The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1899-06-03
PRIVATE PROPERTY AND Pun
Lie USE.

What Law is IL in regard to To-
wees that Messrs Skinner, Wasson,
Montgomery and Bats are TO have
changed, and what change is to be
made in the lawl The Levee Board
saw fit TO locate its levees on what
is known as the Huntington
Short Line" route, and in doing
so built across Black Bayou, dam
ming up the drainage of the en-
tire area embraced between the
two lines of levees, about 5000
acres of cleared land, owned by
worthy people who had been since
the organization of the levee sys-
tenn contributors by taxation to its
support
The constitution OF 1890 pro-
vided that private property
should not be taken OF damaged
for public use, without due COM
pensation first made" The land
owners damaged after having fail
ed in their efforts to induce the
Board to change the line, conced-
ing that the Board had the power
to locate the levee whore it saw fit,
asked that their damages might be
assessed by some tribunal appoint
ed by law. This right the consti-
tuition gave them, and for the ex-
ercise of it no one can blame them.
The Board would not summon
tho Commissioners created to as
sess levee damages, although the
constitution placed upon them the
onus of compensating the party
who was damaged by the building
of o leEee, so the land owners
themselves petitioned that these
commissioners might be assembled
for the purpose of ascertalning to
what extent they were damaged.
The Board did not deny that the
building of the leyee damaged the
land owners, but objected to the
Commissioners assessing the dam
age, because they had 20 iprisdio-
tion to 30 so. This contention
seems not only unsound in law,
but an qnwise one to have been
made by the Board, for if the
Commissioners had no power to
assess the damages done there was
no tribunal created by the law to
do SO, and the Board was proceed
ing in violation of the constitution
when they inflicted the damages.
Barred by the action of the Board
itself of the opportunity Of sub
hitting their claim for damages to
a jury, the land owners asked the
court of Chancery to enjoln the
Board in the construction of the
levee until It had complied with
the constitution of the State, and
first compensated them for the
damages done to them The peo-
pie of the district believe that the
Levee Board should be allowed to
locate its line of levee whore its
think best, but they al
so believe that the property owner
whose property has been taken or
by such location is en-
titled to have his damages ascer-
tanned and paid in accordance with
the constitution and laws of the
State. Whatever delay has been
Incident to the closing of the
Huntington Short Line has been
'ccasloned by the action of the
1evee Board, and the effort to
make political capital out of a law
uit in order to help a weak ticket
md bad cause by censuring or
'ndeavoring to str up feeling
.gainst attorneys who are simply |
sserting to the best of their abili-
y their clients rights. under the |
constitution and laws of the State,
an but react against those who |
re driven to such a. desperate ex-
'edient. The law in the case was
lain; the blunder was in the
Board pbjecting to tho enforce
1ent of it. Does the McLaurin
Icket propose to enact a statute
hat the Leyee Boa rd shall here
fter understand the lazy, and not
iunder in reference to IT, or to
hange the constitution and permit
he Board to take or damage pri-
ate property without compensat-
lg the land owners therefore
The Campbell Thomas Larkln-