What comes first the chicken or the egg, or State or village?

Published 6:43 pm Wednesday, April 29, 2009

By Staff
To the Editor:
For 10 years I have complained of having a continous trespass with water on my property at 202 E. State St., Cassopolis.
MDOT said it is the fault of the Village for not having adequate drainage on the southeast corner of M-60 and Rowland Street. The Village said M-60 is the cause of the run-off. But, I was unable to get either government to come together and reconcile their flooding in order to save my property. In its plans to resurface Rowland Street, the Village condemned my property for code violations.
Ironically, the violations are the result of the water damage the governments did not abate. I have been told the condemnation is my fault for not keeping my property maintained. I have the documents to prove the facts of my allegation. More than that, sight of the building alone is proof positive of the water damage.
I was given an almost impossible task to prove that the inaction of the Village in this travesty was not justified. The onus should not have been placed on me to prove a negative; to spend money to maintan what goverment is seen destroying. It's an assigned function of Village government to drain all storm water falling on its streets, and keep it from flowing on private property. If it calls itself right after being shown its error, the Village administration is no more than a socialist collective; a self enclosed idiom. In all, I am right, and I prefer justice.
Cassopolis