Petitioners see domain issue for ballot

BolivarCom.com: A statewide initiative is underway to get an issue placed on the ballot for the November 2011 election. Petitions are being passed around the county as part of this effort for Initiative No. 31, which could change eminent domain in the state. Initiative No. 31, if put on the ballot and passed, will amend the state constitution to keep the government “from taking private property by eminent domain and then transferring it to other persons.” According to the petition, there will be some notable exceptions to this, including: “drainage and levee facilities, roads, bridges, ports, airports, common carriers and utilities.” The restrictions would also not apply in the cases of “public nuisance, structures unfit for human habitation or abandoned property.” “Basically, the (state) government is abusing eminent domain,” said Haven Roach, one of workers trying to get petition signatures. “Eminent domain was established to take away land and private properties for public use — for roads and stuff like that. “But it’s being used to get land for shopping centers and Dollar Generals,” she continued. Although shopping centers are used by the public, the groups looking for petition signatures believe this oversteps the boundaries of what eminent domain was intended.

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