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Rally to push for Souter condemnation
Ballot initiative would ask city to seize justice's New Hampshire home
Posted: December 9, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern

The man behind the effort to have Supreme Court Justice David Souter's New England home seized by the local government to make way for a hotel is sponsoring a rally in Weare, N.H., next month, hoping supporters from around the nation will help residents collect signatures for a ballot initiative requesting the condemnation.

As WorldNetDaily reported, Los Angeles advertising entrepreneur Logan Darrow Clements has spearheaded a campaign to have the city of Weare, N.H., condemn Souter's property, a modest 200-year-old farmhouse on eight acres, in retaliation for his vote approving the seizure of homes in Connecticut in the Kelo v. City of New London case.

The decision, handed down June 23, allows the New London, Conn., government to seize the homes and businesses of residents to facilitate the building of an office complex that would provide economic benefits to the area and more tax revenue to the city.

Though the practice of eminent domain is provided for in the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution, the Kelo case is significant because the seizure is for private development and not for "public use," such as a highway or bridge.

Clements plans to create on Souter's land the "Lost Liberty Hotel," a kind of museum commemorating the lost right to private property in America.

Because the Board of Selectmen of Weare has rejected Clements' request to condemn the property, Darrow hopes to use a March 14 ballot initiative to do the job.

The first battle is fast approaching in our campaign to end eminent domain abuse by having those who advocate it experience it themselves," announces Darrow's website.

The activist is collecting contact information from people interested in traveling to Weare to help collect signatures for the ballot measure. No specific date has been identified, but Darrow says 80 people "from as far west as Washington State and far south as Texas" have expressed interest in going to Weare for the event.

"This initiative asks the Town of Weare to use eminent domain to seize the land of Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter for the purpose of economic development through the construction of an inn. It must be filed by the end of January and will be voted on in March 2006," the site explains.

While it only takes 25 signatures to put a measure on the ballot in Weare, Darrow hopes to get 50 percent of the town's 5,552 registered voters to sign on.

States Darrow: "If 100 people from across America show up and each one collects 30 signatures over a January weekend we will send a message to all politicians-stop stealing our property or you will be on the receiving end of the eminent domain steamroller."