Narrator POV:
John Dutton raised his hand to a distressed horse. He pets it softly,"It's not fair, this life."
"I know you deserve better," his gun gets raised to the side of its face."The best I can offer you is peace." A loud gunshot goes off and the injured horse collapse.
Taking a step back, he grabs his hat from the road and walks over to a destroyed truck lying on its side. John scopes out the driver, discovering him to be dead, blood on his face matching his own. Sirens go off in the distance and quickly make their way over to John who at this point is leaning up against the fence.
"Jesus, that's John Dutton," one of the cops exclaimed, running to the man.
"You alright commissioner?"
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A younger man stands in-front of a stand,"The state of Montana has never gauged its progress by the size of its cities. We measure our progress by how those cities impact the people and the land surrounding them, the land that feeds them, provides their water, nourishes their souls."
"This doesn't sound like a legal argument, Mr. Dutton," someone argues,"it sounds like a lecture."
Jamie Dutton speaks again, calmly,"Well, it's a summation of our state constitution, which clearly states that land preservation and property rights take precedence over public expansion."
His opponent once again speaks, but this time standing swiftly,"The constitution clearly denotes the states right to eminent domain and grants the authority to condemn property for the public good."
"For essential public services like hospitals, schools, highways not housing developments."
"Housing is essential," the opponent argues."Bozeman has doubled in size in a decade. We're 30 miles away, and our population is less than it was 40 years ago." His voice echoes in the chosen debating room, being carried out for the people in the room to hear."Why? Because their fence guarantees we don't grow. Stagnation is a death for a town, and the Dutton's are the ones killing it."
Jamie personally smiles at his last comment about his family, the lady in charge of hearing the case speaks,"Well poetic if it were true since a Dutton founded the town. As it stands, the defendant is correct. Our land use laws are quite clear. For this commission to grant eminent domain, you must show public need, not desire. This case is dismissed." The gavel thuds and everyone stands to move along.
"It's 30,000 acres, Jamie. That isn't a fraction of the ranch. Okay, look, you can harvest the timber first, no environmental review, nothing. You can cut every tree to the root," the other man says to Jamie from beside of him, trying to reason with him still.
"You want to suggest to my father that he clear-cut his land, be my guest," Jamie smiled and grabs his bag."You're a braver man than me."
Before Jamie can walk out the man speaks yet again,"Just mention it Jamie. The town grows, or it dies."
"Maybe it should grow...up," his finger points up with a snarky look,"Condos, Alan, like they have in San Francisco."
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Dakota's POV:
I walk in with my suture kit and go through the house, interrupting Jamie and John's conversation.
"Hey, you know who's really good at it? Doctors. Should have gone yesterday," Jamie lectures John.
John looks over his shoulder when I knock on the door, inviting myself in."That's why I called Dakota in, hey sweetheart."
