SAGA OVER RURAL ROAD CONTINUES WITH ARREST

JACKSON -- After a yearlong dispute over County Road 507, the Cape Girardeau County Commission has made its final decision: The road is abandoned and soon will legally belong to adjoining landowner Nelson Thompson.

Richard Schmidt is leading a fight to keep the road open and contends the county's decision is illegal. Last fall he was arrested for trespassing on the road after the prior commission of Gene Huckstep, E.C. Younghouse and Larry Bock declared it abandoned.

He and some other horse riders had opened a gate erected by Thompson and rode on the land, but trespassing charges were dropped.

On Oct. 2, the fight became a little more serious. Cape Girardeau County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Kevin Zoellner said sheriff's reports indicated Schmidt cut a fence across the road, went onto Thompson's land and fled from deputies when they arrived to arrest him.

Schmidt is charged with property damage, trespassing and resisting arrest. He will be arraigned Monday.

Schmidt called the incident a "protest ride." He said a deputy was at the fence when he and 21 other riders arrived. He said the deputy watched him go through the fence.

Schmidt said the deputy tackled him after he and his horse got 100 yards on the other side. He spent 20 hours in jail and his bond was set at $3,500. None of the other riders were arrested because they didn't go through the fence.

"The only way I could get this into court was to go through the fence," Schmidt said. "I'm not mad at the sheriff or the commission."

Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones said he and other commissioners considered keeping the road open until the latest incident involving Schmidt. Several county residents came before the commission in September with various reasons for keeping the road open, and the commission was considering their comments.

"We were trying to get things worked out, and then Schmidt pulls this deal," Jones said. "We had the prosecutor looking into the county's liability for the road and all that, but Schmidt isn't willing to work with anybody."

A Perry County judge dismissed a lawsuit Schmidt filed against Cape Girardeau County earlier this year and ordered him to pay all court costs. Schmidt alleged in his lawsuit that the county acted illegally in declaring County Road 507 abandoned.

The judge ruled Schmidt didn't have the individual right to call for an administrative review of the commission's decision, which was what Schmidt requested in the suit.

The road, which hasn't been repaired for several years and needs a bridge, should be deeded to adjoining landowners Thompson and Newton Gilliland this week.

Zoellner said that by signing a quit claim deed, the county will give up all rights to and interests in the road.

Wilma Whitledge was one of Schmidt's supporters who attended the commission meeting last month to argue for keeping County Road 507 open. She said Schmidt's latest arrest hasn't affected her support of him.

"He had every right" to do what he did, she said. "It was still a public road. Sometimes citizens have to take extreme measures to wake up people in the county."