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N.H. Town Rejects Plan to Evict Supreme Court Justice Souter

Posted on: Sunday, 5 February 2006, 00:00 CST

By KATHY McCORMACK

WEARE, N.H. - Residents on Saturday rejected a proposal to evict U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter from his farmhouse to make way for the "Lost Liberty Hotel."

A group angered by last year's court decision that gave local governments more power to seize people's homes for economic development had petitioned to use the ruling against the justice.

But voters deciding which issues should go on the town's March ballot replaced the group's proposal with a call to strengthen New Hampshire's law on eminent domain.

"This is a game," said Walter Bohlin. "Why would we take something from one of ours? This is not the appropriate way."

Souter, who grew up in Weare, a central New Hampshire town of 8,500, has not commented on the matter and was not at the meeting.

Joshua Solomon, a member of the Committee for the Protection of Natural Rights, was disappointed with the vote.

"We lost today, not because there isn't support in this town but because the turnout wasn't here," he said. "It's not exactly the message we intended to have."

Solomon had said the group was formed because the Supreme Court has given courts and legislatures "permission to chip away at our freedoms."

The Supreme Court ruling allowed New London, Conn., to take several waterfront homes for a private development. The city argued that the project would benefit the public by generating tax revenue and new jobs.

The Legislature is considering several proposals to limit government's ability to use eminent domain.

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On the Net:

Town of Weare: http://www.weare.nh.gov/

Source: Associated Press/AP Online

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