A Jefferson County Circuit Judge ruled in Dr. Homer Tourkakis’s favor. The City of Arnold will not be able to take his dental office at 1506 Big Bill Roadto construct Arnold Commons. Judge M. Edward Willams wrote in this three-page ruling that it is the court’s opinion that:
“government has the inherent power to take private property be eminent domain for true public purpose. These uses would include the construction of roads, sewer systems, water lines and many others but most emphatically would not include the construction of a shopping center by a private developer as is the case with Dr. Tourkakis’s dental office.”