Letter To Editor – July 17, 2008
No one is trying to control Fletcher Fly’s property. County Road 161 starts on forestry land, then passes through Walker land, and then through the west side of Fly’s land, then hunting club land and ends on Walker land. It does not run through the middle of his property, besides all of that, the road has been there for well over 100 years.
The Walker’s have owned their land for over 100 years, approximately 510 acres. The LaGasse’s have owned their land for 35 years, 80 acres. There was never a problem with this road until after 2001.
Fly’s father never complained or harassed the LaGasses or the Walkers about this being a public road, with power lines, under ground water lines and underground telephone lines running the length of it. Fletcher Fly has constructed his structure almost on the southwest corner of his property, which is where the county road enters his land.
If he does not want to be bothered by people, seems he would not have built his building so close to his property line or so close to the road.
As far as being harassed, Fletcher Fly has always been the one to stop people in the road, asking about putting a gate up, telling people to get off his land, and has even called the Yalobusha Sheriff’s office on two occasions to report trespassing. These and many more confrontations have all come about when people were traveling the county road.
In the last six to seven years there has been plenty of activity in that small area and on that 9/10’s of a mile. Just to name a few, the road has been rutted so deep it was almost impassable, someone has dug holes in the road to cause it to wash during rain. There have been roofing tacks placed in the road and people had to replace their vehicle tires.
There have been post holes with fence posts placed across the road, there has even been a grader blade buried in the middle of the road, the LaGasses or the Walkers have not done any of these things. They use this road to travel back and forth to their property. Water meter, electric meter and repair trucks, propane suppliers, County Tax Assessors and emergency vehicles use this road also, some of them monthly.
The LaGasses and the Walkers have had to have their land resurveyed by a Certified Surveyor from Yalobusha County. Someone attempted to move the established property lines 15 to 30 feet onto their property, when the original line was still visible. When the survey was complete, the results were the same as the one done almost 40 years before.
One week after the survey was complete someone removed the marking posts from Walker and LaGasse property. When they were replaced they had to be monitored with camera signs. Yalobusha Sheriff’s Office has a complaint and pictures.
The LaGasses have been blocked access to their property at least three times, since 2002, once with posts and a large gate, chained and locked, once with a small mound of dirt across the access road and in the last three weeks there has been a 36 inch round by 8-0 tree trunk buried under a 10 foot wide by 5 foot tall mound of dirt across the whole width of their access road.
The Yalobusha Sheriff’s Office has a complaint and pictures. The access to the LaGasse land has been there for well over the 35 years they have owned the property. The only reason we can figure this happened is the county graded County Road 161 and replaced some of the gravel that was missing, someone got mad. See attached pictures.
The LaGasses and Walkers are not the only land owners in this area that have had problems, theirs are just the only ones that have reached the paper.
Michelle L. Shipman
Tillatoba and Memphis