09/15/2004 Bernardsville News -
Sensing mortality, Richardt seeks to have farm preserve
by W. JACOB PERRY , Staff Writer
BERNARDS TWP After a lifelong crusade to keep society true to its democratic roots, Irwin Richardt of Liberty Corner is engaged in perhaps his most enduring cause the fate of his farm.
The 76-year-old maple syrup farmer, well known locally for taking principled stands and shunning modern conveniences, has asked friends to help ensure that his 22-acre Sons of Liberty Farm at Allen and Somerville roads, where he grew up, is preserved after his death.
His effort was barely under way last month when he spent a week in a hospital for what doctors initially thought was a seizure or stroke. In a letter to state agriculture officials on Aug. 20, he said he was writing from my deathbed.
But he was back home and walking on his own power as he spoke about his farm during an interview last Thursday.
I want to preserve it as my father and I preserved it, said Richardt, who is a bachelor. I'm hoping to get a farmer to live here for the rest of his life.
And that property includes my books and letters, even more than the farm, he noted. I have so many, it would be quite a job to file them and put them in order.
Memorial Park
He said he hoped to create a farmer-patriots memorial park in which he and others would be buried, with the rest of the site to be farmed.
Although the land could also be sold to the township or Somerset County as open space, Richardt, who has long railed against government intrusion, would not hear of it.
I don't want a government park or a government enterprise, he declared. I'd want a private enterprise park. Government parks are communism.
Jefferson said as few as possible should be without land, he added. The small landowner is the most precious part of a free state. And that, in a nutshell, is what I want. Instead of having these big corporations, the county, controlling all the land, it should be the small landowners.
A Throwback'
The remarks would come as no surprise to longtime residents. Richardt has spent decades quoting the founding fathers and challenging government acts that he sees as violating the spirit of the U.S. Constitution.
In 1987, Richardt was sentenced to 65 days in jail for driving without automobile insurance. He contended that protection sold by insurance companies was unconstitutional. Eventually, he gave up driving and started traveling by bicycle.
Though eligible for Social Security, he refuses to accept it, maintaining that dependence on government is a form of slavery.
He also fought two road-related takings of his property and, out of principle, refused to accept compensation either time. In 1999, after he was jailed for tossing surveying sticks off his land, he received an unprecedented 532 write-in votes for the Township Committee.
Last fall, he gained wider notoriety after appearing in the Weird N.J. book, published by Barnes & Noble. In a two-page spread, he was described as a throwback to the late 1700s.
The same could be said of the farm, a heavily wooded site now largely surrounded by upscale housing and office complexes.
The modest farmhouse dates to the 1700s and was once the home of Josiah Allen (1843-1906), a descendent of Revolutionary War hero Ethan Allen.
Richardt's parents purchased the farm from Allen's estate in 1928. His father, John Richardt, was a blind piano tuner who constructed a barn in the 1930s. Richardt said the barn, which still stands, was once featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not.
Richardt added his own touches over the years by installing numerous homemade political signs. One, which stood until recently, said, That U.S. flag represents one thing, the U.S. Constitution. Obey it or be cited for treason.
Unwanted Value
With the farm zoned for two-acre housing, and with building lots in the township selling for more than $300,000, the land would arguably have a multi-million dollar value.
My multi-millions are forced upon me, said Richardt, who regularly has to justify a lower farmland assessment. Finaglers have jacked up prices on land so the average person could never buy a farm, never buy a house even. It's a terrible problem.
Developers inquire about the farm all the time, he continued, but my stock answer is, that's like asking me to sell my mother.
Richardt said he might have drawn a will once but not officially. He did, however, begin thinking about the farm's future at least 13 years ago.
In October 1991, he wrote a letter to the Township Committee saying he wished to be buried on his land, and wanted assistance in having the land preserved as a memorial park farm. He said he never received a response.
More recently, he began asking some friends if they wished to accept the farm after his death. But he was told that the burden of inheritance taxes could force much of the land to be sold off anyway.
Around Aug. 10 or so, everything was put on hold. Richardt was speaking on his ham radio when, he believes, he passed out and concerned friends came to his aid. The next thing he knew, he was at Morristown Memorial Hospital.
He would spend a week there and another week at the hospital's rehabilitation institute. He said doctors believed he might have suffered a stroke but he questioned that.
I had no after-affects so how could it be a stroke? he asked. Apparently it was not.
Legal Hurdles
After returning home, Richardt again pursued the idea of a establishing a memorial park.
He said he envisions having about 30 burial sites, leaving enough room for maple syrup farming on the rest of the land. Each tombstone, he said, would display a flag and the initials U.S.C. for the United States Constitution.
Burial sites are supposed to be sacred, so hopefully that will keep the land sacred forever and out of the hands of developers, he said.
To have a burial ground, Richardt found he would need to establish his own church and board of trustees. But in a potential stumbling block, he was adamant that his church, unlike virtually all others, not be incorporated. Incorporation is typically sought to obtain tax-exempt status.
Richardt reached out to the First Presbyterian Church of Bernardsville, which he has attended for years, and arranged for a meeting with church leaders on Wednesday, Sept. 1. Among the attendees were several of his friends and acquaintances.
The Rev. Chester Kim, pastor of the church, said last Thursday that while he hoped Richardt would succeed, it became apparent that Bernardsville Presbyterian, as an incorporated, non-profit organization, could not realistically get involved.
There are various people behind him with various interests, Kim observed. They are all running in different directions with their own plans and nothing is clear, as I understand.
One of Richardt's friends who attended the meeting, Far Hills paralegal William Kneser, described a scene that bordered on chaos. He said some of Richardt's professed friends seemed to be putting their own interests first.
But Kneser held out hope, saying a federal act adopted in 2000 appeared to let religious organizations form without requiring them to incorporate. He said he knew two New York City attorneys who were willing to research the matter.
This federal act could be the vehicle to make it happen, Kneser said. The only problem is to find people to keep it going.
On Tuesday, Sept. 7, Richardt spoke with leaders of a local private school about accepting his property. While praising the school leaders in last Thursday's interview, he said he was disappointed to learn that the school was incorporated.
Richardt lamented the modern-day process of transferring property.
In the old days, it was no big deal, he said. You didn't need any lawyers. All you needed was a witness or two. When you have people confused, you have them licked.
Nevertheless, he said he was amazed that people drop by his home and offer help on any number of matters.
The only answer I can give is to obey the Constitution and fight for it, he said. And then maybe bring up decent voters. If we don't have any decent voters, the Constitution means nothing.
Kneser viewed Richardt's preservation bid as part of that philosophy.
This is a gift from Irwin, he said. It's a sign of hope, a kind of memorial to what this country was founded on.
©Recorder Newspapers 2004
|
