THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 12, 1997 TAG: 9701120067
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY JEFFREY S. HAMPTON, CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: SHILOH LENGTH: 99 lines
Some places are meant to be fought over.
There is the Gaza Strip. There is Lake Gaston. There is the end of Milltown Road.
What was once the dead end of an old country road became a small waterfront lot that has sparked confrontation between neighbors for 50 years.
For decades, the end of Milltown Road has served as a public access to the water. Children swam there. Watermen launched their boats there. Old men fished there. Sometimes teens partied into the night there. At one time, two restaurants thrived there.
The road's popularity is the cause of the recurring clashes, including the most recent one.
Since early summer, there has been a 75-foot-long mound of dirt across the front of the road with a ``No Trespassing'' sign stuck near the water. The barricade has raised the ire of nearby residents.
They say the state owns the parcel, therefore the public should be able to use it when it wants. Dr. Richard King, who lives in a home next to the lot, says he owns the land. And he wants privacy.
King paid Forrest Bartlett $15,000 last February for the property, and there is a notarized deed in the Camden County Courthouse that verifies his claim.
Records at the state Department of Transportation, however, indicate that the state still owns the lot.
``There is an approved, legal method for abandonment of a public right-of-way. And this was never abandoned,'' said John Trimpi, attorney for the group of citizens fighting to have the property opened to public use again.
``I tell people they can still swim there if they want to,'' said a defiant Carolyn Riggs, a resident of Milltown Road.
Riggs and others called for support from the Camden County commissioners, causing them to request a record search by NCDOT. Transportation engineers found that the state had never released its ownership of the old right-of-way. The commissioners issued a resolution of support for the citizens group Dec. 16.
``People had asked us to get in touch with the attorney general's office,'' said John Smith, manager of Camden County. ``We told them we'd help them if we could.''
Said King, ``I obviously wouldn't have got involved if I thought the state owned it.''
The road, a little over a mile long, used to end at the Pasquotank River. But in the 1940s, NCDOT turned the road south - parallel to the water - and made a loop out of it. The road is part of a subdivision called Elizabeth City Beach.
Over the years, the neighborhood kept up what had been the end of the road. Residents financed building a 25-foot pier, diking the shoreline and pouring a concrete boat ramp. The old pier is missing a few boards from summer storms.
If history is an indication, King will not win this fight.
In the 1940s, a popular restaurant sat on a dock over the water right off the end of Milltown Road. Another restaurant sat just on shore. The owners of the restaurants were relatives. They tried to prevent locals from launching their boats nearby. But stubbornness prevailed - and the boat launching continued.
Grover Sawyer, who still lives nearby on Shore Drive, was the lead warrior against the landowners. The scuffle with King is Sawyer's third battle over the lot.
``I've been fighting to keep that boat ramp open for 50 years,'' said Sawyer. ``I hope we don't have to go to court over this one. But we will if we have to.''
Deeds as far back as 1963 show that adjacent landowners had their lawyers include the small lot as part of their property. Trimpi and other land transaction experts verify it was likely a sneaky attempt to annex state property. All successive deeds have included the lot. At the end of the deed, lawyers placed a short disclaimer saying there was a state right-of-way on the south side of the parcel.
In the late 1960s, nearby residents poured a concrete boat ramp. The man who claimed ownership, Larry Forbes, decided to sue them. The residents, including Sawyer and one of Riggs' uncles, led the fight against Forbes. Finally, Forbes dropped his suit and locals continued using the boat ramp.
King said he was willing to keep the property open for use.
``I told people I had no problem letting people launch their boats if they just called me,'' said King.
Last spring, King put a row of trees up across the front, however. King said there was still enough room for a boat trailer to pass. Riggs said those trees blocked entrance.
Someone cut down King's trees late one night in protest. King put up the mound of dirt and the ``No Trespassing'' sign.
King said he put up the berm for privacy's sake.
``I did not want people down there after dark partying all night,'' said King. ``There was an old school bus there with people living in it for a month.''
Trimpi says King cannot legally own the end of Milltown Road.
``You can put anything on a deed,'' he said. ``The real issue is this has been platted as a public road since the 1930s.''
Camden County Commissioner Forrest Pugh said Bartlett offered the same lot to the county for $15,000 about a year ago. The county hesitated when it could not get an answer from the state on whether it claimed the right-of-way anymore, Pugh said.
``Finally, we've gotten a straight answer,'' Pugh said.
King plans to leave his barracade up for now. Riggs plans to fight to have him take it down.
``We'll do whatever it takes,'' vowed Riggs.