Don’t mess with private property
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An historic Texas family now has half a million new allies in the growing battle to stop the illegal takeover of a tiny private trail by the Colorado County Commissioners Court.
The Texas Farm Bureau, Texas Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, Texas Wildlife Association, Exotic Wildlife Association, Texas Forestry Association and South Texans’ Property Rights Association filed legal papers urging the Texas Supreme Court to step in and stop the politicians and their friends.
For eighteen months, John Matthews and his daughter Lesley Carey have been battling the politicians, even though there is proof lawmakers broke a promise made to land owners back in 1953. That was the year the Colorado County Commissioners deeded what used to be known as Washington’s Ferry Road to the private owners of the land, including the Matthews, who have owned the land since before the battle of the Alamo.
There’s a lot of history to fight for. Washington’s Ferry Road is less than ten feet across, but was used by George Washington’s nephew to ferry goods, and then used by Santa Ana on the fateful march to defeat.
In other words, it is land worth fighting for, especially in Texas.
The unfolding story is a warning to people in rural counties across Texas.
In 2012, Colorado County took advantage of a new state law to make a map of county roads, including Farm Road 79, which dead ends into the trail before the Colorado River.
The County was required to put a notice in the paper… you know the ones nobody ever sees… then put a vague notice included in tax bills, and then give folks two years to protest.
That is the first-place Colorado County plainly fibbed.
The public notice was for roads maintained by the county since 1981. Anyone who looks at the massive trees and brush on Washington Ferry Road can see that clearly didn’t happen here. That’s why the Matthews Family never saw the land grab coming.
The county ignored the no trespassing signs and starting digging a trail anyway, and John Matthews filed suit on February 9, 2015.
So far the Colorado County has won based on technical grounds, not because they told the truth in the first place. With this law, now the Matthews Family has the burden of proof, even though County Judge Ty Prause knew darn well what the old deed said.
And that’s why the Matthews Family hired Dolcefino Consulting to investigate. You see, this is not really about a tiny abandoned trail. It is about the effort to connect a road and expensive utility lines for a politically connected gravel pit, which was owned and now sold by Alleyton Resources.
Dolcefino Consulting now has e-mails, phone records, and real estate records which raise questions of possible conflicts of interest.
“Colorado County has fought so hard from us getting to the truth. They knew they were wrong from the very beginning. Now private property groups will make Colorado County a poster child in how not to treat hard working property owners,” says Lesley Carey.
Stay tuned.
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