CALERA, Ala.—Fenn Church knew what he had to do.
“I’m going to stand in front of that gate and say, ‘This is my home, and I’m not letting you drive through that gate,’” Church said on Thursday morning. “And then if they want to arrest me, they can handcuff me and take me to jail or run me over. But this is where I take my stand.”
For months, Church had fought Alabama Power’s effort to use eminent domain to secure access to his property in Alabama’s lower courts, arguing that the utility could easily use alternative routes to build a transmission line that would not be as disruptive to homeowners like himself in rural Shelby County, about a 45-minute drive south of Birmingham…