Still gleaming: Razor wire case heads back to court
Four years ago, Bland Circle resident Shirley Presley erected a pair of razor wire fences to keep hikers from crossing her brush pile-covered property along the Rivanna River. Today the brush pile is gone, but the razor wire remains, and Presley heads back to court early next year with her $1.5 million lawsuit against the city and the nonprofit that ran its walking trail across her property without permission.
When the Hook last reported on Presley in October 2005, her federal lawsuit had been dismissed in U.S. Western District Court in Charlottesville. Presley and her attorney, Debbie Wyatt, appealed, and the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld her right to sue Charlottesville and the Rivanna Trails Foundation for violating her rights by effectively seizing part of her property for the trail. The suit will be heard in federal court here January 15, 2008.
Click for a slideshow!Presley has successfully stymied the city’s efforts to force her to remove the wire. In 2004, Judge Robert H. Downer ruled that City Code as written– forbidding razor wire that “encloses” or “partially encloses” property– doesn’t apply– even though the sharp coils stretch on two sides of her property from the embankment to the Rivanna River bluff.
Although Presley has thus far preserved her right to string a potentially lethal barrier across her property, some citizens are concerned that a wall of concertina wire 45 inches high still poses a hazard to those who can’t read the large signs warning of its presence, such as small children and animals.
“The issue to me is harming innocents,” says Elizabeth Petofi. “A bird, a hawk, or a squirrel can run across it, and its feet are cut off before it knows it.”
In 2004, the Hook reported that at least one person and one dog had been injured by Presley’s unusual barrier.
The case, according to Wyatt, isn’t about Presley’s right to string razor wire. “I’m defending her right to be left alone on her property,” Wyatt says.
Petofi says that she was friends in college with a man who had been blinded by a bootlegger’s explosive boobytrap. Such measures are illegal in many jurisdictions and have resulted in civil judgments– even for victims who were trespassing.
“I respected [Presley’s] wanting to keep people off her land,” says Petofi, herself a landowner who has been troubled by trespassers. Nonethess, she notes, “A landowner has certain responsibility if someone gets hurt.”
City attorney Craig Brown says there have been recent discussions about settling the case before it heads back to court. “Until it’s resolved,” he says, “I’d better refrain from talking about razor wire.”
“It will not be resolved with a trail across her property,” predicts Wyatt. “It is not her desire or mine to need razor wire.”
That would suit Petofi, who believes Presley is carrying the Fourth Amendment– the one assuring the right be secure in one’s home– too far. “We certainly have lost all common sense when razor wire is out there,” she says. “[Animals] can’t exactly call 911 and say, ‘I just got my legs amputated.’”
I have never understood why the Big Bad Bully City of Charlottesville thought they could run a public trial through a citizen’s private property. if the case goes to a jury, please let me be on the jury.
Sure, Shirley Presley is best the sort of community member and neighbor that anyone could ask for… If you’re a sadist.
In my understanding neither the RTF nor the City of Charlottesville built a trail across her property. There was already a trail there in use by the local neighborhood. RTF just made the mistake of not going back and checking with all the property owners before they published their map.
Frankly at this point, I’ve got no sympathy for Presley’s loss of property rights. In fact, I think the wise thing for the city to do would simply be to sieze the property with eminent domain and write her a check. After all, if the supreme court is just fine with localities taking land to build Wal-Marts then certainly a community trail is fair game. I’d have felt differently before the razor wire and her taking a good organization like the RTF to court over it (Who has defended her right to her property on several occasions and rerouted the trail).
I suppose though that the more moderate strategy though could be the the city could offer to install a vegitative barrer that’d effectively eliminate the trail. I can think of any number of plants like devils club, honey locust, hawthorn, and others that would make would be hikers think twice without an ounce of razor wire.
It is the RESPONSIBILITY of the city to check property lines. How do you think things would be right now if she had built a driveway two feet on to city property and then said.. well it was an accident.. just get over it and be a good neighbor?
The city probably could have negotiated a deal with her before all of this crap started. Now after all she has been through I hope she wins the 1.5 million and the city learns it’s lesson. It’s just too bad that the people that did this to her can’t be jailed for abuuse of power.
I’m rooting for Presley. It’s my understanding that a City employee had privately threatened the VFW with eminient domain until a Councilor intervened. If people want somewhere to walk, walk on a sideWALK that they own and stop bullying people.
Lonnie, I don’t think you could possibly be more off base on this issue. I’m shocked that you would advocate the abuse of the power of eminent domain to punish someone for having done nothing more than stand up to another abuse of power by the government. The seizure of private property by the government is a drastic step that should come only in rare circumstances where absolutely necessary and after all other reasonable alternatives have been explored, not as a way for a petty bureaucrat to settle a score.
I’m very much rooting for Shirley Presley. I’m still having to deal with a very similar issue myself. In my case the City seized and now claims that it owns part of my private property. There was no legal process, there was no compensation, and I wasn’t even informed about what was happening.
Although the City claims to have the right to do as it pleases with my property, it refuses to acknowledge any responsibilities or liabilities for the property, asserting that those responsibilities are mine. The legal situation that has been forced upon me is complex, potentially very costly, unwelcome, and not in any way my fault. It’s an unsettling situation, especially that it could happen in a city that celebrates its link to Thomas Jefferson and only a few feet from the path that Jefferson took to go to the city.
I have had no luck in getting any help from City Council and City Attorney Craig Brown has never made good on his offer to attempt to find a workable agreement to deal with the problem, but then, Mayor David Brown’s orders to the City Attorney were for him to not look into the matter.
I’d be suing the City too, but I can’t afford the legal costs I’ve been quoted, and I can’t find anyone to represent me pro bono. I’m very glad that Shirley Presley has been able to fight back and I hope she wins.
Here’s a link to more information about my problems. http://readthehook.com/stories/2007/04/12/NEWS-schultz-B.rtf.aspx
“City Attorney Craig Brown is pretty frank about whether Steephill Street is private or public property. ‘I don’t know,’ he says. ‘It seems there are some inconsistencies.’” seems to be the crux of the matter explained in the link above. This is an example of how the City applies some of its laws according to the people involved as opposed to what is law. Disgraceful. If the gentleman was asking for some kind of welfare, they would jump right to it.
Hawks and squirrels and rabbits getting their legs amputated??…….put down the pipe lady. When was the last time you saw a rabbit or squirrel or any other wild animal trapped in a fence, be it chain link, barbed wire, razor wire or any other? As for dogs, well, If you are following the cities leash law you have no worries whatsoever.
The crux of this matter is that the city is completely inconsistent in how it applies its own laws. As Cville Eye mentioned, it all depends on who you are. If you’re on their favorites list (if you’re the “special interest group du jour” or a wealthy developer for instance) well then, it’s carte blanche baby! You can play just as fast and loose with the rules as your little heart desires and staff will turn a blind eye.
The way the city is handling Steephill is yet another black mark on their quickly crumbling reputation. They’ve lost all credibility. And don’t get me started on the majority of the counsel members– their input extends to shrugging and blank stares. They frankly don’t want to hear about anything that will upset their fantasy that we’re a World Class City.
Let’s hope this new bunch will be an improvement. Maybe they’ll have the spine to stand up to the bumbling bureaucrats on staff.
Don’t get off of that Soap Box, please. “it’s carte blanche baby”
I should add that there ARE some very good and ethical people working for the city government. Unfortunately though, they happen to be outnumbered by yes-men, stooges, and toadies.
Time and time again, the government sorta/kinda admits mistakes. Razor Wire, Steephill, and Taking by Typo (which will also have a day in court in January)are all prime examples of this. But then, when the time comes for the city to actually do something about the buggery messes that THEY’VE created, they assume the classic 3 monkeys pose of See, Hear, and Speak No Evil. “Circle the wagons boys, here come the citizens!”
So, where’s the leadership? Anyone know? It’s supposed to be provided by the Mayor and City Council. They are supposed to set the standard and serve as the oversight for the city manager and staff. But sorting these issues out would take some old-fashioned brain work and accountability and, I dunno, ethics perhaps? God forbid that sort of nonsense should cut into any precious ribbon-cutting or proclamation-making time.
Same story as staff here: there ARE definitely good folks on Council, but they’ve been outnumbered by the intellectually lazy, glad-handing, and axe-grinding members. With the sole exception of Norris, if you’re not there in Council chambers to make them feel good about themselves and their pet causes, they have no effin’ use for you. And that’s a fact.