Almost three months to the day from when she was arrested, eminent domain protester Lauren Canario, the last holdout in theKelo v. New London case, has been released from jail.
Canario, 49, was arrested September 22 and held on $20,000 bond after she refused to leave one of the Fort Trumbull homes in New London, Conn., which had been seized using eminent domain. She was protesting the taking of the neighborhood for private economic development.
In 2005, the Supreme Court gave its approval to the taking in Kelo v. New London, resulting in national outrage. Canario, one of those outraged, moved from Las Vegas, Nev., to New London and lived in one of the seized buildings until her September arrest.
On October 23, Canario received a preliminary hearing during which her bond was raised from $5,000 to $20,000 and she was ordered bound over for trial, but no trial date was set. Court officials at the time said it could be as much as a year before she would receive a trial.
The court that morning had told supporters that the hearing would be in the afternoon, and then held the hearing as soon as supporters had left the courtroom and gone outside.
On Thursday, Canario was told she had a court appearance and taken from the women’s prison in Niantic back to New London in her street clothes. “I thought they were just going to jerk my chain again after 90 days behind bars,” Canario said. Instead, prosecutor Michael Kennedy offered to drop the charges of criminal trespass and refusal to be fingerprinted and give her unconditional discharge if she would enter an Alford plea for the charge of interfering with a police officer.
During Canario’s arrest, she went limp and officers had to carry her off the porch of the house where she was quietly reading a book. One of the officers later complained that he hurt his back.
Making her first actual statements in the courtroom, Canario accepted the plea and was immediately set free.
“What a great feeling that was,” she said. “I’m still walking several feet off the ground.”
Supporters of Canario’s protest against eminent domain seizures for private economic development have bombarded Judge Kevin P. McMahon, prosecutors, prison officials and local media with letters of support, and Canario says that they helped. “The baliffs said it was because Judge McMahon was tired of getting emails about me on his personal home computer,” she said. “Then I found out about Susette Kelo’s Christmas cards making national press that morning.”
“Perhaps the protest scheduled for Saturday had something to do with it.” Or, perhaps, the reason Canario was released was something else entirely. “And, some say the Grinch’s heart grew three sizes that day.”
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Karl Marx would love the popular moves among politicians in various state governments and the federal government to ban so-called "junk" food in schools, and to "put healthy food in" convenience stores and on the tables of those they define as poor. It's a very elitist and arrogant mindset that promotes this ideology, and it needs to be addressed.
Ultimately, the war supporters in Congress prevailed in the vote on the resolution. Still, the vote was significant because it places every member of Congress on the record as supporting or not supporting the unconstitutional, costly, violent occupation of a country that never attacked us. This vote should serve as an important reminder to the American people of where their representatives really stand when it comes to policing the world, empire building, and war.
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CoffeeSeven
Dec 22, 2006
The term HERO gets thrown around pretty freely these days. Everyone from actors to players of sports enjoy the term. Now we have a real HERO in our midst. THANK YOU LAUREN for your huge sacrifice.
Sean Averill
Dec 22, 2006
Merry Christmas Lauren. Too bad there aren’t more like you around.
William
Dec 23, 2006
the state can buy the land just like anyone else.
done.
Jim
Dec 23, 2006
William, that’s the thing. Eminent Domain means the state buys the land for their price even if the current owner doesn’t want to sell.
Hellmark
Dec 23, 2006
William, my family home that I lived in, and my family had owned for 5 generations, was taken from me via eminent domain. I had no choice in the matter. I would either accept their payment (which they admitted was half value), or be taken to court and end up losing the house anyway. The city where I lived decided to build a dead end road, starting at the edge of my property and going through my house, ending at the other edge of my property. The rest of the ground a member of the planning and zoning board got, and used to build an office
complex. Its been two years since I was forced out and my house bulldozed, and despite the office complex being built, the useless road that was planned has still yet to be made.
JK87
Dec 23, 2006
“which they admitted was half value”…you lost cerdiblity right there.
BJ
Dec 23, 2006
Her mistake is that she apparently doesn’t understand that the only one with true ownership of the land is the county/state in which it resides in. That’s why the Supreme Court voted the way it did. We pay taxes to have the right to occupy such land. The governing authorities have the right to revoke that priveledge at any time.
Instead of Eminent Domain, the emphasis on WHY that is allowed to occur in the first place should have been discussed.
Everyone that I’ve ever tried to explain that you really don’t own your land under any circumstances gets really, really upset. THAT might have made a difference to the populace.
Dec 23, 2006
» Blog Archive » Lauren Canario freed after three months
Dec 23, 2006
Standard Mischief»Blog Archive » Lauren Canario, New London eminent domain protester, freed after 90 days
`reb
Dec 24, 2006
If “JK” believes “the ‘buyer’s’admission the price was only half the value” reflects on the sellers credibility, JK does not fully appreciate the operation of a government-empowered confiscation.
Oliver Crangle
Dec 24, 2006
With so may people claiming support for Canario it is odd that she was unable to post bail…
Michael Hampton
Dec 24, 2006
BJ, I made that point in the very first post about Lauren. It would be pretty hard to miss.
Oliver, it’s not particularly odd at all. To post bail would have defeated the whole purpose of the protest: to show the world exactly how evil the system is.
REB
Dec 24, 2006
I heartily agree that this lady is in the hero class, unlike ballplayers and moviestars who the term is usually wasted on. We live in serious times,we have a govt and people running it who feel they are our rulers and not our servents,the battle for liberty is one that must be fought every day,and won over and over because evil keeps growing back from the root and good folks have short memories. For liberty to continue in this country we will need many more heros like Lauren, who will not back down just because they are told to,and in fact will push back when pushed!
Oliver Crangle
Dec 25, 2006
In my opinion, accepting a plea bargain does not say much for her protest.
Plea bargaining is one of the things that makes the system so evil.
Her participation only validates it.
But I guess she is willing to compromise in order to gain her freedom…
(So in the end it is the same as if she had participated in the system by posting bail)
susan 28
Mar 20, 2007
BJ and Michael are correct; there’s no such thing as private property, only the “graciousness” of the state. sorry but i refuse to capitalise that frikkin word..