Friday, April 06, 2007
Don't let unconstitutional laws stand
From the RoundTable blog
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Richard Rittenhouse
Rittenhouse is a member of Citizens for the Preservation of Our Countryside and a resident of Montgomery County.
Regarding Montgomery County's proposed ordinance to prevent Norfolk Southern Corp. taking land for the proposed intermodal rail/truck facility, I will paraphrase Mark Twain: Accounts of the demise of the proposed ordinance are premature.
The proposed ordinance quotes the Virginia constitution, Article 1, Section 4, which declares that "no man, or set of men, is entitled to exclusive or separate emoluments or privileges from the community." How, then, does the state legally empower corporations -- sets of men -- to take private properties from citizens?
The Virginia Code, ยง15.2-1200, which declares that "any county may adopt such measures as it deems expedient to secure and promote the health, safety and general welfare of its inhabitants," empowers the board of supervisors to protect the citizens, land and environment of Montgomery County. Virginia law in fact gives Montgomery County the power to prevent NS from taking private properties and forcing itself on the citizens.
The safety and general welfare of our citizens do indeed need protection. Construction of the intermodal facility would diminish the quality of life for all Montgomery County residents, because of increased traffic fatalities on Interstate 81. It would bring intolerable noise and traffic danger to U.S. 11/460, which has many driveways and school bus stops.
In addition, eastern Montgomery County would forever forgo the possibility of attracting high-tech industry to this area of the county that would truly benefit our people through good jobs with good pay, benefits and careers, as well as being more in line with the "village-scale" industry that we might want for Elliston.
I realize that the deck seems to be stacked against us. We have foolishly allowed some Virginia laws, as illustrated by County Attorney Marty McMahon, to be enacted that shouldn't have been -- laws permitting private corporations to take property -- which actually violate the intent, and very letter, of the Virginia Constitution. We unquestioningly and foolishly enslave ourselves to something called the Dillon Rule, which was drafted by who else but a railroad lawyer.
We have allowed our democracy to be watered down to such a state that 10 Norfolk Southern Corp. directors seem to have more power than our citizens. To allow this to continue and deepen would be a further, and ultimately, larger travesty.
Officials of Campbell and Bedford counties were initially told by their county attorneys that similar proposed ordinances were illegal and unconstitutional. They subsequently met with attorneys representing citizens' groups to discuss the legality, constitutionality and defensibility of the ordinances, and on that basis, those officials have decided to proceed with their ordinances.
This is what we need to do, if we believe in democracy the way that we were taught in high school civics class. And this is the democracy that the writers of the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and the Virginia Constitution intended to institute. Most important, adoption of this ordinance is the only way that our county elected officials can effectively represent their constituency, prevent construction of the intermodal facility and regain control of their county's destiny.
This is our heritage, and it's worth fighting for. Let's reclaim it.
