COUNTY RESIDENT FIGHTS TO KEEP ROAD OPEN

FRUITLAND -- Richard Schmidt proudly boasts that he rides horses for a living.

"I love it," he said. "I've been doing this for almost 40 years, and I wouldn't go back and change a thing."

But there is one thing Schmidt wants changed. He has asked the Cape Girardeau County Commission to keep one of his favorite riding trails -- an old county road -- open.

County Road 507 veers off County Road 506, which is connected to Highway 61, about six miles north of Fruitland. Road 507, snakes its way through the farm of Nelson Thompson, across Apple Creek and through about four more farms on its way to Shawneetown. Since there is no bridge over Apple Creek, the Shawneetown-side of the county road was numbered 514.

According to Schmidt, everything was fine until Thompson decided to put a fence across the road in 1987, to keep his cattle confined.

The road in question was first numbered in the 1970s, when the county ordered the roads be numbered to keep track of what was what. At that point, 507-514 was still considered a viable thoroughfare.

"If this road was built in 1889, we wouldn't have this problem," said Schmidt. "Roads built that year or before were done so under all kinds of provisions that would have prevented this kind of thing from happening.

"But the problem is, the first map I can find with this road on it is dated 1901," he said. "But I'm not putting much faith in maps. When the maps were drawn in the '70s and the roads were numbered, they forgot about a lot of the roads people out here use every day."

In 1987, Thompson erected a fence across County Road 507, which Schmidt discovered in one of his horseback riding excursions.

A group of area residents, led by Schmidt, asked the county commission to order the removal of the fence. The commissioners did, and he complied.

Everything was fine for the next few years, until early this spring when the fence came back up.

But this time, Schmidt decided he was not going to go through all the red tape -- just the fence.

Schmidt and his riding companions opened the fence and made their way through to Shawneetown. When they got there, the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department was waiting.

On March 12, 1994, Schmidt and his riding companions were arrested for trespassing on Thompson's property. Charges against all riders but Schmidt were dropped within weeks of the initial arrest.

The prosecutor agreed to dismiss all charges against Schmidt on the day of his trial in Perryville, on the condition that he stay away from Thompson's gate and property until the matter had been resolved.

In the interim between his arrest and trial, Schmidt collected about 140 signatures of area residents who, he says, want to keep the road open.

Schmidt, who since his road crisis began has become somewhat of an expert on road-obstruction laws, cited several laws on the county books to the commission prohibiting the obstruction, and mandating the landowner's upkeep, of a county roadway.

But therein lies the real question, said Larry Bock, 1st District County Commissioner and supervisor of the county highway department.

"As I understand it, there is a law on the books that says when there is no official action taken by the county commission with a road in a five-year period, that at the end of that time, the land goes back to the landowner," said Bock. "If that's the case, 507 is no longer a county road; it's Mr. Thompson's field."

Bock said as far as he could tell, the county has done nothing with roads 507 or 514 for the past 15-20 years.

The commissioner also said that the landowner, Thompson, had told county officials that he's had trouble in recent months with people driving down to Apple Creek to drink beer and party.

"He (Thompson) wanted me to check it out," said Bock. That's when he called Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle.

Swingle discovered the five-year rule. But now the commission is awaiting his decision on the petition brought forward by Schmidt.

"If we have to have a hearing, then we'll sit and listen to everything that everyone has to say," said Bock. "Until then, we just have to wait and see."

Schmidt, who has gone before the county commission several times in recent months, feels the decision is already made.

"Cape Girardeau County Presiding Commissioner Gene Huckstep has already said that he's not going to open any road for a bunch of horse-people," said Schmidt. "That's not very encouraging.

"When you go to county officials and ask them to perform their elected duties in accordance with the law and they don't, where do you turn?" said Schmidt. "I'm not asking that they (the county commission) maintain the road, I just want them to keep it open and free of obstruction. There's no reason that road should be closed. None at all."

As everyone sits and waits, Thompson's cows continue to graze the 350 feet of County Road 507 that is currently closed off to traffic -- any traffic -- by a fence and a series of "No Trespassing" signs. Apple Creek continues to flow silently through the trees. And Schmidt has found another place to ride -- for now.

"In the city of Cape Girardeau, there are dozens of ballparks and soccer fields, but no where to ride horses," said Schmidt. "And now, the county commission wants to take away the one place we found to ride where we don't have to worry about cars flying by and the ground doesn't hurt the horses' legs and hooves.

"What are you to do?" he said. "What are you to do?"