“There’s so much more to country than trucks, creek beds and cut-offs,” reported Rolling Stone. In a recent interview, country veteran Kenny Chesney indicated that the genre has more to offer than just these clichés. The next, well, the same trucks that do all that hard work become vehicles for all manner of bad behavior, often involving alcohol and, well, sex. One minute, we may be hearing about Jesus, apple pie and the dignity of hard work on the farm. Exactly the kind of country that country music frequently exalts as its artists sing the virtues and vices of small-town, rural America.ĭepending on which country singers we’re talking about, the ratio of virtue to vice can vary pretty widely. She answers that they’ve left the city, bought new homes and are trying to do “the best we can to recover.It’s a dismissive, derogatory term coined by coastal dwellers whose planes rarely touch down between New York and Los Angeles or San Francisco and Boston. “A lot of people ask: ‘How are you all doin’? … How are your neighbors? How did you survive this?’” she said of recent appearances in connection with the movie. Although Kelo doesn’t live there, she says she thinks about her former home and her legal fight often. Disassembled and moved but still painted pink, it stands on New London’s Franklin Street. Kelo’s little pink house was ultimately saved. More than anything, he said, the story is a cautionary tale about two sides becoming so polarized they couldn’t find a middle ground. #GROWIN UP IN LITTLE PINK HOUSES MOVIE#Passero, a Democrat who grew up in the city, said while the movie vilifies the development corporation, he believes the people behind it had good motives, though they also made mistakes. Passero said that’s now helping spur development. But submarine builder General Dynamics Electric Boat now occupies its former facility with many more employees, said New London Mayor Michael Passero. Pfizer announced in 2009 that it would leave New London. And despite the lengthy legal battle, her land still stands empty. Those changes didn’t help Kelo, who had to move. Justice Antonin Scalia, who dissented from the decision, ranked it among the court’s biggest mistakes.Īfter the decision, more than 20 states significantly revised their laws to make it more difficult to take property through eminent domain, said Dana Berliner, litigation director for the Institute for Justice. Stevens, the Supreme Court justice who authored the opinion, has acknowledged it was the most unpopular one he wrote. “I want people to walk away thinking about if that’s right,” Balaker said. They agreed the use of eminent domain was permitted. The justices wrote that the city had carefully crafted a development plan it believed would benefit the community. The two others - John Paul Stevens and David Souter - have since retired. Three justices who sided with the city - Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer and Anthony Kennedy - are still on the court. In 2005, the Supreme Court ruled against Kelo 5-4. She compared her story to that of Erin Brockovich, a nonlawyer and divorced mother of three who took on utility company PG&E over contaminated groundwater in Hinkley, California, inspiring a 2000 movie. The group was also instrumental in the new movie’s making, bringing a book about the case to the attention of filmmakers Courtney Moorehead Balaker and Ted Balaker.Ĭourtney Balaker, the movie’s writer and director, said she was “blown away” by Kelo’s case but also by Kelo herself. The Virginia-based Institute for Justice represented her and the other homeowners. “She was just fearless,” said Catherine Keener, who plays Kelo in the movie. They acknowledged eminent domain could be used to take their homes for public uses such as a road or military base, but they argued the planned development didn’t count. Kelo thought that was wrong, and she and a small group of other homeowners took on the city. To get it done, the city authorized the use of eminent domain. A hotel, housing, office space, restaurants and shopping were planned. New London hoped Pfizer’s move could help revitalize the city and, with the help of a private nonprofit development corporation, sought to redevelop land near the facility. Shortly after she moved in, pharmaceutical manufacturer Pfizer announced it would move in nearby, building a research facility that opened in 2001. She found it in the 100-year-old cottage. Divorced and with five grown sons, she was looking for a place of her own. Kelo wasn’t looking for a fight when she bought her house overlooking the Thames River in 1997 and had it painted Odessa Rose pink. Kelo, who was in Washington this week to speak about the film, said what city and state officials did “ripped our hearts out.”
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