”A true American heroine.”

That's how Susette Kelo was introduced at the statehouse in Austin, Texas, 10 days ago, where Gov. Rick Perry was urging lawmakers to add an amendment to the state's constitution to fortify property owners' rights against abuses of eminent domain.

On Sean Hannity's prime time show on the Fox News network Wednesday night, the host thanked Kelo “for fighting the good fight” at the end of her appearance in a segment that featured a video about New London's famous eminent domain case that resulted in Kelo being forced out of her Fort Trumbull home.

And at Columbia University in New York City last week, Susette Kelo was a guest speaker at a forum at the university's law school where Nick Sprayregan, owner of Tuck-It-Away Self Storage, was also in attendance. Sprayregan is fighting Columbia's effort to take his generations-old family business to make way for a private development plan.

Sound familiar?

The official release last week of author Jeff Benedict's new book, “Little Pink House: A True Story of Defiance and Courage,” has fueled new indignation over the 5-4 decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in 2005 upholding the right of government to take private property from one person and give it to another who promises to improve it and pay higher taxes.

In the case of New London's Fort Trumbull neighborhood - the promise was never realized. While roads and sidewalks have been upgraded, the majority of the peninsula is a wasteland. As Kelo told Sean Hannity last week, it was once the home of 78 families, seven of whom held out and were ultimately let down by the nation's highest court.

The city looked like mud when it fought to redevelop the property and looks even worse now with the release of Benedict's book coinciding with the hard times being suffered by Pfizer Inc., the Fortune 500 corporation that dreamers once believed would be the salvation of New London.

The book is an especially good read for locals, stringing together the events and people that are the decade-long Fort Trumbull saga. But it is being picked up by readers across the nation, many who are opposed to eminent domain and are angry over the High Court's ruling. Susette Kelo is the poster girl of their cause now.

And it is sparking interest among people who didn't know or care that much about eminent domain before delving into the book that features the pink cottage Kelo was forced out of on its cover.

People like Ellen Levinson of Southport, who suggested “Little Pink House” to her book club, and whose members are now planning a field trip to Fort Trumbull and Kelo's relocated cottage.

She is one of 100 “buzz ambassadors” for the book, people around the country who received advance copies to read to gauge its appeal and help spread the word about Benedict's eminent domain story.

Vanessa Quigley of Indian Harbor Beach, Fla. is another. The busy mother of seven wondered how she would find time to read a book, let alone one about eminent domain, but explains: “I started reading it and loved it. I felt like I was reading a Grisham novel! I was so thrilled that I was liking the book that I couldn't wait to tell all of my friends.”

Quigley e-mailed everyone in her address book to recommend reading it, then extended her personal promotion “to all 300 of my friends on Facebook.”

In Philadelphia, Ursula Reed says she got the book on a Friday and finished it before Monday. “The social justice and eminent domain issues for Susette Kelo and friends made 'Little Pink House' compelling for me,” Reed said.

If the seven holdout property owners in the former Fort Trumbull neighborhood ever doubted the support they believed they deserved in their failed fight to keep their homes - they have it today. Even before Benedict's book, Fort Trumbull was a rallying cry for eminent domain abuse.

And now, with the book being featured on ABC's 20/20, in the February issue of Ladies Home Journal, and on the Glenn Beck radio show, never mind the buzz ambassadors, New London will forever be known as the city that bulldozed homes to create a vacant brownfield.

ANN BALDELLI IS ASSOCIATE EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR.

Article UID=912a3f26-7515-451e-8507-360028941270