If you value your home and the U.S. Constitution, then you don’t want to miss Thursday’s “High Noon” radio program at 1460 AM (WVOX) and www.wvox.com.

My guest on the show will be Jeff Benedict, the author of “Little Pink House,” which tells the story of Susette Kelo, a nurse of limited means who fought City Hall all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court in the landmark case, Kelo vs. New London (Conn.)

Kelo’s house was among many in the old Fort Trumbull section of New London that the city’s development agency wanted to bulldoze under the power of eminent domain. Traditionally, governments have take private property under the Fifth Amendment fo “public use” purposes, e.g. roads and bridges. In recent years, it has been used as a tool to benefit private interests.

In the Kelo case, the aim was to build a large waterfront complex for the Pfizer pharmaceutical corporation.

Benedict gives a blow-by-blow account of how Kelo and others defended their property with the legal assistance of the Washington, D.C-based Institute for Justice, a libertarian law firm that has taken the side of homeowners and business people in eminent domain disputes all over the country—including the village of Port Chester.

Ultimately, Kelo lost in a 5-4 Supreme Court decision, sparking a national outrage. If they could this poor woman’s house, then no one’s house is safe. This outrageous confiscation of property could happen to anyone of us.

In her dissenting opinion, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor wrote:

“Any property may now be taken for the benefit of another private party, but the fallout from this decision will not be random. The beneficiaries are likely to be those citizens with disproportionate influence and power in the political process, including large corporations and development firms.”

I’ve been covering the eminent domain issue for nearly 10 years, and wrote scores of columns about New Rochelle’s attempt to demolish a neighborhood of churches, homes and churches for an Ikea furniture store and the obliteration of much of downtown Port Chester for a Costco, a movie complex and other chain stores.

Benedict knows the eminent domain inside and out, and he tells it through the firsthand experience of a very courageous woman..so please listen in. That’s 12 noon, Thursday, 1460 AM or www.wvox.com