LANDOWNER WANTS TO DEFUSE FIGHT AT JACKSON

JACKSON -- Jack Priest and the City of Jackson both called in reinforcements Monday night in their continuing dispute over Priest's use of land along the new East Main Street extension.

In the wake of calls Priest made to the Jackson police over the weekend, two officers used a metal detector to check for weapons before allowing him to enter City Hall for a Board of Aldermen study session. Priest himself brought along a lawyer who told the board his client "wanted to defuse the situation."

The city has been after Priest to move a tractor-trailer parked on his residentially zoned land. He contends the city is harassing him for conducting a business he has run at the site for 29 years.

After an administrative hearing last week, City Administrator Steve Wilson directed Priest to abate the nuisance by Friday or the city would do so and charge him the cost.

Abating the nuisance would require moving the tractor-trailer or placing it on gravel and placing a for sale sign on it.

Priest was summoned to the administrative hearing but did not attend. Now three tractor-trailers are parked at the site.

Monday night, attorney John Lichtenegger asked the city to give Priest until next week to put the trailers on a gravel surface. He said Monday's rains mean his client will have to obtain the use of a tractor to move the trailers.

Wilson said he will take the request under advisement.

Priest has operated a business that stores truck refrigeration units on the property for 29 years, a use that was grandfathered in when the city annexed the land. Now that the East Main Street extension has transformed the area from a secluded Priest-family enclave into a subdivision, the city wants him to find a way to hide the units from view.

Lichtenegger reiterated Priest's contention that he has grandfathered rights to use the land as he had prior to development of East Main Street.

Prior to Monday's meeting, Wilson said Priest's phone calls to the Jackson police were the reason the police were in attendance.

"He made statements that made our folks uneasy," Wilson said.

After leaving Monday's meeting, Priest said his statements to police were his response to the administrative order stating that the city would abate the nuisance if he didn't do so by Friday.

"I said I would resist with force any attempt to remove my personal property," Priest acknowledged.

"I said this situation is out of hand," he said. "They're trying to get me to react in a negative way. I asked that the situation be defused."

Priest said he does not know how he would resist if the situation arose, but added: "At no time did I indicate I'd shoot someone."

One of the police officers remained at the back of the board chamber during the study session.

Priest's wife, Ethel, said they think they're being treated unfairly by the city.

"We feel we're not important enough citizens in this community," she said.

Priest doesn't think his statements to the police are what city officials are concerned about.

"I didn't scare them," he said. "I stood up to them. That scared them."