Jury hears last four disputes on Jasper County road map
By SHARON KERR Staff Writer

Jasper County held the final public hearing June 20 to resolve disputes on the adoption of an official county road map.

"We had a total of four protests that had been filed, three in Precinct #3 and one in Precinct #4," County Judge Mark Allen said. "All three of the Kirbyville area protests were resolved prior to the actual hearing, and only required the written endorsement by the Jury of View."

The process began last year with the publishing of a list of county roads in everyone's property tax notice. Several hearings were conducted earlier in the year to explain how and why the county decides which roads to maintain.

Robert Bass of Allison, Bass and Associates, the company contracted to prepare an official Jasper County road map, explained in an April hearing that the county road system in Texas developed over time. Neither the state nor the county have records back to when some roads came into existence.

Current state standards mandate a road can only become a county road by three means: 1. voluntary easement dedicated by the owner and filed with the county clerk; 2. acquired through purchase either by deed and agreement of the owner or by eminent domain; 3. prescriptive easement, in which the road has been in existence and the county has maintained it since 1981 or earlier.

The purpose of the hearings was to clarify roads in that third category. At the hearing last Wednesday, four roads were considered by a Jury of View. Names were drawn from a jury pool: Albert Hensarling, Richard Powell, Robert Gary Sr., Ralph Nichols and C.B. "Buck" Herndon served. Felix Bunch's name was drawn but removed when one party challenged his selection.

In the case of CR 553, Esther Wheeler proved back to 1962 there was no record of an easement; the decision was to mark it a private road and remove from the county index.

In the case of CR 485, Leon Neely's family requested that it be removed from the index; it will be marked a private road and not maintained any longer by the county.

In the case of CR 430, Kenneth and Frances Simmons said the road is private but that they had granted easement to another family, not the general public; it will be removed from the index.

In the case of CR 885 in Evadale, Vada and W.D. Fitzgerald did not contest that the road is a county road, but that the county is not taking the easement equally from both sides of the road.

Precinct 4 Commissioner Vance Moss obtained affidavits from other residents who have lived along the road as far back as 1962. The Fitzgerald family presented photos and testimony. The jury ruled in favor of the county, finding that it was a county road. Allen said this has been an ongoing problem for a number of years. The county will have the road re-surveyed (it was surveyed last in 1997) to identify the boundaries and where the ditches should be.

Once the county adopts a final map, perhaps as soon as the July 9 commissioners' court meeting, landowners have two years to appeal.

Allen also said, "Mr. Bass will work with the DETCOG 911 numbering system personnel to correct any discrepancies between the newly-adopted road system and the 911 mapping system, which will place everybody on the same page."

The Deep East Texas Council of Governments maps for Jasper and surrounding counties are available online at www.detcog.org under resources, then click on maps. The Jasper map is a pdf file that can be downloaded and printed.