Dar-yl Han-nah Sittin' in a Tree....

A - * - * - H - O - L - E!

I know the kid's rhyme doesn't go like that, but I like my version better.

So why is the recovering mermaid parking her coconuts in a walnut tree in South Central LA? Because she's an idiot, that's why. But here's the rrrrrest of the story:
In 1986 the city of Los Angeles seized the property from owner Ralph Horowitz in an eminent domain action. In 1992 the city leased the land to the Los Angeles food bank and some 350 locals were allowed to farm on the 16 acre parcel. In 2003 Mr. Horowitz bought the land back from the city after a judge reversed the eminent domain action. Now Mr. Horowitz wants to develop his land (imagine that!).

He offered to sell 10 acres of the property for $16 million, and with all the star power that showed up for the protests, they probably could have raised that amount just by emptying their limo change drawers. However, they couldn't come up with the bucks, and today Mr. Horowitz evicted the squatters which include Ms. Hannah who had climbed up a tree and chained herself to it. No, they didn't just cut the tree down with her in it, though I would have paid good money to see that.

The fact is none of these people had any sort of rightful ownership claim to the property, nor did they have any kind of an agreement with Mr. Horowitz to continue farming the land. In a free country, landowners have the right to kick squatters off their land and develop it as they like. Maybe in Mexico you can take over another person's land, but not here.

The whole thing made for dramatic television, but as it usually the case, the stars fought the law and the law won. It was fun, though, for old times sake to see the wrinkly Joan Baez sitting up in the tree and warbling out her favorites from her K-Tel Greatest Protest Songs album.