'Big government at its worst'

Richard Hanners' Oct. 20 front-page article in the Whitefish Pilot entitled "Left-turn signal held up in court - American Bank built too close to the roadway" failed to present the facts relating to Montana Department of Transportation's (MDT) suit to condemn a portion of the northwest corner of Second St. and Baker Ave.

We wish that Hanners had contacted us to obtain vital information concerning the condemnation, but he did not. Here are the facts of record omitted from Hanners' article:

The construction of American Bank's building is totally within the property owned by the bank and in full compliance with the building permit issued by the City of Whitefish.

MDT seeks to condemn a portion of the sidewalk in front of the bank - not a part of the bank building. The bank reduced the size of the sidewalk to accommodate MDT when it began construction.

MDT authorized the bank to proceed with construction as it presently exists. In a letter from an MDT attorney dated Oct. 31, 2002, we were told, "The purpose of this letter is to advise you that MDT does not object to construction of the bank and sidewalk pursuant to the revised plans."

Three weeks later, MDT rescinded the authorization — for the only time in the memory of MDT's chief engineer.

The condemnation pits the safety of pedestrians against the occasional right-turning semi. According to sworn testimony, MDT's traffic study showed one semi made the turn during the course of its study.

MDT admitted during the hearing that they had not done a study of pedestrian traffic at the corner.

According to sworn MDT testimony, the department has never received a complaint from a trucker, a trucking company or a private citizen about right-turn conditions at this corner.

This condemnation is being done solely to accommodate large-truck traffic making a right turn onto Second St. from Baker. MDT seeks no such condemnation on the City Hall corner, even though virtually every semi on Baker had to turn in front of City Hall while only a small number turn right in front of the northwest corner.

MDT in sworn testimony stated, "We've been running along fat, dumb and happy, for lack of a better term, thinking that [large trucks are allowed to go north of Second on Spokane] … until I believe it was yesterday (Oct. 3, 2005)." That is powerful testimony as to how attuned MDT is to truck traffic exiting a federal highway and accessing a secondary highway in Whitefish.

MDT did not deny during the hearing that (not considering the occasional right-turning semi) the intersection reconfiguration can go forward now without the condemnation. The left-turn signal can be installed at anytime if MDT chooses to do so.

MDT offered to compensate the bank at 40 percent of the bank's purchase price for the most valuable portion of our land.

Why is it important that we oppose MDT? Because someone must stand up against this abuse. MDT, by statute, possesses great power in taking land from others. They benefit from a "rebuttable presumption" when it comes to proving the necessity of the taking of private property.

In other words, they do not have to prove that they need the private property, the private property owner must prove that MDT does not need it. For the average citizen, the economics of fighting big government can be staggering. After all, private parties must pay for attorneys, while at the same time they have their tax dollars used to pay state employees that seek to expropriate their own property.

This is big government at its worst. The state of Montana has done nearly everything possible to tortuously interfere with the building of our bank.

It started when they attempted to get the city to revoke our building permit. It continued when MDT told us that we would not be allowed to wash the bank's windows from the sidewalk unless we consented to the condemnation. It progressed to MDT temporarily suspending construction on our site at a crucial moment.

MDT then moved on to rescinding its written approval for us to proceed with the project. Next was the bad faith offer to acquire the property at 40 percent of the known purchase price. After that, MDT attempted a fraudulent "quick take" seizure of our property. And lastly, to slurring us in filed court documents by referring to us as North Korean like.

What ever happened to limited government? We hope that these facts and the picture present a more complete version of the story.

Leon Royer is the president of American Bank, headquartered in Bozeman.