Cda Man Refuses To Collect $41,000

Eugenio Bradbury believes there’s power in a proper pledge.

It’s kept the constitutionalist from collecting the $41,000 authorities say is his.

“Most people think I’m crazy or just being stubborn, but that’s not the case,” the 59-year-old says. “I just won’t sell my integrity.”

In the early 1980s he didn’t want to sell his land, either. North Idaho College then condemned his four-bedroom, 2,700-square-foot Hubbard Street home to make room for expansion.

When the college paid for the property, Bradbury refused the cash - all $41,210.51. A dozen years later it still sits in Kootenai County’s coffers.

“It’s his,” says County Clerk Tom Taggart. “If he comes in and shows us some identification, we’ll write him a check.”

It’s not that Bradbury couldn’t use the money.

He lives off income from four decaying rental houses. He often “robs Peter to pay Paul,” he says.

He drives the same blue 1979 Pontiac Trans Am he used to dock in his Hubbard Street driveway.

He never married because he isn’t “prosperous” - despite a bulging midsection, he says, laughing. That’s why he flirts with waitresses and real estate agents.

“Of course I’d like the money,” he says. Some things are just more important than cash.

For most people, his cause isn’t one of them.

The Colombia native became a U.S. citizen 40 years ago after swearing to uphold the Constitution. He took a similar pledge when he later joined the Air Force.

He came to North Idaho in the early 1970s.

He contends Idaho elected officials don’t take an oath of office specifically prescribed in the Constitution. Therefore, Bradbury believes, they are impersonators who serve illegally.

“A proper oath is extremely important,” he says. “It’s what makes the law work. It’s what makes bureaucrats respond to ‘we the people.”’

This belief blossomed when bureaucrats ignored his pleas to leave his home alone.

Bradbury appealed the condemnation and seized on the oath. He argued his house was being taken illegally. Impersonators don’t have the right of eminent domain.

He lost. In 1983, NIC took the land, tore down the house and built a road through the property.

Bradbury says he can’t accept the money unless he is ordered to by a court. Collecting it would make him party to a crime tantamount to treason, he insists.

“Even though this country has not treated me well, I will not violate its laws,” he says. “I’m not on a crusade. I’m not anti-this or anti-that. I just want justice.”