LETTER: PRIVATE-PROPERTY BILL IS A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION

To the editor:

At long last, Congress is turning away from pandering to Green activists and is doing something to help America's landowners.

Congressman Billy Tauzin (D-La.) is pushing for a floor vote on his bill, HR 3875, the Property Bill Of Rights. The bill has 156 cosponsors and needs 90 more to force a vote.

It is shameful that a bill such as this needs to be proposed. Private property rights already are guaranteed by the Constitution and Bill of Rights. But an always hungry Green movement and their agents within government have been chipping away at property rights and individual freedoms. Every time another rare bug is discovered, a Green group, backed by armed federal agents, decides that the bug must be protected by taking away someone's land to create yet another bug wildlife protection area. "In this sense, the theory of the Communist may be summed up in the single sentence: abolition of private property," is what Karl Marx had to say on land rights issues in the Communist Manifesto.

HR 3875 requires that endangered species and wetlands actions that are undertaken be done in a manner which will minimize impact on private property owners. Written consent of private property owners will be required before federal officials can enter to gather information under ESA or wetlands rules, and property owners have the right to see and to dispute that information and to appeal decisions. Compensation to property owners must be paid by the government if ESA or wetlands actions reduce property value by 50 percent or more. Private property owners must be included in agreements between federal and state governments which seek to manage land under ESA and which will affect the value of private property.

It should come as a huge shock that the U.S. Supreme Court voted only 5-4 in favor of property rights in the June 24, 1994, decision on Dolan v. Trigard. U.S. citizens came within one vote of losing private property rights in that case, yet the 5th Amendment is very clear on the matter: "No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, within due process of law, nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation." The 5-4 vote shows plainly that four of our Supreme Court judges are Green activists and are ignorant of the Constitution they agreed to support.

I think that HR 3875 should mandate payment for ALL loss of property value due to government actions on ESA and wetlands, and that payment should be in the form of a RENTAL instead of a purchase which takes away partial property rights. But HR 3875 is a big step in the right direction. Tell your people in Congress to support this bill.

WILLIAM F. JUD

Fredericktown