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http:// --> Ashland, Oregon HOME Valley & State Sports Nation & World Opinion/Editorial Classifieds Business Columnists Obituaries Weather Archive Hot Topics Forum Photo Gallery Past Readers Polls Revels Etcetera Backpage O-Zone Special Sections Real Estate Guide Menu Guide Shakespeare Subscribe Contact Us Rate Card Place an Ad Online Games Movie Preview September 28, 2006 Path cut through Union Pacific Railroad fence By Alan Panebaker Ashland Daily Tidings Alan Panebaker | Daily Tidings Christopher Briscoe walks his dog, Sunny, through an opening in the fence surrounding a 20-acre parcel owned by Union Pacific Railroad Company. Union Pacific Railroad Company can't fence Ashlanders out of its 20-acre property between A Street and Williamson Way. After the railroad put up a fence around its parcel earlier this month, someone cut holes on each side of it — one near A Street and another near Hersey Street and Williamson Way. No one has taken credit for the 10-foot openings, but pedestrians haven't been shy about wandering through the otherwise fenced off area. "It's like telling an animal not to take the short cut," said Christopher Briscoe, a local photographer whose studio is on A Street facing the fence. The railroad decided to fence off the property after the Department of Environmental Quality chose not to approve a cleanup work plan to remove 58,000 tons of contaminated soil from the area. The area was a locomotive service, maintenance and railcar repair facility for Southern Pacific Transportation Company for nearly 100 years. In 1996, Union Pacific merged with Southern Pacific. After a 2001 record of decision outlined a basis to clean up the contaminated soil, the railroad was ready to move ahead with a cleanup this summer. But new information in August showed more contamination than previously thought. Union Pacific planned to sell the property as real estate after the cleanup. After the railroad realized it would not be able to, it hired Quality Fence Co. to block it off to avoid personal injury lawsuits or other legal issues. Ashland Mayor John Morrison asked the railroad not to fence the property off in an Aug. 4 letter. The railroad went ahead with the fence regardless. The openings in it came shortly after. Briscoe said he didn't cut the fence personally, but he's not shy about walking around in the private property with his dog Sunny. He blames the city's ineffectiveness in dealing with the railroad for the fence, but an Aug. 23 letter from Union Pacific Manager of Environmental Site Remediation Gary Honeyman to Morrison spells out a different story. "While it is understandable that some pedestrians in the community would like to be able to use the property, the unsecured state that has existed recently is due to coincidental circumstances," Honeyman wrote. His letter explains how initial expectations to sell the property in a short time period left the property unfenced. Otherwise, the railroad would have promptly set up a fence. Decades of use by individuals brought up the idea of a prescriptive easement across the property. Prescriptive easements are acquired when someone uses another's property without permission over an extended period of time. With no easement in place and a barrier blocking the walkway across the railroad district, someone thought a makeshift door would be the best way. Mayor John Morrison said he was not overly surprised by the damage to the fence but said, "None of us should condone damaging someone else's property." He said the city is still working with the DEQ and Union Pacific to develop a viable option, but for now, he hopes people will respect the railroad's property rights. "We don't like it," Morrison said, "but it is the railroad's property." John Davis, owner of Davis and Cline Galleries across the street from Briscoe's photography studio, holds a different viewpoint from those who wander through the newly-fenced property. He sees the fence as an exercise in private property rights. Davis compared the railroad to a neighbor who people might not like but who has just as much of a right to put up a fence as anyone else. "I was a bit annoyed by the fact that people felt not only justified in doing it but that everybody else was OK with it," Davis said. Staff writer Alan Panebaker can be reached at 482-3456 x 227 or [email protected] . Current Comments: So, UP's little spite fence was treated to a little return spite. My, my---I'm just shocked. sasha davidsohn - ashland,OR - September 28th, 4:24 PM Once again, tolerance in Ashland...as long as you agree with me! observant - ashland - September 28th, 5:19 PM As a nearby homeowner & dog walker, I think UP was right to build the fence. Hey, they graded a nice pathway around the perimenter on the Hersey St. side for easy access to Clear Creek Rd. Some spoiled children might not be able to walk a few more yards, but I can & I'm glad my dog doesn't have to encounter broken glass, rusty metal, toxic waste & the leavings of our transient "disenfranchised youths." I hope UP puts a big dirt pile on "People's Path" to make a point. Call it "Mt. Morrison?" Rich Kline - Ashland, OR - September 28th, 7:09 PM I say that is trespass and the police should watch it and arrest everyone who trespasses. carol - Ashland,OR - September 28th, 7:16 PM If you have lived in Ashland long enough you know the sacredness of open space. The railroad property is one of the last left and well used without (to my knowledge) anyone being hurt. Imagine if you used a space for 10-15 years and suddenly having someone (not local) telling you no more. If the railroad was worried why didn't they do something sooner? The excuse cited in the paper is whatever. I encourage the city to take over the space. Better yet how about rail transit between Seattle and SF! k. fairchild - ashland, or - September 28th, 7:51 PM "Well used" by whom? Hello from Planet Reality! This "sacred open space" is wall-to-wall trash, dog-doo & industrial toxins! A path served shortcutters from A St. to Hersey; otherwise, it's an eyesore, hazard & lawsuit waiting to happen. It could have been the jewel in Ashland's crown: mixed open space & appropriate development. Now it's an open sore, where wandering bums drink & flop amongst scrubby trees & a few "adultolescents" defiantly tred the offal-strewn path. Call it "Poop Park." Rich Kline - Ashland, OR - September 28th, 9:12 PM Bravo! The whole neighborhood had been waiting for this necessary alteration in the hideous fence. As I've seen in my family, the natural path has been used for generations. It's obvious that some comment authors haven't actually been in the space in person, since the well-worn walkway has always been poop-free to my feet. ashlander - Ashland, OR - September 29th, 8:45 AM Actually, the path is used mostly by bikes, always has been. It's always been a connection between the Railroad District and Hersey St. If it wasn't there you'd have to ride all the way around via Oak St. Kudos to the one with enough courage to open it up again. Hope it stays that way. 31 years in Railroad - Ashland, OR - September 29th, 9:47 AM What part of '58,000 tons of contaminated soil' do people not understand? In our litigious society, if the railroad DIDN'T put up a fence and enough people used it and got sick, they could, and would, SUE. We can't say words like 'safety', 'quality of life' and 'private property' anymore. We have to say words like 'lawsuit', 'sue' and 'financial liability' to get through to people. Sad but true. kathleen - Ashland, OR - September 29th, 10:22 AM I often walked my dog on the path, until he scarfed down a rotting KFC "meal" left by "urban campers." In summer, the aroma of dog & human excrement, seasoned w/stale beer, rotting food & patchouli, pervades; rats frolic. In winter, bikers turn the "well-worn pathway" into a muddy morass, forcing walkers into a field strewn with glass, metal, garbage & dog poop! What a "natural" treasure! Whining about having to "ride all the way around"? Awwww, Poor baby! Get a clue: exercise is good for you! Rich Kline - Ashland, OR - September 29th, 10:34 AM Ashlander & 31: I forgot: You don't have to walk/bike "all the way around." There's a well-lighted, paved, gently sloping walk/bike path between Clear Creek & Hersey. It was built over a year ago by those greedy developers, just for you! Free yourself from the "well-worn path" of your own habits, & better alternatives will appear. (But I think this has a lot more to do with attitude than convenience or access . . .) Rich Kline - Ashland, OR - September 29th, 11:06 AM Let's fight for our right to take shortcuts and nature walks on TOXIC land! Bring the kids and doggies too. And let's bring back smoking in all public places; I don't like having to go out of my way to smoke a cigarette. Sylvie - Ashland,OR - September 29th, 11:12 AM People!!! What part of private property do you not understand? UP has the right to fence their property to protect. The individuals who cut the fence should be arrested for trespassing and destruction of property. How would you like it if someone destroyed your property to be able to take a shortcut through your backyard or took it over by adverse possession? Ever hear about trespassing? Last I heard, it's against the law! Lin - Ashland, OR - September 29th, 2:03 PM Trespassing on RR property is a grand American tradition and I applaud this act of civil disobedience. If you knew how UP, SP and other railroad corporations past and present came into "possession" of "their" land in the first place, you wouldn't be singing the praises of the sanctity of Union Pacific's "private property". Many a landowner in the past had their land taken thru immenent domain by the Railroads in one of the biggest land grabs in our country's history. Native Ashlander - Ashland,OR - September 29th, 5:16 PM What part of get a life do you people not understand? Getting all excited about a hole in a fence? No wonder all your kids become eco terrorists and meth addicts - they're making sure they don't end up like you, watching Bill O'reilly and eating tofu. My comment ends here. Rafferty - Ashland - September 29th, 7:29 PM How does UP putting up a fence solve the Toxic dump problem? We just get to look at a fenced field in the middle of town for the next 50 years? Why can't UP/SP be forced to clean up what they fouled up? bbqboy - talent - September 30th, 6:32 AM I sure hope the fence that our senate just approved for the southern border holds up a little better than this one(ha-ha).A fence is only a do not trespass sign.If the authorities do not enforce this symbol of the sanctity of private property ownership what's next? Come on APD,you talk big every chance you get;go arrest the Mayor and Chris Briscoe.The Tidings just hung Briscoe in their photo of him trespassing.From Morrision�s rhetoric "his" police won't do anything.�His� since he fired Bianca. Steve L. Iverson - Ashland,Jefferson - September 30th, 7:53 AM Native Ashlander, so the townspeople can exact their revenge on the RR by exposing themselves to a toxic morass? BTW it's 'eminent' domain. kathleen - ashland, OR - September 30th, 10:23 AM iam wondering why if the police know people our tresspassing on private land they arent doing what we pay them for seen to me they can always cite a homeless person for it but not a taxpayer? hope someone can answer my question. jsl - ashland/oregon - October 1st, 5:29 AM jsl-answer;APD is what you call a "Re-active" police department.They do nothing proactive anymore,only what they are forced to do.No one is going to push them on this so they will do nothing.It would be interesting to see an investigative report by DT on how many homeless or transients have been arrested on that property:compared to well-to-do dog owners. Like the Taste of Ashland wine consumers,they aren't cited but the transient who opens a beer may end up in jail. "Selective Enforcement� BTW Steve L. Iverson - Ashland, Jefferson - October 1st, 11:51 AM "Toxic Morass"? Oh, save us from ourselves, kathleen. When the Ashland City Nanny position comes up on the ballot, I'll know who to vote for. Anyway, to Whomever-----thanks for giving our shortcut back. xxxooo Revenge of the Goths - Ashland, OR - October 1st, 9:10 PM Well Goth, there should be more people like you in the world, willing to take risks and not sue someone for not protecting you from yourself. The American Bar Association would lose half it's members. kathleen - ashland, OR - October 2nd, 1:31 PM In order for the police to arrest people for trespass on private land and for that matter, criminal mischief for the destruction of the fence, a complaint would have to be filed by the owner of the property. No complaint, no victim, no crime. So, to say the police aren't doing anything about it is technically right, but they aren't doing anything because a complaint hasn't been made. That being said, anyone want to volunteer their address so I can bust through their fence to make a shortcut? Bill Hendrickson - Ashland, OR - October 3rd, 4:37 AM The site should be fenced. The "Mayor" should not be begging for UP to remove the ugly fence, nor should he be encouraging people to trespass. The "Mayor" should be pressuring UP, EPA, DEQ and anyone else to clean up this BLIGHT in the MIDDLE of our beautiful city. This toxic waste site needs to be treated immediately. It is a hazard to the health of the city residents that live downhill from it. Toxic chems will contaminate neighborhoods and parks. And UP and the Mayor will whine about fences. Jonny Walker - Ashland, OR - October 3rd, 9:58 PM Bill- FYI: The police have a letter on file at their department from the railroad that defines their property and authorizes the police to arrest anyone trespassing on their land.APD has made many arrests over the years on railroad property on the authority of this letter. They are simply being selective in their enforcement and only arrest homeless on the land. Not "well to do citizens" who walk their dogs or allow their children to play and bike there. Amazing how hypocritical it all is. Steve L. Iverson - Ashland, Jefferson - October 3rd, 10:21 PM Yeah, selective, hypocritical, all that ,Steve, but who would you rather they cite? Me? Or transients strewing syringes, used condoms, wine/whiskey/beer bottles, excrement, unknown pills, garbage, spray paint cans, etc.? Me? Or squatting stoners who panhandle & curse you when refused? It's private property. The owners can hassle me for taking a shortcut, but they & the police don't think that's needed or productive. That's common sense, a virtue that is all too uncommon in PC-ville these days Rich Kline - Ashland, OR - October 4th, 5:32 PM Rich, you have too many buddies down at APD, they won't arrest you. I agree with your point that there are some people that are more suited for enforcement, they're called wanton disregarders. My point on this RR fence is that some in the community believe the laws don't apply to them, period. They are so brazen that they flaunt this by having their photo taken as they commit the crime of trespass. How do we feel comfortable insisting on the criminals being arrested when good citizens do this? Steve L. Iverson - Ashland, Jefferson - October 23rd, 7:21 AM Leave a Comment: Advertisement: Advertisement: Paid Advertising Inkjet Printers Student Loans Water Filter Helzberg Diamonds Mortgage Calculator Security Systems Advertisement: Copyright © 2006 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers. All Rights Reserved.