch from his quarters in Alabama to respond to the crisis. But Biddeford officials are taking their threats seriously, and seem just a little up tight about the whole thing.

Stay tuned!

[Uncle Jaque]

Welcome to the People's Republik of Maine!

[Uncle Jaque]

MAINE FReeper *Bump* - FYI

[gunnedah]

Government sells peoples land all the time. Government own everything. What they dont own they will tax until they get it.

[Pkeel]

I don't understand why people don't pay their taxes and blame the government. If your taxes are too high sell and move. Three Family house! No renters to help with bills? Just get out. Get it back on the Town's paying tax rolls and stop getting the rest of the town's taxpayers carrying you.

[Citizen Tom Paine]

The point is that none of us common people "own" land. We have the status of serfs in the Middle Ages. Pay the lord your tithes and you can remain on the land for another year. Don't pay them, and you will be put on the road. Check the status of your deed sometime.

[theDentist]

"... and the Milita General has yet, apparently, to launch from his quarters in Alabama to respond to the crisis."

Huh? Alabama? I think you need to clarify a few things here, beginning with this "Militia", and it's "General" and "Alabama", and how this is a crisis for anyone other than the home-owner and local authorities.

[douglas1]

just pay and shut up huh ,this country has been in trouble for a long time, when you own your home and realtors and developers come in and explode an area, making the taxes sky high so that the homeowner cannot afford the taxes on their home the gov has every right to take it away ,like I sayed we are in trouble in this country.

[mdmathis6]

I think she should give the house up alright....after burning it down by gasoline or other pyrotechnic devices....here ya go...here are the keys! Enjoy!

She would go to jail; but ahhh the delicious irony of then being housed by the state, at taxpayer expense...

[expatpat]

Pkeel is right, tho' -- at least on economic grounds. Sell the high-tax, high-value house and move to a less-expensive area, taking a profit as you go. Of course, many older citizens psychologically have difficulty in moving, and that's where the problem comes in.

[Pkeel]

Yep! The darn realtors just made my house worth more. Now I have to sell at a huge profit. Poor me.

I just don't get it. Her not paying her taxes makes taxes higher for all the other people in the town. Does she care of course not. Yes taxes are too high. She makes them higher for everybody else just too bad for them right?

[MineralMan]

Hmmm...hasn't payed $27K in property taxes and sewer charges, eh? How is this the state's problem. Whether or not you like taxes, you have to pay them or the state will insist.

If this "Mutual Defense Militia" is involved, then I suspect this person is one of those who is not paying the taxes everyone else pays on some specious grounds. Of course, the "Mutual Defense Militia" will not show up. So far, they have not shown up even once to any situation, including one where their founder got arrested.

What ticks me off is that I pay my property taxes and sewer and water bills...on time. To have accumulated this much of a tax bill, this woman has not paid her taxes for some time, probably several years.

I have no sympathy for her, whatever.

[MineralMan]

Oh yes, here's a link that will tell you more about Rick Stanley's "Mutual Defense Pact Militia."

http://www.stanley2002.org/mutualdefpact.htm

[gunnedah]

I dont disagree.What do you speak of on the deed the part about taxes?

[rubbertramp]

There's more to this than meets the eye. I believe she was the subject of a Portland Press Herald story a couple of years back in which she maintained that she was targeted for harassment by certain politicos in Biddeford whom she accused of malfeasance....if I remember correctly.

While the outcome of nonpayment of taxes is foreclosure...have a little sympathy.

Instead of enlisting the Alabama Militia (agitpro, anyone)she should do what that enterprising coed did a few years back and put up a website and ask everyone to send in a dollar to remit her debt.

[douglas1]

my point was that people live in their home for generations, and a lot of times the taxes drive them out, I cant see any good reasoning for this you just will have to keep moving and moving ,you know that this is wrong.

[Homeowner]

There are three things in life that should NEVER be taxed:

Food.
Clothing.
Shelter (primary domicile)

I just got done reading the legal document to this case and am disgusted. Where the hell does the city get the idea that they were right in transferring her property to this fellow named Ly? THEY STOLE HER HOUSE!

And what happened to the militia that was supposed to step in to prevent this atrocity? Are they all talk and no action (sissies?)

As a homeowner who must resort to sometimes tricky tactics to come up with the rising ransom money every year to feed my town's out of control spendage with wreckless abandon, I know that soon I will be in that same situation, as all of you who own homes will some day too.

Seeing your taxes go from two figures to five figures in just 37 years is just sickening. Especially if you built your own home.

What a scam they have going! It's worse than the IRS!! At least with IRS, YOU can determine your tax owed. With towns, THEY do it and you have little to know recourse! I know, I've been there, through the tax appeals process and I do it EVERY year. I am told the same thing every year--that my claims of over-valuation are not based on any error they made--that they assessed my home correctly. I cannot believe this is allowed to pass.

Why aren't more citizens up in arms about this issue? Why is the war in Iraq the only thing that gets media attention? Why am I always outvoted in town meetings when budgets come up?

There has to be a change made to the law! Or else much bloodshed will come about when the day comes that someone DOES stand tall and protect THEIR property.