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Citizen protests 'road to nowhere'
By Colette Lefebvre-Davis
Nevada Daily Mail
Harrison Township, Mo. -- In a rural section of Harrison Township, near Bronaugh, Mo., Joe and Shawn Cain claim that much money and time have been spent on a road that leads to nowhere. This road borders a handful of properties, and until 2005 when it was called into question by a local landowner it was considered "unmaintained."
"(It's) the road to nowhere, as it runs 3,000 feet to an abandoned field in the middle of no where." stated Cain.
The Cains maintain that the road serves no purpose, but the Vernon County Commission says that there are plenty of places in various townships across the county where a person could need a road opened up and the commission states they will oblige.
According to county records, in 2004, Travis Lathrop, landowner, met with the Vernon County Commission to discuss a bridge and road in Harrison township Section 28. Lathrop inquired about the state of the road and why it was there. The county commission sent out Road and Bridge foreman Ron Sloan, who declared that the bridge itself was in disrepair. So, according to the commissioners and the commission notes from 2004-2006, signs were set up and the road was barricaded off. Lathrop, according to the commission meeting minutes was furnished with a copy of a petition at that time.
Lathrop circulated a petition, so that those who live in the township could sign in protest that the road located in Section 28 of Harrison township should be closed indefinitely. Residents did sign his petition -- 15 signatures were on it -- however, according to the Vernon County commissioners, the petition was rejected because it failed to clarify the legal beginning and ending of the road.
According to the Missouri revised statutes, chapter 228 on the Establishment and Vacation of Roads, Section 228.110; "Any twelve residents of the township or townships may make application for the vacation of any such road or part of the same as useless, and the repairing of the same an unreasonable burden upon the district or districts. The petition shall be publicly read on the first day of the term ..."
The laws have been often quoted by Cain and neighbors, however, the commission asserts that the petition was unacceptable and it would be up to Lathrop to produce a new one.
But this wasn't the end of the road, which was known in 1903 as James McKill Road, and had opened in July of 1883.
According to Bonnie McCord, Vernon County Southern Commissioner, members of the Harrison Township board came forward months later, making the commission acutely aware that a few still did use this otherwise termed "abandoned" road.
The commission had allegedly believed that there wasn't any use for the road until Percy Heitz, Larry Pitts and others came forward and told the commission that they did indeed use the road a few months later.
Joe Cain asserts that the road serves no purpose to anyone except for a single township board member Percy Heitz, who did not return multiple phone calls for comment.
"One person utilizes this road. This person goes to the commission says, 'I want this road back open,' and it is." said Cain.
The Cains were also upset that their land was going to be encroached upon when the road was opened up, so they hired a surveyor from Pittsburg Kan., who staked out their land. The Cains say that their stakes were destroyed by the commission when they continued to rebuild the road and low water crossing. The commission insists that the stakes were in the middle of the road and they had to drive around them when they went to inspect the area. "They spent two months building the bridge. They caused environmental damages, poured concrete, filled in three feet deep and took the side of the hill and knocked the corner of it off, now it's going to erode. They cut down trees. The sign said the bridge was closed and the bridge was up." said Cain.
McCord said, "We went to the road and inspected it. It was the township who are in charge of maintaining the road and then if they complete the road to specifications we told them we would place a low water crossing down."
McCord also refutes the amount of time Cain stated that the bridge was being worked on, noting that a much larger bridge over water had been constructed in eight days.
The road was termed "abandoned" in the commission notes from 2005; however, the term was used by mistake, according to McCord, who says that the road should have been labeled "unmaintained".
Cain's first queries began like this, "My wife purchased 80 acres two years ago. We paid $3,000 for a survey. There is a driveway on the W/NW side of my property. This was a county road that had been abandoned over 50 years ago and never maintained by the township. The survey confirmed the same, and was confirmed by extensive research at the courthouse, by the surveyor. It was disclosed to me by a neighbor that the county had seized part of my land ... The elected official from the township approached the county commission, with a request to declare the road a township road, and make extensive repairs… The commission itself had previously declared the road to be abandoned and closed it as being unsafe."
In January of 2005 the commission reported that they had sent a letter of intent to Larry Pitts, Harrison township trustee, stating the conditions upon which the county would consider working on a water crossing.
The county commission stated that because the road itself is a Harrison Township road, it is the responsibility of the township to maintain it; but the county did aid the township by constructing a low water crossing.
The commission also maintains that the funds used to construct the gravel road were township funds, and again the low water crossing, which according to Commissioner McCord, was the county's responsibility and accordingly was constructed in the lowest and cheapest possible way.
The commission stated the road was thought to serve no purpose until three local township members claimed that the road did indeed serve a purpose. "There were three people who were still running combines over the bridge to get to their pastures." stated Commissioner McCord. The Commission has called their legal counsel, Vernon County Prosecutor Lynn Ewing III, who visited the Cains home and took a tour of the "road to nowhere."
Ewing maintains what the Commission has stated, stating in a letter dated May 17, 2006, that "While the road may have not been regularly maintained, it remained a township road unless and until the road was closed by the proper petition or lawsuit. The road was not a county road." Ewing also states, "Landowners had no basis to object to the township reasserting authority over property it had never relinquished."
Ewing also said, "Lack of maintenance might be evidence of abandonment, but until the Commission declares it abandoned after a hearing on a petition to close the road or a lawsuit leads to a judgment of the Circuit Court, the road remains the property of the township."
Cain disagrees and is threatening legal action, but Cain hopes to resolve the matter without taking that step. Cain said, "This is a poor county, and I have no wish to deplenish the funds of the county or the township."
Commissioners say the Cains can approach them at any time.