Readers Watchdog: Was my land targeted for eminent domain?
“Ginger Harry’s father and grandfather each lost their land to Lake Red Rock, the huge Marion County reservoir built decades ago by the federal government for flood control.
Her grandfather died just three months after being forced from the land where he’d spent his whole life.
Harry’s father saved for years afterward, buying up new land piece by piece until he had more than 400 acres in the same county.
Before he died at 91, Harry assured her father there was no way she would sell it.
“I have been trying hard to have everything set up so my own children can keep it,” she said.
So imagine how Harry felt when, in January, she received a letter saying the Central Iowa Water Association was moving forward with a wastewater treatment facility — and a parcel of Harry’s land was chosen for the new sewage lagoon.
Furthermore, the association said it could now take the land with new powers of eminent domain granted under a service agreement with Marion County.”
Rood, Lee. The Des Moines Register 29 November 2014.