Letter to the Journal Editor

To the Editor:
      Our road easement on Peterson Hollow started to grow back. But this quit after a few pictures of this growth.
Not hearing from our Allamakee County Engineer, Supervisors, or Attorney on the rule that gives them the right to Allamakee County landowners' road easements, we decided to write Iowa State University in Ames, since they made up the Planning and Zoning booklets, and see if they can come up with the rule that gives Allamakee County the right to Allamakee County landowners' road easements.
We received the response from Iowa State University in Ames. They must not be able to find Allamakee County's rule either, because we received 17 pages back. The first page says, "As you will note, much of this information does not refer to the code. Rather it refers to INTERPRETATION of precedent legal cases."
      Since "interpretation" is the key word here, there are three landowners who signed that road easement in 1975 and our "interpretation" is different from the Allamakee County Engineer, Supervisors and Attorney. Would that make our "interpretation" right?
Wait a minute, yes, it would, since the Allamakee County Engineer, Supervisors and Attorney were not even in office in 1975.
      The other 16 pages from Iowa State University in Ames were legal cases. "200K 80 Most Cited Cases." "The easement of highway gives individuals the right to pass and repass and to keep in repair,      but no interest or legal possession in the soil, of which the fee is in the original owner." The rest of the legal cases said about the same thing.
      When we talked to the Allamakee County Engineer he said his road easement gives Allamakee County the right to Allamakee landowners' easements. So, we stopped in and picked up one of his road easements.
      There is a difference in our 1975 Road Easement with Allamakee County and the one from our now Allamakee County Road Easements. The difference is our Allamakee County Engineer has put in the phrase, "Acquisition Plats". Looked up in the dictionary, Acquisition means, "as getting as one's own." Plat means, "a small piece of ground". Now, we can not find this phrase in any of the Planning and Zoning Terms, Rules booklets. We assume neither could the Allamakee County Engineer, Supervisors, or Attorney because they did not send us the rule with it in.
      So, if you have already signed a road easement with our Allamakee County Engineer, can it be legal since none of the Planning and Zoning booklets we have have the phrase "Acquisition Plats" in them. Surely, there are rules the County has to follow, the same as you and I have to follow rules. The landowner signed with the interpretation or understanding that the landowner still owns the soil, like all the other road easements signed over the years by Allamakee County landowners.
      But, since our Allamakee County Engineer knows he put this change in all his Allamakee County road easements, don't you think, "morally," he should have made sure all the Allamakee landowners were aware of this phrase that was changed, and it was no longer, "Trust me, you pay my salary".
      Was this change made on his own or were our Allamakee County Supervisors and Attorney made aware of this change?
      This is one problem we get by having three Allamakee County Supervisors from the same area. Two Allamakee County Supervisors have probably never signed a road easement in their lives. The one Allamakee County Supervisor who said he did not know the rule and would have to take the Allamakee County Engineer's word on it could have saved all these problems by taking 10 minutes out of his day and calling a few land owners with road easements to see if their interpretation matched the Allamakee County Engineer's interpretation. If not, why not.
      How many Allamakee County road easement owners called and were not happy. Shouldn't our Allamakee County Supervisors and Attorney take a closer look at the road easement, isn't that their jobs.
      Iowa State University in Ames gave us some advice. We thought maybe our Allamakee County Supervisors or Attorney would try and straighten this out since our road easement was in place before the Allamakee County Engineer's was. Oh, the advice Iowa State University in Ames gave us: "get a lawyer". We put them on the list of others with the same advice. Chuck Grassley just joined the list. He must not have been able to find the rule, either.
      No one can say we have not given our Allamakee County Supervisors or Attorney a chance to clear up this problem. Our road easement was signed before our Allamakee County Attorney put in the phrase "Acquisition Plats". We don't know about any other Allamakee County landowners, but after this, Allamakee County will pay full price for the land beyond 33' from the center of the roads. Our Allamakee County taxpayers can thank our Allamakee County road easement phrase "Acquisition Plats" for this.
      Too many Allamakee County landowners were told they could not use their road easement for anything because Allamakee County did not want junk sitting on it. Allamakee County said Allamakee County would use it to store dirt and stuff on for the roads. We never thought they were taking our soil, and stop and see the junk they have stored there. We have pictures of that, too.
      Allamakee County, do as I say, not as I do?

Dean & Sherry Bechtel, Waukon