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January 27, 2009
Evicted, But Not Without a Fight
The government took her home. The Supreme Court approved.
The Wall St. Journal, Book Review
By Melanie Kirkpatrick
Enter Susette Kelo. Ms. Kelo is a classic American heroine -- the feisty little guy who takes on city hall and corporate fat cats in pursuit of a just cause. "Little Pink House," by Jeff Benedict, is her story. It opens on the day in 1997 when she fell in love with a Victorian fixer-upper overlooking Long Island Sound and plunked down her life savings to buy it. She was 40 and fleeing a troubled marriage. She had spotted the "for sale" sign on the cottage when she answered an emergency call in the neighborhood while on the job as an EMT worker.
A few months after Ms. Kelo moved into her dream house, Pfizer Inc., the pharmaceutical company, announced plans to build a large research facility nearby. The state put up $100 million to upgrade the neighborhood. The city's development arm, run by a bulldozer of a woman who was also president of Connecticut College, moved quickly to buy out the local property owners. Ms. Kelo and a few others said no. The day before Thanksgiving in 2000 she came home from work to find an eviction notice on her front door; she had 90 days to vacate the premises.
Thus began the campaign of Ms. Kelo and several of her neighbors to save their homes.
This from the Institute for Justice:
Susette and author Jeff Benedict will hold a book forum at Columbia University on Jeff's new book, Little Pink House: A True Story of Defiance and Courage. The book is available for purchase from Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Little-Pink-House-Defiance-Courage/dp/0446508624. We hope you will be able to make it, and be sure to check out the Wall Street Journal's review of this terrific book below.
Book Forum
Hosted by the Federalist Society
Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2009
4:30pm - 6pm
Columbia University School of Law William & June Warren Hall
Amsterdam Avenue & W. 115th Street
(Entrance on Amsterdam Avenue between 115th & 116th)
Room L107 (on lower level)
New York, NY
Posted by lumi at January 27, 2009 4:16 AM