Don't mess with a libertarian's property rights
by digby
Now we know what happened with that weird Rand Paul attack:
New court documents in Kentucky shed more light on details from the yard dispute that landed Sen. Rand Paul in the hospital with six broken ribs, among other thoracic complications, and could land his neighbor in prison.
Rene Boucher, 60, didn’t like where his neighbor of 17 years, Paul, was putting his yard debris.
In September 2017 the junior GOP senator from Kentucky stacked a 10-foot-wide mound of branches near the line separating his property in Bowling Green from Boucher’s.
Boucher found the pile of tree limbs and other flotsam “unsightly,” according to new court documents first reported by The Associated Press. Even though it wasn’t on his property, Boucher could see the pile from his back patio.
It sat there for weeks.
In October, Boucher had the branches loaded into portable dumpsters and carried off.
But then, other piles appeared — two of them.
Boucher poured gasoline on the woodpiles and incinerated them, giving himself second-degree burns in the process.
But Paul’s autumn yard work was not complete.
The next day, the senator blew leaves into Boucher’s yard with his lawnmower. He made another branch pile in the same spot as the previous ones.
Boucher had had enough.
“As Dr. Boucher has stated throughout, he lost his temper and tackled Rand Paul as Paul was carrying branches from another location on his property and placing them on the property line,” the court memorandum from Boucher’s defense team said.
The blindside tackle left Paul with a half-dozen broken ribs and injured lungs. He later developed pneumonia and missed time in Washington to recover.
I can see why the man was frustrated. Paul was obviously deliberately provoking him. To someone like him, his right to do anything he chooses on his property is akin to religion and he clearly was making that point to his neighbor who was upset that he had to look at Paul's compost pile from his back porch. Neighbor disputes are always the worst but when you are dealing with one of the world's leading libertarian leaders they are not going to end well.
Having said that, there is no excuse for a physical attack. It was just a pile of branches. He lost his temper and will have to pay the price. You are not allowed to jump on your neighbors no matter who justifiably angry at their libertarian trolling.
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