This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
What does freedom truly mean? And what does the right to own property matter to the hungry transportation systems now threatening to take our homes, lives, freedoms and property away from us?
The Utah Department of Transportation has clearly not answered these questions in the matter of route selection for a west Davis County highway. And why? Why are they proposing to build on the east side of the power lines, when there is, at the very least, miles of open land to the west?
Because they feel that the everyday lives of the people living in more than 58 homes are less valuable than the lives of a few frogs and birds.
When did our society and companies get so off track? When did we decide that instead of going and battling the environmentalists, we would reach over and bully the homeowners who don't have the money nor the time to battle this strike against our freedom?
But we as the owners of the homes that are going to be demolished have a few things to say to UDOT. First, we don't need this corridor!
We in West Kaysville are only, at tops, 10 minutes away from the interstate. If UDOT truly wants to scratch that building itch of theirs, go over and build a highway in West Haven or Roy where they actually need one.
Don't come stomping through our lives and build some overpriced walking trail and road that we don't need or want.
Besides, UDOT cannot afford it! UDOT officials think the only money problems in this scenario are on our shoulders? Sure, we don't have $1 million or $2 million to spend on a lawsuit to stop this. That's why we were picked to bully in the first place.
But UDOT doesn't have that kind of money to go and battle the environmentalists, let alone enough money to build a multimillion-dollar road system.
Most of us in our homes are trying to wait out the economic storm.
And just when we see the sunlight, UDOT comes in like a dark cloud to blot it out. If we are battling a storm, then what must other taxpayers be feeling?
UDOT shouldn't think it has picked an easy target to deal with.
We are not going to simply back down and wait to see the shadow of bulldozers cross our front threshold.
We as citizens may not have the right to keep our property in the event of eminent domain, but we do have the right to petition and to let the government and UDOT know that we do not approve. I hope those who read this will see the injustice of this and act now.
Abby Thatcher is an eighth-grader at Kaysville Junior High and lives in a home on one of the routes being considered by UDOT for a west-Davis highway.