11.   The administration argues that environmental safeguards protect property owners, by preventing pollution originating on neighboring property from devaluing their land.

12.   They are not decorative, but edgy guardians who protect their owners on streets where the homeless are frequent victims of violence.

13.   They want new federal laws protecting the owners of databases to prevent high-tech thefts of intellectual property.

14.   They rejected the argument that gun owners are protected by a fundamental state constitutional right.

15.   They want the players to agree to an artificial device that will protect the owners from themselves.

16.   To that end, many are urging that NASCAR work out some kind of franchising arrangement to protect current owners.

17.   To protect other owners of the Class E shares, GM will ask the Internal Revenue Service to allow a tax-free swap.

18.   Thus, spending money on upkeep not only adds to comfort but protects the owners against that unexpected moment when they might have to move out in a hurry.

19.   While industrialists and supermarket chains welcomed the idea, various groups protecting owners of small stores and labor unions representing shop workers opposed it.

20.   But Senate action has been delayed by concerns that the House bill may have weakened an important law enforcement tool in the effort to better protect property owners.