The three-year legal battle over Howard Redden Road continues as Ann Rae Beasley, who lives along the disputed road, appeals a summary judgment by a court that says the road is public property.

Lora Wegman graphic

In an appeal filed Friday, Beasley claims that Circuit Judge Gary Oxenhandler’s ruling illegally deprived her of her private property because she was not given a jury trial or compensated for the land. Beasley also claims she was denied a copy of the petition filed in the case and therefore unable to file a response within the required 45 days of the court ruling.

Beasley was not home this morning to answer questions about her complaint.

The half-mile Howard Redden Road was built in the early 1960s by John Redden as a driveway from Fox Lane to his home, which is just southeast of Pierpont. Redden said only four families live along the road and that he had granted them an easement to reach their homes.

According to county traffic data, only 12 cars drive along the road each day.

Boone County Northern Commissioner Skip Elkin said today he was not familiar with the appeal but that the county wants to maintain the road as it maintains roughly 500 miles of gravel roads throughout the county.

"The bottom line is that there are people out there who want the road maintained," Elkin said. "They want to make sure it’s in good shape and has snow removal - no more, no less than any of the other roads."

Carl Smith, who was named as a defendant in the original case, has been fighting the county’s attempts to make the road public since the case went to court in 2004.

Smith said the county has only taken an interest in the road since land at the end was subdivided.

Residents "raised hell about it," Smith said.

"They never wanted them coming down there. It was only in the last few years that anyone ever built a house there."

Redden said today he is glad that someone has appealed Oxenhandler’s decision.

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