Our Sacrosanct Homes

What are our most sacred possessions? Obviously ourselves, our families, and our health would top the list. For most people, the most precious material possessions are their homes, especially for the ones who have lived in them for many years amd have spent much of their lives improving and fine-tuning them to specifically match their needs and lifestyles.

For this reason, a home should NEVER be violated. Invading a person’s home is an absolute NO. Everybody has a RIGHT to protect his home from intruders by whatever means necessary.

Trespassers come in all forms—from the harmless and trivial all the way up to the absolutely devastating.

A legitimate tresspass must be PHYSICAL. A neighbor’s property that is unsightly or an “eyesore” is not a trespass. If you can’t tolerate what a neighbor does with his own property, then buy a home in a place that has an intrusive homeowner’s association or other regulatory agency. However, I’m a believer in live and let live. If your neighbor’s lifestyle is different, respect it. Being likewise respected, left alone and away from tyranny has a much higher value.

The mildest trespassing could be just walking across the edge of your property, like a kid taking a short cut from school. Most people would not object to it. Of course, if done repeatedly, to be neighborly, one should ask permission.

Some parts of Europe actually have laws that allow this kind of “trespass” for hiking and recreation, as long as they maintain reasonable distances from homes and other personal property.

A few trespasses are accidental. When the roads are icy, motorists can sometimes spin off and make a rut in a front lawn. Avoid legal action. Work out a peaceful settlement and move on.

Next up would be hunting or fishing without permission. Some people might strongly object; others may not bother if it doesn’t happen very often. Once again, whenever possible, do the neighborly thing and work it out.

Beyond these, we have criminal trespassing—anything that involves theft and / or willful damage or destruction. It can range anywhere from criminal mischief and pilfering up to grand theft and / or arson and serious destruction. Any of these deserve fines and / or time in prison.

Really wicked trespassers include child molesters, rapists, arsonists, terrorists, and armed robbers. They also include HOME INVADERS—people who forcibly break into and loot homes. Some have encountered the owners and held them hostage, and some have even injured or killed them.

Other acts of trespassing are comitted by various GOVERNMENT agencies—from pesky homeowners’ associations to abusive tax increases, and even more abusive restrictions and mandates.

Many cities, some counties, and even a few states hate people who like to live independently off the grid. They mandate permits (official “permission”) for things people do on their own property and also mandate connecting to government-run sources of power, water, sewage, etc. They frown on independent solar power collectors, especially those that feed power back into the grid. Some frown on vegetable gardens and chicken coops. They dislike homestead water wells, and sometimes even prohibit collecting rain water. This is one of the worst forms of trespassing. It is a violation of every American’s right to live his own lifestyle, especially one that is practical and affordable.

One of the most heinous government violations took place in 1998 by historic Covington, GA, where The Dukes of Hazzard and In the Heat of the Night were filmed. City authorities decided to enforce housing codes for rental property. But they claimed that a judge also ordered that private homes had to be treated likewise—that all electrical systems and devices had to meet their interpretations of current nitpicky electrical codes— “right down to the temperature in the refrigerator.”

Homeowners were mailed notices to call the city and arrange appointments. Many said, “Absolutely NO,” and refused to allow authoritative strangers to invade their homes. The city sent police officers to force the occupants outside while officials performed the “inspections.” Owners who “failed” were evicted from their own homes and not allowed to return until all “discrepancies” had been “corrected” at their expense.

A few of the residents moved into their camping trailers. Others set up and lived in tents in their back yards. Covington officers also forced these out—literally making them homeless.

Needless to say, many of the homeowners were absolutely LIVID. So was Atlanta’s legendary radio talk show host, NEAL BOORTZ. He and his listeners spent several days broadcasting Covington’s atrocities all over Georgia and surrounding states.

We might think the above list covers all of the destruction that violators could commit, but there are bigger criminals that top them all—PREDATORY LAWYERS. You can find these ambulance chasers everywhere on billboards and TV commercials. They typically boldly announce “Injured?” and/or “Big Settlement.” There are probably several hundred of them in Alabama and Georgia alone.

Many people think they only gouge money from the insurance companies. That may be true in about half of the cases, especially with trucking companies that carry million dollar coverages—far beyond what a legitimate claim could be.

Even when only the insurance companies get hit, everybody, including low income people, also suffer from forced higher insurance rates.

But the real devastation stems from outrageous claims that extend far beyond fair amounts for minor fender benders and normal insurance policies. A typical person’s auto liability insurance covers $25,000 per passenger and $50,000 per accident—ample for a routine accident. But predatory lawyers sometimes pad their claims up to 1000% or even more.

Never forget, these insane judgements are for bona fide accidents, NOT for intentional malice.

At a stroke of a pen, most of a person’s property can get hijacked to finance greedy lawyers, exspensive advertising, and huge payoffs to lustful clients who will likely blow their windfalls on casinos and exotic vacations.

A defendant can suffer a catastrophic debt that could exceed his entire net worth and even much of his future income. The lawyer places a lien against everything he owns—his bank account, his wages, his investments, and even his HOME. He literally transforms a responsible middle-class citizen into a homeless destitute. His livelihood is destroyed. His family can be homeless and penniless. His friends will be burdened to help support him. And he could even die before he could ever re-gain his former, independence. The lawyer could actually be more merciful if he grabbed Clint Eastwood’s .44 magnum and blew his head clean off.

Do lawsuit predators even have a conscience? What does God think of their catastrophic actions? He is probably very angry. No doubt, he has a great deal of wrath stored up for these merchants of misery—greedy parasites who practice law to destroy the livelihoods of multitudes of innocent people. God has probably reserved a maximum security armageddon in Hell specifically for them.

WHY do these lawyers have to be so CRUEL? Even donating millions of dollars to churches would never rectify even one wicked action like this.

Several states (TX, FL, etc.) have strong exemptions to protect homeowners 100% from lawsuit abuses. But Alabama only covers $18,000. That won’t even leave enough to buy a shack in the woods.

To protect themselves, wealthy people are obligated to purchase and maintain expensive (Nevis or Cook Islands) offshore trusts to avoid lawsuits. These are beyond the practical reach of middle and low income people.

But WHY doesn’t our own justice system provide this protection? That is the PURPOSE of a justice system.

ANYBODY can be a victim of this devastating “legal” practice. WHY do we tolerate it? WHEN are we going to protect people and their homes from catastropes like this?

One of the most serious legal reforms Alabama needs is to protect everybody 100% from these professional extortionists. We need strong laws to LIMIT lawsuit damages to fair and reasonable amounts.

Better yet, why don’t we enact a FEDERAL law to protect everybody nationwide?

SOURCES

1. Why These 5 States Are Cracking Down on Off Grid Living.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJ08FMr_q3I

2. Neal Boortz Show 03-12-1998, Forced Home Inspections? AM-750 WSB Atlanta GA. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tB4Vdvx1p0A

3. One Lawsuit Can Wipe You Out – Here’s How to Stop It.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mudncx0ZZ0&t=1086s

4. $100 Fender Bender Becomes $5,000,000 Lawsuit — How Not to Be a Target https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvlFOQhTUH4&t=601s

5. How Lawyers Hunt Your Money.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icxp8ZtRp20

THE VIEWS OF SUBMITTED EDITORIALS MAY NOT BE THE EXPRESS VIEWS OF THE ALABAMA GAZETTE.