Faith, Beer, and Other Things That Interest Geoff

Furious over the recent Supreme Court ruling that lets local governments grab private property for new development, a gadfly yesterday asked a New Hampshire town to seize the home of Justice David Souter.
Logan Darrow Clements sent a letter to the town of Weare, N.H., proposing to build "The Lost Liberty Hotel" and "Just Desserts Cafe" on Souter's property.

"The justification for such an eminent domain action is that our hotel will better serve the public interest as it will bring in economic development," he wrote. Clements, who runs a California media company, added, "This is not a prank."

His crusade was not on the agenda of the town's selectmen last night, but "they've gotten hundreds and hundreds of faxes and E-mails about this," said Republican state Rep. Neal Kurk.

Souter was one of the five justices who ruled it was legal for New London, Conn., to raze a working class neighborhood to make way for upscale development.