12/15/2003: 
Criminally Absurd
Pa. high court refuses to hear case to save Saha family's Chesco farm
From AP at Philadelphia Inquirer
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has refused to hear the case of a Chester County family fighting to save its 48-acre horse farm from being turned into a golf course.
Dick and Nancy Saha of Valley Township have been battling for more than four years to prevent the city of Coatesville from seizing their land for a recreation complex.
Coatesville wants to seize the Sahas' property as part of plans for a $60 million recreation complex that would include a golf course, bowling alley and skating rinks. City Manager Paul Janssen has said the park is a key part of efforts to revitalize Coatesville, an old steel town that lost thousands of jobs in the 1970s and 1980s.
The legal fight has revolved around a Pennsylvania law that allows cities, even small ones such as Coatesville, which has a population of 11,000, to seize property in adjoining municipalities if it serves a public interest. In April, a Commonwealth Court judge ruled that Coatesville could legally take the property, even though it is in neighboring Valley Township.
