OJAI : Motion Filed in Weather Tower Case

The U.S. attorney’s office on Thursday filed a condemnation motion on half an acre of land owned by a woman whose driveway must be crossed for government workers to get to the site where they are building a radar tower.

But the process will be opposed in federal court this morning by attorneys representing Agnes Baron, the next-door neighbor of William and Ernestine Kee, who leased a patch of land to the federal government to house a 98-foot microwave weather-tracking station.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Donna Everett said late Thursday that the condemnation applies only to the easement and that Baron will not lose the acreage.

“The United States can condemn the property,” she said. “The only issue left in the lawsuit is just compensation. That means who gets paid and how much.”

Meanwhile, attorneys representing the Environmental Coalition of Ojai, actor Larry Hagman and upper Ojai resident David Hedman said Thursday they will file a federal lawsuit of their own today.

That litigation will ask a federal judge to issue an injunction stopping construction of the weather station until the government completes more detailed environmental reviews of the project.

Members of the coalition are concerned that radiation emitted from the new radar tower will cause cancer, birth defects or other diseases.

Also on Thursday, Ventura County Superior Court Judge John J. Hunter removed himself from the civil suit between Baron and the Kees after the Kees’ attorney argued that the judge was prejudiced against his clients.

Two weeks ago, Baron’s legal team won a temporary restraining order that prevents the Kees from allowing government workers across Baron’s driveway.

Judge Frederick A. Jones was given the Superior Court case, but it’s expected to become moot because of the condemnation action filed Thursday.