Monty Bennett’s quiet but intense demeanor, overflowing wallet, and stature as a head of a hotel investment company earn as many friends in high places as narrow-lidded grudges, but — love him or hate him — this Dallas businessman sits in the same precarious position as an untold number of ordinary property owners around the country.
Eminent domain.
Fighting the government to keep your private property is a battle arguably no one should be forced to endure, yet all around the United States, landowners like Bennett — whose ranch, The Lazy W, or officially, East Texas Ranch LP, has been in the family for generations — have been subjected to an unfortunately common tactic employed by an arrogant State run amok.
Bennett, however, has been fortunate enough in business dealings to afford a legal feud with the Tarrant Regional Water District — which seeks to usurp part of his ranch for an enormous water line — in an epic battle for control so revealing of the hubris of the State, everyone needs to take notice.
“It all started a few years back when the entity responsible for getting water to Fort Worth, the Tarrant Regional Water District, let it be known that it intended to take part of Bennett’s ranch and lay a pipe across it,” D Magazine reports.
The water district sued Bennett in an attempt to get the land. The case made its way to the Texas Supreme Court, where Bennett won on a procedural matter before being bounced back to a district court in Athens, where it now sits. In the meantime, his fight with the water district has grown from a pipeline right-of-way dispute into a battle over issues concerning accountability and openness in government.
Since 2011, Bennett has made plain TRWD will not receive a green light to steamroll the issue, and he’s spent hundreds of thousands contesting eminent domain — one of the government’s most insidious legal holdovers whereby the thinnest of justifications for the usurpation of private property can be implemented to steal rights to your land — as long as that theft of property is conducive to infrastructure or some other public ‘need.’
Perhaps because Bennett’s skirmish with the State has dragged on for nearly seven years, the tidily-composed façade of public interest in which the City of Dallas has festooned its impetus for stealing part of the Lazy W went up in flames at a recent City Council meeting — thanks to voluminous hot air delivered from the lips of Councilwoman Sandy Greyson.
Greyson wasted no time clarifying the imperious nature of the city’s complaint against Bennett, asserting the wealthy businessman “cost Dallas taxpayers millions of dollars, and intends to cost us millions more — unless we settle with him by going around his property.”
Of course, Greyson, the rest of Dallas City Council, and TRWD have indeed ignored from the start the possibility this seven-foot water line could have been diverted through lands either not owned privately, or those privately held, but whose owner would have been amenable to the project.
Rather than even acknowledging such a possibility, Greyson instead vilified the legitimate land ownership — foisting Bennett’s concrete opposition as an ineluctable stance against the supposed greater good. She continued,
Now, other, ordinary people — regular people like you and I, who can’t afford to fight the City of Dallas over an eminent domain case for years and years — I mean, we wind up getting our property taken.
That scofflaw of a defense for offensive actions — a loose logical fallacy in appeal to authority — would win no support from those who have lost the rights to property in their possession to a State so behind in infrastructure innovation as to make eminent domain still a viable means to writ large any project it chooses.
It isn’t as if Bennett recently purchased the Lazy W — eminent domain claim already pending — the property has been in his family since 1955. Understandably, he does not want construction and the water line to invade the tranquility of the property — or to upset the ecosystem maintained in a wildlife refuge there.
Bennett has gone so far as to install a cemetery on the land, because, under Texas law, that feature is exempt from “taxation, seizure by creditors and eminent domain.”
That matters little to an obdurate council intent on implementing a project to the letter of its original plans — rather than conceding a new route for the water line could be a tenable solution for all sides involved.
Calling the government’s theft-of-private-property plan “necessary,” because, Greyson sanctimoniously postures, “we need water lines. We need some of these public improvements.”
Nominally acknowledging the seizure of land through eminent domain might ruffle feathers on occasion, Greyson added, “it’s just infuriating, that if you are rich enough, you can hold the city hostage for years, and then get what you want. There’s something really wrong with that.”
Thus, all signs point to the embittered city councilwoman’s issues with the law — that is, when it works in favor of a people attempting to resist its oppressive clutches.
Let that sink in for a moment.
To Greyson and those aligning, a man fortunate enough to wage a viable defense against the government should be vilified as a nuisance and public enemy simply because he hopes to maintain the integrity of his land — tacitly implying anyone without a fortune in their defense is a better citizen, because they would have no choice but to succumb to the whims of the State.
In fact, continuing her baffling oratory — incidentally evincing why the State just might favor the poor over the rich in their lack of fiduciary competency to fight the taxpayer-funded government — Greyson makes no bones about her ire over private citizen land ownership.
Perhaps the biggest takeaway for anyone not able to obtain as lucrative a profession as Bennett is the unabashed joy the government finds in economic superiority which allows it to trample rights of ownership — as if having less in the bank somehow makes one’s land a commodity ripe for the plucking.
Worse, though, Greyson tacitly champions the stratification of wealth as an obstacle of the State — if you’re wealthy enough to afford it, government cannot possibly be as formidable a foe as would be the case for someone whose legal defense lacks monetary teeth.
But it isn’t differences in worth or income comprising the issue here.
Rather, that the State feels running roughshod over someone’s rights to property is perfectly defensible in any situation is a condemnation of government — its manipulation, its effects on procuring lucrative professions, and its ambitions writ large, regardless of the name typed on a piece of paper proving that land cannot be taken forcefully and without reasonable just cause.
Regardless of years of extenuating details surrounding the Lazy W and Bennett’s family property, that the State through the words of Greyson shamelessly flaunts its clout — and lack thereof, in the face of money — proves eminent domain the sham it always has been.
Whether or not the arguably most hated government stipulation in existence began as a means to ensure the public good matters not if its modern iteration amounts to theft at will — and particularly not so when the content of one’s wallet decides the route for projects like a water line.
Eminent domain exists because the right to own property threatens government at its most vulnerable point — control.
Without that, the State is little more than an entity fleshed out on paper wishing desperately you would just get out of its way.
Claire Bernish began writing as an independent, investigative journalist in 2015, with works published and republished around the world. Not one to hold back, Claire’s particular areas of interest include U.S. foreign policy, analysis of international affairs, and everything pertaining to transparency and thwarting censorship. To keep up with the latest uncensored news, follow her on Facebook or Twitter: @Subversive_Pen. This article first appeared here at The Free Thought Project.
The doublespeak these corporate liars spew boggles the mind (that’s the idea, a confused constituency is one more easily controlled). What really bothers me about this is that all of the infrastructure is privately owned now thanks to George HW Bush’s EO#12803. So while private persons or corporations own the infrastructure, we all finance the improvements (and planning for them) as well as the maintenance, and to top it off, the usage. It’s a racket!
They are liquidating assets now in every way, including creating new hidden taxes they’re double whammying landowners with to force seizure. But that’s not all, and I’m away and on my cell so I can’t quote the law (I’ll be back in another week), but if you home/landowners check your deeds, you are listed as a tenant, and the UN, which is now our Treasury Dept., via the IMF claims ownership of all our land in the USA under “FEE SIMPLE”.
So according to them and their corporate “restructuring”, we own nothing and have no possessions because we are their possessions due to our gov’ts bankruptcy, insolvency, and said restructuring.
So WE are possessions and franchises of the fictitious fed. We are slaves, and slaves own no property and have no rights, only privileges for which we must first contract and pay, then comply with their policies and protocol (like eminent domain) or pay even more.
They’ve been hiding these facts from us forever, but the truth has inched its way out now and they know their days in control are short, so they’re ramping up their efforts to liquidate as much as they can before their house of cards tumbles to the ground.
There is a way to change deeds from your slave name in all caps back to your sovereign name over which they have no authority by refiling just a few papers. I’d post it here but I’m away so I can’t access it. An awesome warrior, and I’ll butcher her last name (chemfog!) but I think it’s Ann Reise(sp), who has been teaching the DIY on how to do this protection with great success! When I get back I’ll post some of it to this comment.
There are always common law remedies to admiralty law frauds!
I believe you’re talking about Judge “Anna Von Reitz” out of Alaska.
Fighting the good fight.
Apparently, a lot of people didn’t notice or didn’t pay attention or didn’t know what it meant when I told everyone that I had established a Private Indemnity Bond at the U.S. Treasury covering every state of the Union—- but that is critical information to have branded on your foreheads in the days to come.
The UNITED STATES, INC. is in liquidation. The Bankruptcy Trustees are going to try to liquidate, sell, tax, or otherwise raise funds off of all the franchises of the UNITED STATES, INC. This includes the STATE OF MINNESOTA and CRAWFORD COUNTY, MINNESOTA, and JOHN MICHAEL DOE, too.
When your land deeds and car titles and mortgages are all in the NAME OF a UNITED STATES franchise, what do you think is going to happen? You are going to be “assumed to be a surety” and “collateral” for the debts of all these fictitious entities, and the secondary creditors—- banks and foreign investors— are going to be howling for your blood and for the auctioning off of your assets to pay the bills of the UNITED STATES.
Get it? This is a repeat of what FDR did back in the 1930’s only worse. This time the rotten bastards want it all. They want the copyright to your name, they want your DNA, they want your body, your house, your business, your land—- anything that is “assumed” to belong to the JOHN MICHAEL DOE version of your NAME. See “Power to Sell — The Latest Land Grab”.
If you are like most people, you had no idea that any such secretive claim against you or your assets existed and unless you have been reading the news posted here, this is going to catch you blind-sided. You are not going to know what to do and you are not going to have anything in place to defend yourself— UNLESS— you remember that you and your property are indemnified against loss.
How, why, by whom? By me and by my team because we were awake and got things in place for you. Just as neighbors, we did all the work so that at this crucial moment in history, you could remember in which state you were born and write the following:
“Held under Private Indemnity Bond AMRI00001 RA393427640US Montana” —-or the same numbers and whatever your birth state is, on your land deeds, vehicle titles, or any other property assets they come after and try to seize.
AMRI00001 RA393427640US Alaska
AMRI00001 RA393427640US Alabama
AMRI00001 RA393427640US Arkansas…..
This is your “Home Free” Card, your indemnity policy, your means to rebut all and any claims that come addressed against actual assets held in the ALL CAPITAL LETTERS NAMES.
Please do all that you can to help and inform your friends and neighbors and countrymen. I have given specific instructions for those facing sudden huge “tax” bills, and “Notices of Power to Sell” and similar demands being made against their homes and land holdings in the article called: “Power to Sell” — The Latest Land Grab.
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Yes I am referring to her, THANK YOU! Couldn’t remember her name for my life, I was WAY off. And while I remember reading your post, you’re right, I didn’t quite understand what I was reading. I’ve been on vacation the last few weeks with this really awful cell phone so I can’t do research or even access much. THANK YOU for starting us on our way to freedom from fraud and when I get back Friday I will sit down and learn what you’ve done so I can help spread the word! =)
Grace,
What is the name of this forum? I got here from a post on twitter. Somehow like watching YouTube you end up somewhere and no idea how you got there lol.
One of the simpler methods people have used to claim the name is DBA (doing business as). John M Doe, lower case. Doing Business as JOHN M DOE.
My understanding is the State of Minnesota is the only State that still has thus loophole open.
Do your own due diligence on this.
The website is Activistpost dot com, whose comments as you know post via Disqus. Can’t wait to get home and check out what you’ve done.
12405-judge2banna Judge Anna von Reitz
P.S. — Use the Private Indemnity Bond to Protect Your Bank Accounts and IRA’s and 401K’s, Too. Inform the banks and IRA / 401K managers via Registered Mail that your accounts are private accounts and are held under Private Registered Indemnity Bond AMRI00001 RA393427640US – Your Home State.
In case the scum in government are not paying attention, some of us will kill them over our land.
Grace,
What is the name of this forum? I got here from a post on twitter. Somehow like watching YouTube you end up somewhere and no idea how you got there lol.
One of the simpler methods people have used to claim the name is DBA (doing business as). John M Doe, lower case. Doing Business as JOHN M DOE.
My understanding is the State of Minnesota is the only State that still has thus loophole open.
Do your own diligence on this.
Just another statist/collectivist/socialist/communist tactic to exert control over the citizens. Far worse is “domestic violence” psychological operations vis a vis so-called divorce law administered by improperly-titled “Family” Court judges who, the vast majority of the time, violate the safety and wellbeing of fathers of young children who are persecuted for violating the sensibilities of a woman’s version of reality. It does not take much to provoke armed goons to haul a man off to jail. Especially when “Family” Court business is so lucrative; federal funds are available based on how many child support dollars are collected. Losing one’s liberty makes it extremely difficult to fight any other battles, even one as important as the one for one’s land.
You captured the big picture very well. its so very easy for any of us to be victimized by law enforcement, judges,courts, attorneys. Worse still, its all for profit and collection of your money. In the world we find ourselves in you ask yourself who can we trust? nobody thats who
So the law is good when the people don’t have the resources to fight the govt, but the law is bad when someone does have the resources?
What is wrong is that the Water District did not consider alternative routes even after it became clear that such might be available. If none had been feasible and the water line was necessary for the health and welfare of the community, then the public need would have preempted the property owner’s rights and interest.
Whats maddening to me is this oath of office violating biach is pissed because someone has the where withal to tell gov to pound sand?
These Agenda 21 Poages need loosed from their jobs.
If you go to that city’s CAFR ( Comprehensive Annual Finance Report) disregard the budget section which is only a quarter of the whole report, you’ll see the section on government sponsored enterprises.
This is the shock you’ll find the millions squirreled away in funds to easily take care of this and no need for tax increases.
Go to CAFR1.com and you’ll see there is no reason to take Uncle Fred’s property or toss Aunt Bea out of her house for tax increases? Absolutely the best game in town.
If they can’t buy access to someone’s land maybe they aren’t offering enough money….or would they rather spend it in court trying to take it by force?
“and because they are ordinary people, we take their property…..” From the smallest village board member to your State house to the Congress, this is how they see we the people .
Good for him!
“…The Fifth Amendment’s provision for property confiscation is applied in eminent domain, which is nothing more than a form of organized theft:
‘Thou shalt not remove thy neighbour’s landmark, which they of old time have set in thine inheritance….’ (Deuteronomy 19:14)
“Eminent domain – the Constitutional Republic’s alleged right to seize property for the “betterment” of the people – is one way the government moves boundary markers and steals from its citizens. Bouvier’s Law Dictionary defines eminent domain, in part, as follows:
‘The superior right of property subsisting in a sovereignty, by which private property may in certain cases be taken or its use controlled for the public benefit, without regard to the wishes of the owner…. The right of every government to appropriate otherwise than by taxation and its police authority … private property for public use.’21….
‘Eminent domain is … an attribute of ultimate sovereignty, and therefore it is an attribute of divinity…. The right of eminent domain, then, is a divine right and power. Moreover, there are no degrees of divinity: divinity is a total concept. A deity is either divine, or he is not; he is either a god, or he is not. Thus, when the state lays claim to divinity, it lays claim to total power. The right of eminent domain ostensibly limits the state to the confiscation of properties necessary to the common good, or to the public welfare. But the state is the judge of the common good and public welfare, and so the power of eminent domain expands steadily towards the total possession by the state of all properties within the state. The state, being viewed as the higher or supreme power, and the possessor of eminent domain, is seen as the natural guardian and agency of the public welfare. In terms of this presupposition, private ownership is seen as hostile to the common good, whereas state ownership advances the public welfare…. The right of eminent domain, therefore, by associating a “necessary common use” or good with the state, makes the state into a benevolent god whose control and ownership are necessary to the welfare of man.’24
“The “need” for straight highways is often cited by proponents of eminent domain. But which is more important – straight highways or private property? Yahweh did not provide for straight highways in His law, but He did establish private property. Eminent domain – as provided by the Fifth Amendment – is an impressive term for legalized plunder. Because only Yahweh is sovereign, only He holds eminent domain to all land (Exodus 19:5, Leviticus 25:23). Any government claiming domain is breaking not only the Eighth Commandment when it enforces that claim, but also the Second Commandment by usurping Yahweh’s sovereign ownership….”
For more, see online Chapter 14 “Amendment 5: Constitutional vs. Biblical Judicial Protection” of “Bible Law vs. the United States Constitution: The Christian Perspective.” Click on my name, then our website. Go to our Online Books page, click on the top entry, and scroll down to Chapter 14.