ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, February 14, 1997 TAG: 9702140043
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
TYPE: COMMENTARY
SOURCE: RAY COX
Leaf through the pages of any history text and you'll find numerous instances of trouble that began when a man put up a fence or gate on a right of way.
Something about having access denied puts people into a frothing frenzy. For the most recent example of such, check out the set-to going on over the road to the back of Gatewood Dam in Pulaski County.
About 700 or so citizens have put pen to paper recently in a petition drive to have the U.S. Forest Service reopen the road. Recently, some of these good people had representatives from the Forest Service and the town of Pulaski besieged, outnumbered and surrounded in public meetings.
The citizens wanted that road to the dam and the Peak Creek tailwater opened and they wanted it opened at once.
Sorry, the citizens were told, the new gate is going to stay closed for the time being.
"But on March 15, we are going to stock trout in the creek and reopen the gate,'' said Sandy Florence, a biologist with the Forest Service.
The dates the road will be open are March 15-June 1 and Oct. 15-Dec. 15. The first period corresponds with prime trout fishing season and the second with hunting season.
The trout fishermen point out that the trout season now runs year-round. True, but that doesn't mean trout are stocked year-round. On the one hand, anybody who would stock trout in the summer-hot waters of Peak Creek in July and August would be guilty of trout murder. The finny little darlings can't take the heat, as most outdoorsmen know already. As for a stocking truck being dispatched down Peak Creek in the dead of winter, heaven help the truck driver on that road if it is wet or frozen. Take it from one who has driven it, most sensible people would be concerned for their safety even if they were driving a tank. That rutted a rocky path is rougher than the 1040 long form.
Of course, if you wanted to hike the road or ride a bike, or even take it on horseback, you'd probably be fine. You might even find a fish or two when you get to the creek.
These concerned citizens being Americans, though, they believe it is their God-given right to drive to wherever they want to go. Especially if the four-wheel drive will clear the gullies.
Problem is, the Forest Service is concerned with having some of its more primitive roads damaged during the so-called freeze-thaw period. Thus, many of its nongravel roads are closed at this time of the year.
"Nobody noticed until we went to a year-round trout season, though,'' Florence said.
There's another issue here, too. The road is rough and it does need some work. That, of course, costs money. Bucks for this sort of project are in short supply in just about every municipal budget in the country.
"We're always talking about the federal budget deficit and budget cutbacks,'' Pulaski Town Manager Tom Combiths said. "Now it's coming home to roost.''
Still, Combiths said the town and the Forest Service will meet to discuss how the road is to be maintained. According to an agreement going back to 1958, the town was supposed to keep the road up. However, town officials think the terms of the old right-of-way agreement with the Forest Service are too vague. Besides, the town's primary interest is to have access to the dam.
"We probably have that with the road the way it is now,'' Combiths said.
Actually, use of the road should have been limited a long time ago.
"The thing I worry about is the town's liability with an unregulated road to that dam,'' town recreation boss Dave Hart said.
No wonder he's worried. There have been stories of nut cases wandering in and jumping off the dam into Gatewood Reservoir for sport.
Eventually, all of this will be worked out. The road will be reopen. Even when it is closed, it is still possible to obtain a special-use permit. You can always walk, in, too, although it was pointed out by one citizen that the road is measured in miles.
My suggestion: Buy a sturdy pair of boots and a parachute.
Something else has been lost in all this. These citizens are getting after the Forest Service and the town and those bodies are the good guys. Where was all the indignation when sleazeballs were using the public right of way to the dam to deposit every manner of garbage and debris?
Members of the Pulaski County Sportsman's Club say they will help with a cleanup. Good for them. A round of applause, please. After that, cover those hands in gloves and pitch in with them.
The only way you'll stop the sleazeballs, though, is for the good people to report them. Combiths promised the fines for offenders won't be light.
Nail 'em where it hurts. Then sentence them to help with the cleanup. They can bring it out piece by disgusting piece.
On foot. With a ball and chain in tow.
LENGTH: Medium: 89 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Ray Cox. Debris has been illegally dumped on the publicby CNBright of way to Gatewood Dam and beside Peak Creek for years now.