# New Problems for State Game Area



## Doubtndude (Apr 9, 2009)

Not sure how many hunt the State Game area in Ruby Hills section of Saint Clair County but there "used" to be a way to get into the back section that butted up to the "Old Ford Estate" well heres the artical out of the local newspaper today :

CLYDE TWP. -- Drive just a thousand feet or so down Feick Road off Wildcat Road and a 3½-foot deep, 5-foot wide trench and a steel pipe will block further progress.












But Clyde Township, the St. Clair County Road Commission and a resident, Ralph Scofield, plan to file suit in circuit court this week to get it reopened, Gary Fletcher, a lawyer representing the group, said.
At issue is whether the family that put the blockade in the way -- Justin and Elizabeth Perdue -- has the right to keep people off the road.
Elizabeth Perdue, 26, of Kimball Township said she has no doubt: It's her land.
"I think we are in the right, absolutely," she said.
"They own the thing," said Jerry Easton, Perdue's father. He deeded that land to her.
But Fletcher said the road, which leads to state Department of Natural Resources land, should be accessible
under a state regulation called "road by user."
Kirk Weston, managing director of the county road commission, said if a road commission or another public entity uses a road for a period of time without dispute, it becomes a public road, per the regulation.
Fletcher said for more than 100 years, the road has been accessible for people to visit the DNR land for recreation and hunting, to township officials responding to emergencies and to the St. Clair County Road Commission.
"It has been used for many, many, many decades," Fletcher said. "The new owner has decided he would end that."
The lawsuit will ask the court to order the road reopened. Fletcher said after that, it is up to the Perdues.
Weston said the commission has maintained the road for 12 to 15 years. The commission signed off on the suit last week,
He said part of the road cut off by the blockade is used for graders and snow plows to turn around.
"Nobody has protested the use of it until now," he said.
Weston said a small section -- 0.2 miles -- of the road is certified as such. The rest has never been accepted as an official road, but "our position is that it could be considered a road by user."

Scofield deferred comments to Fletcher. Clyde Township officials would not comment or did not return calls seeking comment.


In documents to the road commission, Scofield said the road has provided access to the Port Huron State Game Area -- formerly the Ford property -- since 1876.
"The Fords and the public used Feick Road to build the Wingford Dam in 1930 and continuously to access the Ford property," he wrote.
Clyde Township officials, in a resolution, said access to the area is essential for emergency issues, such as forest fires or rescues. Fletcher said the road was used in recent years to search for two missing canoeists.
Perdue said her family has owned the land providing access to the game area for 150 years.
She said it wasn't until her father deeded the land to her that the family realized they owned a portion of the road used by the public.
She said they cut off access to the property just before last year's deer-hunting season started.
Perdue said she is concerned about the hunters who park there to hunt.
"I'm liable," she said. "It is a huge liability for me."
The Perdue family said they also are concerned with garbage in a small parking area on their property.
A visit showed the area covered with trash and, on a recent morning, freshly gutted deer innards in a pile.
Perdue said she and her husband live in Kimball Township but maintain a farm at the Clyde Township property.
Beyond the barricade created by the Perdues, the DNR has a gate blocking access to a two-track trail. The DNR has offered $20,000 for the land . Perdue said the offer wasn't good enough.,
Mary Dettloff, a spokeswoman for the DNR, said the agency is not involved in the lawsuit but does plan to talk with the Perdues.
"It is something we would like to pursue with them," she said.
Kirk Nichols, who lives at the start of the road, said he often rode his bike down the road and onto the state land before the family blocked it.
"I don't like it," he said, "but it is their land."


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## jnracing (Nov 26, 2008)

well there gonna lose the right to the road cause we ran into something similar and if the road is on a map it is then public property and anyone is allowed to travel it i lived an 15 acres in mississippi and they wanted to add my driveway as a road on maps and after my parents agreed so that people such as utility workers could use it we were told to remove our gate which kept our horses in and were told by a gov. employee that once a road is on a map it is part of public property driveway or not and they also own a 50 ft. leeway on either side after looking into it we had to get rid of our horses and put a gate up about 100 ft. from the house and we had people traveling down our driveway all the time so after several tickets and such my dad filed some paper and got the road removed then because we had power lines croosing the property we still had to give acess to utility workers and such and also found out power company owns 50 ft leeway around all telephone poles and power lines ohh and we had a cattle gap to keep the horses from entering our yard and we got ticketed beacause it was a blockade on a now public road so with my experiences i hope its not on a map cause then its a public road and access to such road is open to anyone


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## Whit1 (Apr 27, 2001)

jnracing said:


> ........well there gonna lose the right to the road cause we ran into something similar and if the road is on a map it is then federal property........


Where in heavens name did you come up with this? All roads on a map are federal property?????????????


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## jnracing (Nov 26, 2008)

personal expierience srry might not be considered federal property but its public property atleast in mississippi it is and i know in michigan my dad owns a auto repair shop that shares a driveway with a gas station and his property goes way beyond gas station and he had parked cars on the sides of the "road" which is all his property and was told by county sheriff it is on the map as a rd. therefore the vehicles could all be considered abandoned and he had to move all of them so they were well off the road so michigan must be similar


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## Whit1 (Apr 27, 2001)

jnracing said:


> personal expierience srry might not be considered federal property but its public property atleast in mississippi it is and i know in michigan my dad owns a auto repair shop that shares a driveway with a gas station and his property goes way beyond gas station and he had parked cars on the sides of the "road" which is all his property and was told by county sheriff it is on the map as a rd. therefore the vehicles could all be considered abandoned and he had to move all of them so they were well off the road so michigan must be similar


Many times what are considered to be "driveways" are indeed plotted roads and have been for years. Over time that item is either forgotten or never known in the first place. This can be especially true of "lake end" roads (roads that end at a lake), alleyways, driveways, and even two tracks. The local government/road commission, etc. may not have had anything to do with the roads and they don't come to their attention unless there is a need or someone complains about the road being blocked. When that happens action might and probably will be taken to keep the road open.

Here in Arcadia Township Amway owns quite a bit of propery along the south shore of Arcadia Lake and Lake Michigan. A road leads to the property......Chamberlien Rd........and narrows to a 2 track. In the late 60s Amway attempted to close access to the Lake Michigan beach and pierheads at the end of the 2-track. The case went to court thanks to the interest of the public and Michigan's township association. Amway lost the case and had to create an opening in the 8' tall chainlink fence they had put up barring access.

Over the years road end public access was being denied by several landowners on Portage Lake here in Manistee County. In the 1980s a group of citizens began to work to get those access sites re-opened. They were successful (some of the guys were members of Ducks Unlimited) and many, including me, are grateful they took the time and money to get those public access sites (not for boat launching) opened once again.


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## jnracing (Nov 26, 2008)

i get where your coming from i was just sharing how it was handled for us and was not trying to say i know whats gonna happen but as far as my expierience with the whole thing if it follows the same path theyll be giving it up plus 50 feet on either side also we had to provide documentation that my family had BUILT the driveway "road" on property we owned and then they removed it from the road classification


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## pescadero (Mar 31, 2006)

jnracing said:


> well there gonna lose the right to the road cause we ran into something similar and if the road is on a map it is then public property and anyone is allowed to travel it


They're going to lose - not because of anything on a map - but because this is the very definition of a "prescriptive easement".


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## Topshelf (May 24, 2005)

pescadero said:


> They're going to lose - not because of anything on a map - but because this is the very definition of a "prescriptive easement".


What he said. That and the fact that the Road Commission was maintaining the road for years, tells me this is a slam dunk. 

Sounds like the Bi!(H is an anti hunter. I'm sure the slobs littering doesnt help the situation but who knows if its hunters doing it or just kids partying at night. My guess would be the later.


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## Doubtndude (Apr 9, 2009)

That area is really nice they closed off , Hills and the river cuts through as kid my Dad took us back there it used to hold alot of pheasants , deer but like alot of other places it was littered and some what forgotten . I haven't been back there in years but I don't think their method of stopping it was correct beings it has been used for years and as the artical states since the 1800's and never had any one make an injury complaint but now she is worried.
I agree with her being an anti hunter more then anything.
Its just a shame hunting land is getting scareist and this one women wants to cut off acess to whats been there for years .


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