In this case of bloodsport, Kille, in 1997, built a tiny caretaker apartment in a barn being constructed on her farm that is, in total square footage, smaller than many living rooms. She possesses mounds of photos and documents to support her claim that the apartment was built with the town’s knowledge.
The Board of Aldermen insists Kille unlawfully built the apartment sometime after the town inspected the newly built barn in early December 1997. Officials refuse to offer reasonable remedies to resolve the matter. It has chosen, instead, to fire a bazooka at the fly, using — some might say abusing — the awesome power of the government to not just prevail, but to crush the widow Kille, emotionally, spiritually and financially.
Mayoral candidate Brian Voyce, for one, is aghast at the town’s vicious attacks on Kille, and made his feelings known at a candidates forum last week.
“Our town government could have found a simple, non-contentious way to straighten out the mess. Instead, it charged the widow with a conspiracy to hide the apartment, avoiding a more believable case of simple bureaucratic bungling,” he said during the forum.
“Moreover, our town government chose to seek criminal prosecution of this widow, claiming she wrote on a ‘town document’ and intended somehow to defraud the town, a choice that has further lined the pockets of our non-staff town attorney,” Voyce said.
“Not only has our town government refused to support criminal mediation in this widow farm matter, although asked repeatedly, but our officials have been silent since the Assistant DA threw out during the criminal trial sentencing that the widow farmer had ‘mental health problems.’ I was there when that happened,” Voyce said. “I was stunned.
“Why? There wasn’t any presentation of mental health issues during the prosecution of the widow farmer. It wasn’t good enough to prosecute this widow for a crime. Her reputation had to be ruined forever. No one pays attention to a ‘crazy person,’ ” Voyce said.
Labeling political dissidents as mental defectives and silencing them in asylums and psychiatric wards is the sort of tactic that was used in the Soviet bloc and still practiced in China and other totalitarian regimes. Surely this wasn’t the intent of the town or Assistant District Attorney Jeff Nieman, was it?
Before anyone calls Kille crazy, they should inspect the town’s skimpy files on her barn construction process and compare them to Kille’s bountiful records. They should note that Kille has dated documents, plans and receipts outlining the construction of the apartment, some of which are mysteriously absent from the town’s folders. And they should be aware that Kille now has three signed and notarized affidavits from contractors who worked on the apartment confirming her accounts.
The affidavits paint a picture of a bumbling town inspection staff that “did not appear to know applicable building code,” and that resulted in a “put-in-tear-out process [that] cost Mrs. Kille excessive and needless expenses amounting to thousands of dollars.”
The affidavits state “that the apartment existed at the time of the electrical inspection on Dec. 1, 1997 as conducted by Carrboro’s inspector with contractor, Carlin Electric.” They state the “final inspection of the entire structure — of both the apartment and the barn — occurred on/about December 15, 1997,” at which time “a certificate of occupancy was to be issued.” They state “all essential permits were obtained from Carrboro,” were posted onsite and were reviewed by construction staff and town inspectors. And that, “on a routine basis” between September and December 1997, plumbing contractors were observed “installing essential plumbing lines and all components essential to a kitchen [and] bath.”
As the Board of Aldermen attempts to smash her, refusenik Kille might look for encouragement in the words of President Ronald Reagan to 96 dissidents during a U.S.-Soviet summit in Moscow in May 1988: “I came here to give you strength, but it is you who have strengthened me. While we press for human lives through diplomatic channels, you press with your very lives, day in and day out, year after year, risking your homes, your jobs and your all.”
Dan E. Way is editor of The Chapel Hill Herald. Call 918-1035 or e-mail dway@heraldsun.com
