Rarely is government intervention in our lives easy and simple or cut and dried.

Many times the involvement of the government — particularly in personal property issues — is dirty, unpleasant work.

A prime example of that legal uneasiness is occurring with antebellum Arlington, the beautiful mansion that burned in 2002.

Arlington, ca. 1818, was once one of the jewels of Natchez. Now the stately structure sits withering away, open to the elements and a constant target of vandals and other law-breakers.

The City of Natchez has begun the legal proceedings necessary to force the owner to either fix up the property or to sell it.

That case now apparently rests on the desk of Municipal Judge Jim Blough.

It’s tricky business locating the proper balance between personal property rights and the public’s right to both preserve its history and clean up a public nuisance.

On one hand, it doesn’t seem right that the government can force you to do something with your own property.

But on the other hand, an owner of something that’s public history — and on the National Registry of Historic Places — gives up a little bit of his or her own rights, especially when their neglect becomes an unsightly public safety concern.

We feel that the City of Natchez is right to pursue the matter and we urge the court system to move quickly on the matter before more of the building is destroyed and more of Natchez’s history is lost.

Saving Arlington may not feel 100 percent right for all of us, particularly those who treasure public property rights, however, letting Arlington continue to fall apart is 100 percent wrong.