Owner of giant strawberry hopes fight isn't fruitless  By JOSH
SHAFFER Raleigh News and Observer Published:  ELLERBE N.C. --
With wooden beams, Sheetrock and foam, Lee Berry built the
world's largest strawberry here, about 90 miles southwest of
Raleigh-- a 20-foot monument to his homemade ice cream business,
a red-and-yellow beacon so garish and eye-catching that the
beach traffic couldn't help but stop for a lick.  Then state
government shut him down, took his land by eminent domain, wrote
him a check for his life's work -- and evicted his 16,000-pound,
fruit-shaped building for the sake of a new highway bypass.  So
this is the story of a berry farmer named Berry and how he
persisted, jabbing a finger in the eye of The Man.  He hoisted
his strawberry onto a flatbed truck and hauled it one mile
north, taking up both lanes of highway along the way. He plunked
it down on a new patch of land and started back churning out
triple-scoop waffle cones.  Then he sued the state, seeking $1
million for lost business and