By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
Local ranchers deal with many problems caused by
thoughtless "terrorists" trespassers
By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
Ranchers put up with terrorists on a long-term
basis.
Jay Dalley, Nephi, has a ranch south on Nephi and he
attended Juab County Commission meeting to thank the
commission for allowing him to place gates on a county road
leading through his property.
However, Dalley also would like wider cattleguards on
the road and would like to disc the roadway or would like to
have the roadway graded.
"The gate has saved me," said Dalley.
In keeping with the county restrictions, Dalley does
not lock the gate for the roadway across his property which,
ultimately, leads into the nearby mountains.
He said that he has had to put up with vandalism, slob
hunters (not the considerate kind of hunter), and thieves,
in addition to other problem people.
"If you put them all together, they are terrorists,"
Dalley said.
He wanted it noted that not all hunters were slobs,
but some were. Nevertheless, he said, he had suffered all
sorts of damage at the hands of fellow beings.
Dalley said he has a pick up located at the ranch in
which a stock well generator is kept. The windows of the
pickup have been shot out, the generator damaged, tools
stolen out of the pickup, and even the rope used to tie the
gate closed had been stolen.
Several years ago, he said, Chevron paid Dalley money
to improve the road crossing his property.
"I bought cattle guards and, if the law says we have
to have a road there, I wanted it wide enough to accommodate
farm equipment," he said.
He put in 24-foot cattleguards and thinks that
cattleguards should be a minimum of at least 16-feet.
Dalley said that travel on the road has also made it
bad.
"I had to have a big cattle guard installed on my
property in Dog Valley," said Robert Steele, commissioner.
"I had to pay for it personally.'
In addition, said Steele, taxpayers could not be
expected to pay for the road to be graded more than the
standard two times a year.
"If you bought gravel, we would grade the road for
you," he said.
Roads also are not to be made wider nor the property
disturbed.
Dalley said he would buy gates if the cattle guards
were removed but that would not be the best solution.
"It would be better if you would just vacate the
road," said Dalley.
However, that may not be the best move for Dalley in
the long run. If the county were to vacate the roadway, said
Steele, the roadway would become a state road.
"If the county vacates the road, then it goes back to
the state," said Steele. "I am fighting to keep county roads
open. That is a public road and there is no way that you can
convince me to abandon a public county road."
The county commission had fought and was still
fighting RS2477.
Dalley requested commissioners to get their minds "out
of the petrified state" and consider his problems with the
idea of helping solve them.
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