Hull Times: “The Land Court trial to determine whether Graves Light is within the boundaries of Hull began this week, but was recessed for a month at request of the town’s attorney.”
One wonders why James Lampke would do that.
Any ideas? Post them here or on the Graves Light Facebook page.
The Town of Hull has sent notice of a “date of taking” Graves Light away from its owners as it proceeds with its land grab across the county line.
“Dave Waller was shocked when he received a property tax bill from the town of Hull last year seeking to collect taxes on Graves Light, a lighthouse that he bought at federal auction in 2013. He got another surprise in the mail more recently, when the town tax collector sent him a letter saying that a ‘date of taking’ would be announced soon,” the Boston Globe reported.
The Globe‘s local news reporter Emily Sweeney broke the story on May 6. She has followed the Hull annexation attempt since last November.
Graves Ledge, on which the lighthouse stands, is the last piece of unincorporated land in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
The Town of Hull watched the Wallers’ seven-year restoration and renovation of Graves Light and waited until the work was almost done before it presented the family with a tax bill to lay claim to the project. Hull attempted to fine the Graves owners $25,000 a day until it stopped renovations and submitted to town authority.
Hull’s actions drew outrage and ridicule from many town residents and others around Boston Harbor.
‘Date of Taking’ to be followed by ‘Instrument of Taking’
“Since Hull sent that first tax bill last year, Waller has been locked in a legal battle with the town to prove that the lighthouse is not part of Hull. The matter is currently in Land Court,” the Globe reported. “But that didn’t stop the tax collector from sending out the notice about the ‘date of taking.'”
“A ‘Date of Taking’ will be announced, followed by the recording of an ‘Instrument of Taking’ at the Plymouth County Registry of Deeds,” the town of Hull told the Wallers in a letter.
Hull town counsel James B. Lampke, a driving force behind the effort to annex Graves, “said there are no plans for a tax taking, despite what the letter says,” according to the Globe.
“There’s no tax taking at this time,” Lampke said in the Globe. “There is no tax taking and I do not anticipate a tax taking.”
‘It’s weird’
“It’s weird, because [the town is] filing an ‘Instrument of Taking’ in Plymouth County Registry of Deeds,” Dave Waller told the Globe, “but Graves Ledge is in Suffolk County, so I’m not sure how that will work out for them.”
The Boston Globe has picked up on the Town of Hull’s attempt to annex, fine, tax, and regulate us without rule of law.
The Globe‘s Emily Sweeney wrote the news item, published on November 18, with a lavish photo display by the paper’s legendary photographer David L. Ryan.
“Graves Light sits on a rocky ledge in the middle of Boston Harbor, surrounded by water,” the article began.
“Since purchasing the lighthouse at a government auction seven years ago, Dave Waller has poured time and money into restoring it. The only way to get out there is by boat; the nearest shoreline is miles away, and when he bought it, the Coast Guard said the lighthouse did not belong to any city or town,” Sweeney reported.
“That’s why Waller was shocked when, out of the blue, he received a property tax bill from the town of Hull last year,” she said. (Read the full article here.)
The article was a straight news piece that told both sides of the story. Keeper Dave Waller and one of his attorneys, Peter A. Biagetti, spoke on behalf of the lighthouse. James B. Lampke, who has been Hull Town Counsel for 42 years, spoke for the Town of Hull. Town Manager Philip Lemnios, who as usual was nowhere to be found.
The Hull Times broke the shakedown story on October 26. Seasoned journalists believe that Lampke leaked it to influence pending litigation.
Dave and Lynn Waller bought Graves Light in 2013 from the federal government for $933,888 after the surplus property was offered to the surrounding towns, including Hull, for free.
Along with the other towns, Hull declined the offer. The money generated from the sale went directly to fund the restoration of Boston Light.
The Graves deed says that the lighthouse and Graves Ledge are unincorporated territory, outside the boundaries or jurisdiction of any town.
“If we were legally within the boundaries, then of course we’d pay taxes” to Hull, Dave told the Globe. “The tax part is secondary to the annexation issue.”
“They claim that it’s not in any jurisdiction,” says Lampke. “We claim that it is.”
But then Lampke didn’t sound so sure. “If it’s not located in Hull, where is it?” he said. “We say that it’s located in Hull, and if it’s not in Hull, it has to be located in some jurisdiction.”
Even though he has been Town Counsel since 1978, Lampke has been unable to produce any official documents to the Wallers to prove that Graves is within Hull’s boundaries.
“The law requires that assessors assess all property within their boundaries, and that’s what the assessors have done here,” Lampke told the Globe. “The fact that it wasn’t done for a couple of years isn’t pertinent.”
A couple of years? Hull hasn’t assessed Graves Ledge since the town was founded 376 years ago.
