re: Sometimes reasonable men must do unreasonable things. 4 June 2004

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The government came and told him he had to abide by the same laws and ordinances

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For me, the issue is that the Gov has too much control over what it can do with your property. I am sure Marvin felt the same way.

I live outside the city limits, so I called yesterday to see what the law was regarding building a shop. They measured my guest house on Google Maps and told me I had two options. To either declare my guest house as a secondary house by getting it a 911 address, which would lead to more property taxes and a separate insurance policy, or to let it count towards my 2000 sq ft auxiliary building limit. You can only have 2000 sq ft of roof, not connected to your house. I am on over an acre, so I have the room, yet I am limited. I can't build any additional roof line that doesn't share a common wall with my main house.

She claimed it had to do with water shed, etc. When she brought that up, I mentioned how the new school and golf course they built 2 miles from me has caused way more flooding issues than my shop ever could; she had nothing to add.

It's all bullshite, honestly.

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Yeah, I am not excusing those actions, but in his mind, it was him vs the whole town because the whole town backed the cement plant.

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I don't remember specifics on this, but if it's the "whole town" against one person, maybe the town should win that. I do remember that he was fricked over by people who were tight with local officials. And obviously that's a problem, and a very real one in small town America for sure.

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That aside, in the simplest form as the internet sees it, it is the little man vs. evil, corrupt government, and that is why the Killdozer is a meme.

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Right, obviously.

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I think you can despise Marvin's actions towards innocent people and still sympathise with him overall in some form, which is another reason for the killdozer to be spoken about the way it is

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You can. But most people here do not. The praise his every action like he's some fricking hero. It's dumb. And every year I have this same argument about it. Just watch the downvotes rain on my initial post. People don't take the stance of "I don't agree with his actions, but agree with his principle," because that's basically the stance I take. And it is downvoted into oblivion. People literally think he's a hero.

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People literally think he's a hero.

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Every legend grows with time as facts get distorted

Billy the Kid was a literal cattle thief and murderer, yet was made into a hero for his part in the Lincoln County War, and his legacy grew for decades

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I am sure Marvin felt the same way.

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For telling him he had to hook up to the city’s sewage line? I guess it's tyranny for a city to force it's residents to not dump their raw sewage wherever they please (which is exactly what happened after Heemeyer's shitbucket filled up).

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For telling him he had to hook up to the city’s sewage line? I guess it's tyranny for a city to force it's residents to not dump their raw sewage wherever they please (which is exactly what happened after Heemeyer's shitbucket filled up).

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They are about to force my area onto the city sewer in a few years. They are laying the pipe now. I am currently on a water well and have a mechanical sewer, but it is coming. I will fight not to be forced onto either and have to pay for them. If they want to give them to me for free, as I have now, then that would be acceptable. I am outside the city limits so I will get forced onto the city sewer, and I will have to pay double the rates as those inside city limits.

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For residents living outside city limits, the rates double across all usage tiers.

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LINK


I can't recall the details on Marvin's sewer so I won't argue with you without digging into it again. Just saying I can see the issues with being forced into things if you are already up to the current accepted standard by the health department, like I am. If he was dumping raw sewage, that is obviously different.

I stopped in Granby for gas a few years ago on way to Leadville from RMNP. I asked the sweet ol cashier woman about it, and she was happy to talk to me about it, and share her experience from that day. Nice woman.

Not all heroes wear capes.

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I called yesterday to see what the law was regarding building a shop.

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They are about to force my area onto the city sewer in a few years.

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Tale as old as time, stout-dozer incoming

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I can't recall the details on Marvin's sewer so I won't argue with you without digging into it again. Just saying I can see the issues with being forced into things if you are already up to the current accepted standard by the health department, like I am. If he was dumping raw sewage, that is obviously different.

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When Marvin Heemyer bought his plot of land in Granby for $42,000 in 1992 and set up his muffler shop, it had no connection to the local sewage network. Marvin requested that they annex his land into the network and hook him up into it.

The town annexed the land, and told him it would cost $80,000 to build the pipe and equipment to hook him up. They told him that a cheaper option was to install a proper septic tank. Marvin refused both, and instead used an old concrete mixer truck the previous property owner's had sunk into the ground and stored his sewage in that. When this truck inevitably filled up, he would pump the contents out into a drainage ditch which polluted the town’s groundwater.

Marvin’s shop was located in a metal shed that had once been part of a concrete plant. A local family wanted to buy the land off him to build a newer, bigger concrete plant. Marvin offered to sell the land for $250,000. They agreed, but then Marv upped the demand to $375,000. They went away and told him the best they could do was $350,000. Marvin made his final offer of $450,000. They politely declined and decided to build the plant on land they already owned opposite Marvin’s plot.

Marvin decided this was unfair, so he started cultivating local opposition to the plans. He did this primarily by lying. He claimed the land had been illegally rezoned in order to build a concrete plant. It hadn’t. He claimed they cut him off from the sewage system. He had never been connected to it. He claimed they cut off the dirt-road to his shop. They didn’t. The same dirt road that was there when he bought it is still there to this very day.

Eventually, everyone in the town saw through him and he was the only opposition left. He launched a lawsuit against the plans which had no chance of winning. Construction of the plant began with the owners signing a waiver that they were doing so despite ongoing litigation against the plans. They were that confident.

They did, however, try one last trick to get Marvin to back off.

As you may remember, year prior, Marvin had asked the town to annex his land into the local sewer network. Which they did. They realized that, despite Marvin having refused to pay to be hooked up into the network, they could actually compel him to do so by law. He would be forced to spend that $80,000 after all.

Sounds nasty, but they made him an offer: They would pay the cost out of their own pocket if Marvin agreed to drop the lawsuit and leave them alone.

Marvin told them to go to hell.

He then lost his lawsuit.

It was at this point Marvin sold his land to a local municipal company. He got $400,000 for it. He leased one of the sheds back from the company, moved his bulldozer into it.

All instead of just installing a septic tank.

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All instead of just installing a septic tank.

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I don't see how a sunken giant metal tank isn't a septic tank....