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The crowd erupted in laughter and cheers as Von Winkle blasted his horn and parked right in front of Goebel’s house, revving up the protestors to chant even more loudly.

Susette didn’t know how she would have survived the eight-year struggle without Mitchell and Von Winkle. Every time she had felt ready to give up, they had shown up to steady her with their audacity.

Von Winkle hadn’t come alone. John Steffian emerged from the passenger seat, carrying his own sign, which quoted the English poet John Milton: “A dismal universal hiss, the sound of public scorn.”

Mitchell loved it. Only John Steffian would bring Milton to a street fight in a Humvee operated by a cigar-chomping funny man dressed up like Patton.

“We need to make more noise,” one of the protestors shouted.

Cars passing by started honking while people yelled out the windows, “Give them back their houses!” and, “Eminent domain sucks!”

A lazy Sunday afternoon in New London’s most upscale neighborhood had turned into an irreverent street exhibition. Since the demonstration remained peaceful and didn’t damage property or obstruct traffic, the police let it proceed without interference. Before long, press photographers showed up on Goebel’s lawn to record the spectacle, and a reporter knocked on his door, seeking his reaction. “It was a very good lesson for my grandson in constitutional law,” he told the reporter.

The retired admiral did not look amused.

42

BLINDSIDED

September 13, 2005

Rich Beyer was working when he got a call from his tenant in Fort Trumbull, reporting he had received a notice from the NLDC indicating he had to vacate his apartment. “What is this?” the tenant asked.

Beyer dropped what he was doing and drove to the apartment building to examine the document. It was an eviction notice. Beyer’s tenants had ninety days to vacate.

Beyer called Von Winkle and asked if his tenants had received eviction notices. Von Winkle checked and confirmed they had not. But the Cristofaro family and Byron Athenian had.

Beyer got the picture. The three property owners on Parcel 3 of the NLDC’s development plan had been targeted. But what about Governor Rell’s moratorium? Per request of the governor, all eminent-domain actions in the state were supposed to be on hold until the legislature completed its review. The eviction notices strongly indicated to the homeowners that the NLDC no longer cared what the governor or the legislature said.

Beyer was furious. He and Von Winkle agreed it was time to get Bullock involved. Beyer called him.

At first, Bullock thought Beyer had to be mistaken. But when Beyer read Bullock the notice, he realized it was true. On top of serving eviction papers, the NLDC was also demanding monthly occupancy fees and liability insurance during the interim.

Bullock calmly assured Beyer and the others that the institute would fight the evictions. Then he grabbed Berliner and stormed into Kramer’s office and blew his stack. “These bastards never cease to amaze me,” he said, insisting it was time to drop the hammer on Goebel and Joplin.

The three of them quickly worked up a press release and sent it off to all the Connecticut media. “The NLDC’s actions are breathtaking in their arrogance and defiance of the wishes of Governor Rell and Connecticut’s legislature,” Bullock said. “The NLDC is an unelected, unaccountable body that has been given the government’s eminent domain power and is out of control. It is time Connecticut’s political leaders at the state and local levels reel in this group.”

Joplin and Goebel didn’t appreciate the institute’s attack. Goebel implied that the moratorium pledge his agency had taken applied only to new condemnation actions—not the ones involved in the Supreme Court case. “There are no new takings,” he told the press. “All this was done five years ago, and now the Supreme Court has ruled. The city has been extremely patient waiting for this to go through the court system. Now that this is done, we’re implementing the decision.”

Joplin