DISD’s board was warned that trying to exercise eminent domain over the Catholic cemetery at Calvary Hill wasn’t going to work. But the arrogance of public officials seems boundless. Well, almost boundless. In that same News story Tim quoted about the Booker T. dustup, down at the bottom, is this small notation:
Also at Thursday’s board meeting, trustees approved paying $1.2 million to settle a lawsuit with the Catholic Church. The district began eminent domain proceedings two years ago to force the sale of 25 undeveloped acres at Calvary Hill Cemetery to build two schools. The district spent at least $865,000 in legal fees to fight the case.
It wasn’t the Catholic Church that beat back the DISD (don’t expect that kind of competence from the legal team at the Diocese of Dallas). It was a non-Catholic named Sunny Letot whose family once ranched on the land the DISD wanted and who proved that it had been used as a family graveyard in the 19th century–making it off-limits by state law.
