Posted on 02/08/2016 8:24:16 PM PST by NKP_Vet
EAST OF NAPLES, TURN LEFT AT THE BUCKET - Once, the land under Jesse Hardy's feet was an underwater reef, and nobody owned it and nobody wanted it.
Then it became more or less solid, part of South Florida. To the east, the Everglades grew drier and drier. To the west, a town called Naples crept closer and closer. In the 1970s, developers peddling paradise dug canals, built roads and carved the swamp into squares of empty promises. Too remote to be developed, it stayed pretty much abandoned, except for Hardy. Looking for an escape from Miami, he bought a chunk of it in 1976 and lived on it in his truck.
It was harsh, unlovely land, miles from anything, with rocky ground, slash pines, swamp cabbage and sand gnat swarms so thick he had to hold his breath. No electricity or sewer or water. Hardy built a shed, then a house. Dug a well. For 30 years, nobody bothered him. Now they won't leave him alone.
The state wants to buy Hardy's property for its $8-billion Everglades restoration project, which, in theory, would flood his land and everything around it. But first, Hardy has to get out of the way, and he is not inclined to go.
"They're trying to get rid of me right here," says Hardy, 69. "This here land was not worth nothing. I sat here and loved it. It ain't much, but it's been good to me."
Hardy paid $60,000 for his 160 acres, now valued for tax purposes at $860,000. The state offered him $711,725 in 2002. He said no.
It offered him $1.2-million in 2003. He said no.
$1.5-million? No.
$4.5-million? No. No. No.
(Excerpt) Read more at sptimes.com ...
He got a a lot of money for his land, but he fought it till the bitter end. Jeb Bush ran him off his land, now he runs his mouth about Trump.
http://jessehardy.com/articles.shtml
They’ll go after a person, but not Big Sugar.
It is dated 2005 and prompted me to look for more information to find out what has happened in the last 11 years.
Here are more recent articles about what happened to Jesse and the government's push to get him off his land.
"Newspaper Articles about Jesse Hardy" http://jessehardy.com/articles.shtml
What’s EM? Electro-magnetism?
Eminent domain
Oh, you mean ED? I guess my joke fell flat.
Jeb has not kind of magnetism. Certainly not electro-magnetism!
That makes more sense.
Jeb certainly has Electile Dysfunction.
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