When I bought my farm on County Road 61 in 1966, the deed called for a ridge road next to my house, not a township, and this road was abandoned when I bought the farm.

The Lawrence Township Trustees had no easements and no maintenance records. I cleaned up my land, sowed it down, graded the trail up to January 2001 and kept my fields mowed all the way to the road edge up to the present time.

Now, the Lawrence Township Trustees are trying to take a portion of my property by adverse possession to create a roadway.

This is where they take your land and do not pay you anything for it. To do this, you have to maintain it for 21 years in a row. How can you take a 30-foot right away when you did not grade or mow it for 21 years?

Is it fair to keep people in court for seven years or longer and cause them to have to pay thousands of dollars in lawyer fees to keep the property that you already own?

Why do some people get paid for their land by eminent domain and others do not?

Ohio residents, you need to take an interest in this case because they may try to take your land next by adverse possession and force you to spend thousands of dollars in lawyer fees and years in court trying to get it back.

Carl Dickess

Kitts Hill