The state of Arkansas is literally thousands of acres of private property, many of those acres of land have been passed down to the next generation, from parents to children, aunt and uncles even distant cousins to maintain the family legacy.
It's more than a tradition. Protect the land.
According to the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, 90% of the state's acreage is privately owned.
Encroachment is a common occurrence especially as family land is divided and sold off. Easements were never established, after all the land stay's in the family at all cost.
Prospect Robbins and Joseph Brown located the starting point for establishing Townships and Ranges after the Louisiana Purchase in October of 1815. The work of these men between the Arkansas River and the mouth of the St. Francis River established the baseline for all the lands in Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, North Dakota, and parts of Minnesota and South Dakota are also measured. The starting point is located inside the Louisiana Purchase State Park in the northwest corner of Phillips County where it joins Lee and Monroe Counties.
One may wonder how these surveys were performed without the GPS and Google maps of today.
These men with compass in hand began measuring off the Louisiana Purchase 66 feet at a time using a chain. A Gunters chain consisted of 100 links measuring 7.92 inches each. Many Arkansas land deeds still provide the exact measurements of a person's property in the number of chains instead of feet and inches.
As modern survey crews continue to divide property and establish boundaries, the lines of years ago sometimes change. Where families once thought a property line was located, it's often shocking after the surveyor completes his job. Driveways, even houses, are found to be on other parcels of land creating legal disputes that are settled by county and circuit Judges.
County judges are tasked with determining a person's right to ingress and egress across other property owners when a piece of property is landlocked.
Those situations are typically addressed through easements. Easements allow property owners to connect the landlocked property to public roadways. When the landlocked property owner needs access across another person's property it generally should start with a civil conversation. Often times, it does not. That creates an environment ripe for costly legal fees and financial damages when the dust settles.
In real time as I write, a situation is brewing at the edge of Rison, Arkansas.
In fact, the lid has blown off.
The Reckoning's Suzi Parker was knocked off balance when she heard a rumor about what is happening on her private property. Small town Arkansas rumor mills are often a treasure trove of information just begging to be corroborated. That's exactly what we did – and took action.
No one is immune from the trials and tribulations of being a property owner when someone decides to take over. It happens regularly. A neighbor needs a little extra parking space. They just take it. If you allow it, you may lose your property, often after a period of seven years. But it has to be obvious, very publicly displayed that the person is using and maintaining the property. Not in secret. Property owners are not required to monitor every inch of their dirt to prevent encroachment.
What we discovered across Suzi's property is alarming. The days of free land passed away like the men who originally pulled the Gunters chain to help catalog the area of dirt across this nation. It's simply gone. With an acre of land being valued anywhere from $1,000 to hundreds of thousands of dollars, every inch of dirt is worth defending.
A new road will always spark interest inside a community. It's human nature to be curious, and new roads often lead to problems. As most people defend their right to privacy, free speech and a right to prosper, property rights are often trampled upon when neighbors decide that what benefits their goals outweighs the repercussions to potential trespassing convictions.
Without an easement, building a road across another person's property is trespassing.
Arkansas code 5-39-301 - 5-39-305 clearly prevents someone from building a new road across private property without permission.
(1) A person shall not purposely enter without written permission of the owner or lessee upon another person's premises located outside the boundary of any city or town if those premises are:
- (A) Lawfully posted;
- (B) Crop land or timber land;
- (C) Enclosed with a fence sufficient under § 2-39-101 et seq.; or
- (D) Critical infrastructure.
- (2) The posting of premises is not a requirement under this section.
- (b) Criminal trespass on premises located in an unincorporated area is a:
- (1) Class D felony if:
- (A) The person has two (2) or more convictions for a Class A misdemeanor violation of this section or § 5-39-203
- (1) Class D felony if:
After Suzi was alerted to the situation, we met and drove to her property to get a clear picture of what was taking place.
Seeing the new road across portions of her property confirmed the rumors. Knowing that there is not an easement across her property warranted a call to the Cleveland County Sheriff's office. More on that in a minute. When Suzi began inquiring about what was happening, a story began to unfold that paints the perfect picture of how some neighbors disregard other neighbors' rights to property.
Utility easements are required in modern America to acquire what we call city water, electricity, natural gas and even sewer in some areas. A utility easement grants rights to utility companies to install and maintain the utilities on a given piece of property. Without an easement the utility companies will not provide their services. Utilisource has a great article that contains more information on utility easements.
Rumors are flying that the road builders attempted to have the water meter placed on the county right-of-way to avoid the requirement of property ownership or utility easement for the water meter. The water company denied that request and placed the water meter on the north end of the road builders property up the road from Suzi's.
On Friday Suzi decided to do what any American has a right to do. She decided to stop the obvious trespassing by installing a gate.
In this particular instance the quickest method was in the form of a two 4-inch steel pipes with a cable stretched between them with a new private property sign attached. It's important to note that the location of this "new road" is and has been clearly marked with Purple Posting paint. The purpose of posting a property is to deter trespassers while also ensuring that those who ignore private property are subject to criminal charges. This fact, though, did not deter the neighbors from building the road.
As we were finishing the project of installing the new gate, we were greeted by nice folks on 4-wheelers. They asked if we were there under the direction of a neighbor from up the road. Suzi responded "no" and I informed them that Suzi Parker is a property owner. No permission was needed for what we were doing. They politely left and we continued.
Minutes later, the persons who have obviously attempted to commandeer portions of Suzi's property arrived. One of the men proceeded to yell and scream as he approached Suzi.
I remained just feet away. Once the man reached my truck and continued to rant and threaten to remove the new gate, I felt obligated to introduce myself and ask everyone to calm down.
Another key point: No man has the right to intimidate a woman. That's exactly what was happening. It's sure not going to happen around me. Not like this. It continued.
I took particular notice to the cross-tie fence post at the entrance of this "new road" that shows the world the remnants of the old yellow paint marking the property line.
Undeterred the argument continued on.
The kicker? The man raising hell that day does not own one inch of dirt on this "new road." Not one.
That yellow paint remains visible along the north side of the road to this day.
Make no mistake, property disputes can and sometimes do escalate to violence. At one point I could take no more and directed the attention off of Suzi and onto myself and the location of known property markers in the area.
As we walked the "new road", we came upon a skidder tire left behind after these road builders had cut their timber. Keep in mind, no permission was obtained from Suzi to use her property for their logging operations. Someone has also cleared off a substantial area of Suzi's property near the log landing site on the road builders property. See, the road builders property joins Suzi's property. They share a property line, but that shared line is nearly a 1/4 mile from the entrance to this "New Road." On the "New Road" Suzi shares a property line with a family in Texas.
No property owner should be thrust into a situation such as this, but here Suzi is.
How can anyone believe they have a right to take over someone else's property? I honestly thought that "land grabs" ended during the 1800's after the Indian Wars. Note: 1830 was a notable year when the United States government issued the Indian Removal Act. With that said, it will be interesting to see how this matter will be handled.
At the end of this heated argument, the folks who spread the gravel asked Suzi what it would take to get access. She told them.
She also warned them not to trespass until the situation was sorted out.
The next day Suzi received a text to attempt to have a civilized conversation from the very people who jumped her the day before. Suzi was at an Easter cookout. Before she could respond, her game camera sent a photo. They were trespassing. Again. She took the proper steps and called law enforcement.
What's next? How long will it take to restore Suzi's rights as a property owner? Will Suzi be forced to bow down to a hostile neighbor?
I could tell Suzi was really upset by what all had taken place. I asked her what was on her mind.
"This reminds me of what my family has been going through for a century with land in Cleveland County," Suzi said. "I grew up at the supper table with my dad talking endlessly about fighting and protecting his family land. Now it's up to me."
This will be a focal point for the Reckoning.
Time will tell.
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