[St. Charles Cosmos/St. Charles Monitor, April 14, 1941]
Farmers Discussed
Government Action in TNT Land Deal
Landowners
who have not been paid for their property in the Weldon Springs TNT area met
Saturday night at Weldon Spring and discussed conditions in general concerning
the Governments refusal to pay the full option price. Another meeting has been
called for Tuesday night at which time interested farmers will select counsel
to represent them in court.
==========
[St. Charles Daily Banner News, April 15, 1941]
FARMERS WILL MEET
TONIGHT TO EMPLOY COUNSEL
Unpaid
farmers from the TNT area who wish to plan a cooperative defense of the
condemnation suits filed in Federal Court by the War Department have been
invited to attend a mass meeting at 8 o’clock tonight in Evangelical church
hall at Weldon Spring.
A number of
farmers have expressed a desire to defend their own cases. Others wish to
jointly employ counsel, paying proportionate shares of the costs.
==========
[no source, April 16, 1941]
NO DECISION REACHED
ON HIRING LEGAL TALENT
Groups of Unpaid
Farmers in TNT Area May Hire Their Own Lawyers.
Farmers who
have not been paid for their land in the TNT area met Tuesday night at Weldon
Spring, and discussed employing of counsel to represent them in the court
fight.
While no
definite decision was reached it was understood various groups would employ
their own counsel.
The first
of the 146 cases are scheduled to come up in the St. Louis Federal court early
next month.
==========
[St. Charles Banner-News, April 19, 1941]
113 TNT AREA FARM
FAMILIES NEEDED HELP
Sociologist Says Only
81 Families Needed No Help In Re-Establishing Themselves.
One hundred
and thirteen of the 194 farm families displaced by army construction of a TNT
plant at Weldon Springs required federal aid in finding new jobs or providing
for their families, a government sociologist reported at Des Moines, Iowa,
today.
J. Edw.
Losey of Milwaukee, federal sociologist, told a session of the fifth annual
convention of the Midwest Sociological Society that only 81 families in the
area needed no help in re-establishing themselves.
==========
[St. Charles Cosmos/St. Charles Monitor, April 19, 1941]
Petition Asking TNT
Roads Be Opened Asked Rescinded
A petition
asking the county court to remove names of seven of the eleven signers of the
petition, asking that roads in the TNT area be thrown open, was filed with the
county court this afternoon. Signers of the petition had no comment to make.
==========
[St. Louis Star-Times, April 8, 1941]
U. S. DECLARATIONS
FILED FOR TNT PLANT LAND
Declarations
against approximately 3,350 acres of land for the TNT plant at Weldon Springs,
Mo., were filed in United States District Court here yesterday by United States
Attorney Harry C. Blanton. The declarations covered approximately seventy
tracts of land and the government deposited in the registry of the court
$186,999 to pay for the land. Separate suits will be filed against the owners
of each of the seventy tracts included in the declarations and payment will be
made to landowners out of the $186,999 after the suits are filed.
==========
[St. Charles Cosmos/St. Charles Monitor, April 15, 1941]
GOVERNMENT OFFERS
AVERAGE OF $42 PER ACRE
Latest Declaration of
Taking Filed Against [?] Landowners Confident [?] Spring TNT Area
607 ACRES
Landowners Confident
[?] Victory Will Hold Meeting Tonight At Weldon Spring
Thirteen
more declarations of “taking” were filed in the St. Louis Federal Court Monday
where the Government offered $25,735 for 6 [?] acres of land in the TNT area,
optioned to the government for $84,18 [?].
The latest
filings brought the total “taking” procedure to 90 with [?] more scheduled to
be filed before the end of the week. The prices offered by the Government to
the thirteen averages about $42 an acre, including improvements, while the
option prices is slightly more than $136 per acre.
While the
Government is busy breaking contracts with the farmers the unpaid landowners
are organizing and tonight at Weldon Spring will select their counsel to
represent them in the court fight. Basing their hope on a similar case in which
the Government tried to repudiate an option but was defeated in the higher
courts, the land owners are confident of ultimate victory but are disturbed
over the time it will require.
The
following “take” actions were filed Monday, John LaBlond, $200 [?] for 12 acres, optioned for $810 [?] ; August
Schemmer, $4,200 for [?] acres, optioned for $8,500; Ed. Martin, $930 for 31
acres, optioned for $3,060; Emma Mergenthal, $285 for one acre, optioned for
$3,728; Arch Howell, $6,020 for 155.46 acres, optioned for $22,500; Irvin Roth,
$456 [?] for 91 acres, optioned for $12,600; Louis Scott, $540 for 60 acres,
optioned for $2,400; Louis Willedin [?] $1,800 for 5.22 acres, optioned for
$4,000; Carrie Hoeckelmann, $4 [?] for 15.25 acres, optioned for $1,372. [?]
Frank Edwards, $780 for one acre, optioned for $2,000; Harry Alme [?] $180 for
1.68 acres, optioned for $747; Helen Niermann, $2,200 for 10 [?] acres,
optioned for $10,710; O. [?] Hampton, $800 for 59.04 acres, optioned for
$4,462.50.
