Schultz certified: Enviro ‘attack’ goes to grand jury
Write a letter to the editor
Rob Schilling captured the arrest of Louis Schultz, and says city workers “didn’t seem frightened at all.”PHOTO COURTESY ROB SCHILLING
A judge found Louis Schultz’s use of his car to stop city workers from fixing a sewer line intentional enough to send an attempted malicious wounding charge to a grand jury
“He looked angry and crazy,” said Steven Todd Morris, the Charlottesville Public Utilities employee in charge of the April 29 repair on Steephill Street in Woolen Mills.
In Charlottesville General District Court today, Morris described watching a backhoe on Steephill, the narrow, contested street that borders Schultz’s Market Street property, when an employee said, “Here comes Mr. Schultz.”
Morris said he saw Schultz’s car barreling down the hill toward him, jumped out of the way, and told the backhoe operator to put the bucket down as a protective measure. “When I turned around to get away from the car, I could have reached out to touch it with my arm,” he said, estimating his distance from the car. “I jumped out of the way, and it was still moving.”
After going nose-to-nose with the backhoe, Schultz, testified Morris, remained in his car and took pictures of the scene “with a crazed look on his face.”
Schultz did not testify, but his lawyer, Bonnie Lepold, argued that Schultz wasn’t trying to “maim, disfigure or kill”— intent the law requires to secure a conviction— when he drove his car on Steephill. “It may amount to civil disobedience,” Lepold said, “not to a felony.”
Judge Robert Downer disagreed, and certified the Class 5 felony charge to an October 18 grand jury. “Clearly, Mr. Morris was extremely frightened,” observed Downer.
Not everyone’s so convinced that Schultz had mayhem in mind.
“It sounds absolutely ridiculous to me,” says radio host Rob Schilling, who arrived at the scene of the dispute in April shortly after Schultz drove his car up to the backhoe.
“I saw workers ambling from the scene,” says Schilling, who began videotaping the incident. “I’m sure if they thought they’d be hurt, they’d be scrambling rather than ambling.”
Schultz’s history of disputes with the city goes back nearly a decade when he was cited for not cutting his grass. Schultz maintained he was creating an environmentally healthier riparian buffer. And in 2006, green-leaning Charlottesville acknowledged the benefits of such buffers in its ordinances.
Shultz also was arrested on Steephill in 2004 when a neighbor tried to pave the murkily titled thoroughfare, part of which Schultz contends he owns.
“I believe this whole thing is about making an example of him,” says Schilling, “when he’s standing up for his property rights in a visible way. The city is making an example of him.”
After he spends a few thousand$$$ fighting this, he’ll be just another little mouse, afraid to stick his head up too much, lest it be mistaken for a nail.
I’m picturing RS speeding to the scene, wearing a mask, cape and union suit, and carrying a video camera…
Is it impossible for the state and local governments (as well as the news industry) to determine who owns the portion of land Schultz claims to own?
Is this too difficult of a task for the entirety of the masses of State and local cubicle jockeys?
once again the city workers try to step on the little guy with assistance from their masters. when will cville stop messing with law-abiding property owners who dilligently develop and maintain their property and in mr Schultz’s case, far better than the city maintains its own city yard. trying to intimidate mr. schultz with backhoes, police protection and now a willing court only highlights the inequity in representation private citizens have when fighting city hall.
mr. schultz isn’t some kook survivalist or even a violent person, he’s just protecting his property and liberty. last time i looked that’s what happened when we had a revolution in this short-sighted country. with all the resources, attorneys and bureaucrats cville couldn’t find a peaceful way to mediate this or even give mr. schultz the discovery documents he needed to fight back. shame cville, shame on the city workers and public works department, and shame on city council for not investigating this matter properly. you may have burnished your reputation for pushing people around but the truth has a funny way of outing you in the end.
A functioning sewer system is overrated anyway.
So when the city doesn’t repair the sewer line and the sewage backs-up and raw sewage starts to come out of that line because Mr. Schultz succeeded in stopping them, I hope he doesn’t ask the City to help him out. I only hope his neighbors don’t suffer because of his ignorance.
So when the City doesn’t repair the sewer line and sewage backs-up and raw sewage starts to come out of that line because Mr. Schultz succeeded in stopping them, I hope he doesn’t ask the City to help him out. I only hope his neighbors don’t suffer because of his ignorance.
Ha Ha Rob Schilling quoted. He’s the one who calls Charlottesville the “Socialist Democratic Republic”. Goofy.
http://www.zazzle.com/dsrc_mao_postcard-239610195206811830