Her question: Should ITD have authority to destroy private property?

December 10, 2015

December 9, 2015 To the Editor: Recently I was informed by the Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) that the billboard advertising the Dodge Peak Lodge on Highway 95 across from the golf course was "illegal." When discussing the issue with the Hayden Office of the ITD to determine what needed to be done to become compliant, I was informed there was not anything that I could do to become compliant, and that not only did the advertising need to come down, but the whole log structure was ordered to be destroyed. If the structure is not destroyed by January 4, then the State would destroy it and subsequently charge us a minimum of $2,200 to do so. At what point did the State of Idaho gain the authority to destroy personal property on private land? We have been given the option to have a hearing by the Idaho Department of Transportation which would be overseen by an attorney appointed by and paid by the Idaho Department of Transportation. The question is, am I doing my fellow citizens, or the government for that matter, a favor by adhering to the demands of the State by destroying a billboard that increases a private business's revenue, therefore increasing the tax base upon which the State of Idaho operates? Jennifer McLeish Dodge Peak Lodge