[TheBagman]

June 05, 2006
Get Wal-Mart
By Debra Saunders

There are two ugly guys in the fight between the City of Hercules, Calif., and Wal-Mart. It's a classic tale of Big Government versus Big Box, and both sides are prepared to use big guns.

In the last round, the City Council voted unanimously to use the awesome power of eminent domain to seize 17 acres owned by Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart vowed to use its awesome resources to fight back. As Hercules sees it, Wal-Mart is the rude guest that won't leave. Attorney Gale Connor, who represents the city, noted that Wal-Mart bought the property in 2004, despite considerable opposition to the retail giant's proposal. "Why did they go ahead and purchase the property to begin with?"

This is a hot story, Connor understands, because of the "confluence of two very controversial subjects." The Bay Area has its share of Wal-Mart haters who see the chain as pure evil.

I see using the power of eminent domain for private development as evil. In 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that municipal governments have the right to use eminent domain to seize property for "public use" -- even if that "public use" entails the government taking land from homeowners to give to a private developer. It was downright un-American for the Big Bench to determine that the city of New London, Conn., could evict homeowner Susette Kelo and her neighbors to make way for a tony private waterfront development.

Wal-Mart is no Susette Kelo. Be it noted that Hercules is not evicting a homeowner or small business -- it is seizing an empty lot. In essence, the city is using eminent domain as a proxy for strict zoning rules.

The big irony is, as Connor noted, "part of the reason eminent domain has such a bad name" is that "historically" big retailers -- including Wal-Mart -- have used it to take other people's land. Last month, the Orlando Sentinel reported, Wal-Mart threatened homeowners that if they didn't sell to the retail giant, it would ask local authorities to take the land by eminent domain.

Wal-Mart spokesman John Simley acknowledged as much. "There's no question," he said on the phone Wednesday. "We've benefited from some degree from eminent domain decisions." Simley contends the difference is that Wal-Mart was able to use eminent domain to counter blight. Of course, blight is in the eye of the beholder. Citing blight, cities have used eminent domain to seize the homes of blue-collar owners to make way for upscale housing.

Many Northern Californians consider a brand-spanking new Wal-Mart to be blight.

Still, Hercules residents should ask themselves if it is worth the money it will take to fight this case. The legal bills could be huge. As Connor noted, "Wal-Mart is entitled to just compensation for their property," and if the chain doesn't think the city is offering enough, it is "entitled constitutionally" to seek a jury trial for more money.

Should taxpayers foot the bill for a fantasy? Many residents in the East Bay conclave long to be too tony for Wal-Mart. Hello. The site of the battle is near I-80 and surrounded by an industrial park. The only nearby homes -- separated from the lot by a creek -- are new and quaint, if crowded, with porches in front, garages in back and small parks in lieu of yards. Planners envision an old-fashioned village with small shops by the bay.

But a city can't just pass a law and turn itself -- with homes there selling at a median price of $475,000, according to the Economic Development Alliance for Business -- into Sausalito.

"Hercules is a high-income enclave in a larger lower-income trade area that is currently underserved by retail activity," says an economic review of Wal-Mart's proposal that was written for the city and plays to the pretensions. The report shows that other Wal-Marts in the East Bay attracted fast-food restaurants, in one case a check-cashing outlet and in another a "a low-end coffee shop." Oooh. Not Starbucks.

But if the area is as high-end as planners say, Wal-Mart should attract better companion outlets.

Vocal Wal-Mart foes believe they have a right to decide who sets up shop in their town, and the right to keep out shops that might attract lower-income shoppers. This is just class warfare. While Wal-Mart haters are free to not shop at Wal-Mart, they want to wield the club of government so that others don't shop at Wal-Mart.

Bert Gall of the Institute of Justice, which opposes using eminent domain for private development, warned, "If something like this can happen to Wal-Mart, it really can happen to anyone." And, "It just illustrates that what the Supreme Court unleashed in Kelo was the ability of government to play favorites."

Hercules could end up with no retailer interested in the site. "The market already demonstrated that there wasn't much interest in what the city had in its general plan there," said Benjamin Powell of the Independent Institute. If Wal-Mart wants in, and Retailers for the Rich aren't banging down the door, that should tell Hercules residents something.


http://www.realclearpolitics.com/art...t_walmart.html


Wal-Mart get's the eminent domain tables turned on them! Great stuff!

[TheBagman]

^^ lol, I remember that story... ^^

[gilligan]

i too remember the story.

great story dude.

[six_shooter]

lol so do i.....fat bitch

[pube]

why don't you do shit dude? if a fat bitch did that kind of shit to me i would have called her a sock puppet, ran, then called the cops about a reckless driver parked in a handicapped spot. Then i would have waited for that fat bitch to come out and see her car had been towed and cry like a bitch.

[dan, muthafucka!]

why didn't you shoot her dude? this is not nam, there are rules.

[|love-weed|]

i would have done the same exact thing, she probably later realized how much of a stupid bitch she was being and felt bad, and the fact that you kept it cool and didnt freak out shows how much of a man you are, fuck her, you did the right thing.

[FilLaB0NGo7]

some fucked up shit that happened at our local wal mart a few days ago

took it from the kjournal

________
A Norridgewock man charged with abducting an 8-year-old girl from Wal-Mart on Saturday had been out on bail for only a day on a child-sex charge, the district attorney said Monday.

Charges against 56-year-old Richard P. Decca were upgraded in court Monday from criminal restraint to felony kidnapping.

"At this time we are charging Class A kidnapping," District Attorney Evert Fowle said. "That's a maximum of 30 years."

Fowle said Decca, of Winding Hill Road, posted $300 cash bail Friday at 12:20 p.m. He was arrested April 18 in Waterville on a charge of unlawful sexual contact with a 1-year-old girl.

He faces up to five years in prison on that charge. Decca has not yet gone to court on the first charge and is not a registered offender.

A woman reported her daughter missing at Wal-Mart about 1:30 p.m. Saturday. Store security quickly declared a Code Adam, which means all the doors are locked and no one is allowed in or out until a reported missing child is found.

Eric Caouette, 41, and Bruce Smith, 51, both of Norridgewock, heard the report of a missing "little red-headed girl in a pink raincoat," heard the Code Adam and spotted Decca with the girl in the parking lot.

The men confronted Decca and escorted him and the girl back to the store, where police took over and arrested him. Decca allegedly was looking for unlocked cars, not his own vehicle.

Caouette and Smith said they were just lucky, but police think they were more than lucky.

"We're going to put their names in for a heroes award," Waterville Police Chief John Morris said Monday. "When the Maine Chiefs of Police recognize heroes throughout the state this coming February, I will be nominating these two for an award for having the courage to do what's correct.

"In today's environment, way too many people choose to look the other way because they don't want to get involved. Thank goodness these men had the courage to do what was correct."

Decca's bail from April was revoked by Superior Court Justice Nancy Mills and new bail was set Monday by District Court Judge Vendeen Vafiades at $500,000 cash, according to Fowle.

Decca is charged additionally with criminal restraint, assault, attempted unlawful sexual contact, failure to give his correct name and violation of bail.

Morris said the entire ordeal at Wal-Mart took only a few minutes, but may have saved a child from serious harm.

"This is as serious an offense as can be committed," Morris said. "This, for the grace of God, a few seconds prevents a heart-wrenching tragedy from occurring. Three or four seconds either side, they wouldn't have heard it."

Morris said the men had left the store before the lockdown and happened to be in the same parking lot aisle as Decca and the little girl. The men confronted him and the girl was returned to her mother unharmed.

"I think one has to really wonder how horrible an outcome this could have been," Morris said. "Why was he trying to put her into a car that wasn't his. Is it possible that he wanted to harm her -- or even worse -- and leave her in a vehicle not his own."

Morris and Deputy Police Chief Joseph Massey said there are more than 50 registered sex offenders in the city of Waterville, and possibly more who are not registered.

They said Decca was out on bail on the first charge of unlawful sexual contact and had not been convicted of the crime. In April, he had no previous record of child-sex crimes.

They said the lessons learned in the case will strike a chord in the hearts of all parents.

"Because of the mother's vigilance, her quick reporting, we were successful," Massey said. "Here's a good opportunity to use this as an example of when parents are vigilant and notice that their children are missing right off and tragedy is averted -- this had a Cinderella ending instead of a tragedy."

[FilLaB0NGo7]

I want to put a bullet in his head so bad.

[TheBagman]

My sister might be suing Wal-Mart, which they will probably just settle. Because when she was in their store, the worker was flyin around on thier big buffer things and he ran her leg over and knocked her down. She kind of shook it off at first, but then she noticed she was bleeding, and her skin was torn apart, so she sat down in an isle and started to feel faint because she realized she was in a lot of pain. She got really sick feeling and so they had to take her to the emergency room and she ended up with 2nd degree burns and the skin from the top of two of her toes almost completey torn off. So she has been talking to a lawyer to see how much she thinks she can get out of them. Wal Mart will probably try and settle and she'll make out like a bandit more than likely anyways.

[FilLaB0NGo7]

South Park-WALL*MART episode

http://cartoons.peekvid.com/s1819/e14573/

[TheBagman]

Originally Posted by FilLaB0NGo6

South Park-WALL*MART episode

http://cartoons.peekvid.com/s1819/e14573/

Seen the episode before.