[WhatWuzThatBlue]

The ALL DAY SUNDAY comment about being unconstitutional is funny. Some of us with grey hair remember that Sunday used to be off limits in many places. In the South, Blue Laws used to forbid much of anything from happening. Carl can comment, but it wasn't that long ago that many towns in Texas forbade their stores from being open on Sunday. Heck, even up above the Mason Dixon line we had limited functions on the seventh day.

My comment to EMD is made only out of curiosity - I have no professional knowledge of eminent domain. The Supreme Court just struck down a complaint against eminent domain, if I'm not mistaken. This would seem to embolden many of the fifty to enact stricter ordinances and permit quick claims.

Again, I'm not an expert on these laws, but I can recall a rather lucrative 'adult' business in one of the Chicago suburbs. It had been around for close to fifty years, having been built originally in an unincorporated area. As the town grew around it and the land was absorbed by the municipality, the new town fathers had a pang of guilt and decided to condemn the activity and tear down the building. A rather ugly legal battle ensued; the neighbors of the establishment claimed their property values suffered and that the nuisance of the establishment blighted the community. Judge after judge sided with the village, even the the business was older than all but one of the new village trustees! Down came the business and a nice strip mall went up. Instead of jiggly girls they get nails, dry cleaning, slurpees and a mattress store. Doesn't it seem that villages do this type of crap all of the time? Now the states are getting into the act. I've seen an awful lot of farms get gobbled up in the name of highways. Those families may have been working the land since Teddy was president, but the state seems to be able to justify that pretty well. Are you sure?