DelDOT thugs like Bad Santa's

Families in Radnor Green/Ashbourne Hills, a blue collar community in Claymont, Delaware are surveying the damage caused by DelDOT employees who, in Grinch like fashion ripped their recreation literally from the ground.  Like the little town of Whoville that was terrorized by a Grinch whose heart was an empty hole, residents in Claymont were terrorized by a nanny state run amuck.

Sure, the month was March and DelDOT uses trucks not sleds, but the song below accurately describes the actions of the State of Delaware's Department of Transportation and their feelings on the situation:

While it might seem funny when you read comments like those above, the real facts and the lives affected by the actions of an oppressive government don't leave much room for laughter.  While there have indeed been dissenting opinions on this, most rational people agree, government was in the wrong.  Some have blamed the owners for not complying with the government order to move their property (some of these poles had been in place for 40+ years) despite the fact that the families had followed the correct process to challenge the law, while others have insisted the blame rests with the government but that it should be limited to those who passed the law and passed along the work order to the ground workers.  Normally I would agree with that second group but I have had a week to see what the DelDOT ground workers actually think. 

The link above will take you to a Facebook page I created for discussion about the incident.  I expected the DelDOT workers to defend their actions but I was not prepared for the utter contempt they held for the property owners or for the legal process that made their enforcement questionable.  Further discussions would show the true colors of Delaware's public workforce: It doesn't matter what they do, what they say or how they affect your life because THEY are union and THEY enforce the law, no matter how wrong or unconstitutional it is. 

You need to keep that mindset in mind when you read the rest of this story.  To government workers, WE THE PEOPLE are not their bosses, we are the sheep that they must corral.  They don't care that we, the larger populace, provide their salaries because they see it as "earned" and they don't see the need to answer to US because they have Union leaders and government management and bureaucrats telling them that they don't.  They feel untouchable because laws are written to protect them.

That's why they felt no remorse in turning Radnor Green upside down last week.  You see, until last week, when DelDOT stormed the neighborhood with dump trucks, pickups, flatbeds and front end loaders on a mission to rip out basketball poles that were too close to the road according to a questionable law passed in 2005, the neighborhood kids had enjoyed playing on their hoops almost every day.

Last week, all that changed when DelDOT employees stormed the neighborhood and yanked the poles.  Despite the plea's from the owners to leave the pole on their property, and a promise from a State Police Officer to the contrary, DelDOT workers removed the poles to their service center and demanded that residents (some of whom were not home when their property was taken) pick up their property from the DelDOT yard.  DelDOT is facing a $1 Billion shortfall within the next 5 years without spending cuts or revenue enhancements (toll/tax/fee increases) but for some reason, this was seen as a good use of tax payer dollars:

While this issue is FAR from over, this is likely the last time you will see much in the mainstream media about it.  Yesterday afternoon, the McCafferty family, who has led the charge to get their pole and hoop returned to them, discovered the grim reality.  Not only did the DelDOT workers lie, cheat and steal to get the poles, they also decided to destroy them.  Every single backboard was in one piece when it was PLUCKED from the neighborhood yet, every single one of them now is destroyed.  Here are some images of the poles as we found them yesterday:

Every single backboard has a hole in it, poles were damaged and the DelDOT employees couldn't care less.  As you'll see in the video below, they stood on the other side of the yard, smugly video taping as Rep. Bryon Short and I used our personal pickup trucks to transport what it took them 2 dumps, a front end loader, a flat bed, 3 pickups and 5 police officers to transport.  But then again, I do always say that the private market is more efficient than government almost 100% of the time.  I'll leave you with this final video from the crew over at the News Journal:


Update: Pastor Dowell is standing up to show that this is a national movement!  We've had ENOUGH of government employees taking liberty and property from people...and then pretending like it's just their job.