Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Cutting other's timber costly to McGough

Sometimes being a do-it-yourselfer can be a bad thing.

Such was the case in small claimer court Wednesday, Feb. 15, as Bobby McGough was found guilty of cutting someone elses timber and ordered to pay $5,000 and court costs.

The property in question was owned by Nellie Jewel Edwards. She told Municipal Judge Gene Hale the 122.34 acres had been in her family since the 1800s, and she had been living on it more than 53 years. According to Edwards, there is no question about the property line.

Over the years, she said, different people have lived on the property behind hers, but the boundary is straight running from County Road 48 across Crews Creek, and lays in a north-south direction.

James McGough, she said, has one of the 40s behind her land. According to Edwards, when her husband died in 1990 the McGoughs started a campaign to take charge of the property.

Edwards said she had seen part of her property bush hogged and thought the McGoughs were making a fire lane. She did nothing about this. Next came a fence running in an east-west direction on her property about 50 feet in a meadow. This was followed by trees being painted on the Edwards property, she told the court, along with no trespassing signs being put up.

Edwards admitted taking the signs down until she got sick and was unable to. But, she said, a year later a road was cut across the full width of her property. She called James McGough, who, she said, agreed to pay for it, then reneged and refused to pay.

I just want to be left alone, she said. Edwards removed the fence, taking it to the property line. McGough reportedly called asking what happened to his fence.

Over the years, she said, different things happened, but Bobby McGough was on her land a lot, usually riding a four-wheeler.

The situation continued to decline, resulting in B. McGough having timber cut on Edwardss land. She contacted the Nevada County Sheriffs Office and Prosecuting Attorney Randy Wright. Nothing, she said was done. She waited two years and talked to Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Dana Stone about the case. She also contacted the Arkansas Forestry Service about the incident.

She said the trees were cut in Oct. 2003, with the evidence submitted in March 2004. Edwards waited until Sept. 2005 to talk with Stone again and was told Stone would prosecute the case. Edwards said she was told to take the case to civil court, which she did.

Jeff Richardson, a witness for Edwards, said his first involvement with this case was June 2003, when he worked for Clear Creek Tie Co. in Nashville as a timber buyer. He told the court Edwards called wanting some timber thinned.

Richardson cruised the track in August, making a deal with Edwards. A contract, he said, was signed and a crew sent to the property in September. He said he didnt notice the shape of the west line, until an operator called saying the line was crooked and had different color paint.

The crew had cut to the junction of the northeast corner, which had different color paint. This, Richardson said, was the McGough corner. According to Richardson, this is an IP line with well-established boundary paint which runs straight. This line, though, took more than 60 feet of Edwardss property, he told the court.

Richardson said he learned Brazell Lumber had bought timber from McGough, who had contracted with them concerning the trees in question. Richardson did a stump count and estimated the value of the trees taken.

Dennis Mason, an investigator wit the Forestry Service, and witness for Edwards, told the court a survey was done in Feb. 2005 showing the encroachment.

At the time the trees were cut, he said, he visited with Edwards and McGough, looking at the case as a criminal matter. He checked the tract with McGough going in from the McGough side of the property. McGough, he said, pointed out the area cut, but the property line was 60-75 feet to the east of the established corner, putting it on Edwardss land. When asked about the changes to the property line, Mason said, McGough admitted doing a survey himself, though he wasnt a surveyor or forester.

Mason asked McGough for a complete statement, telling the court he never received one, but did make sure McGough got copies of all of the other files in the case.

McGough said the trespassing signs were put up because of people hunting on his property. He admitted putting two signs in concrete and asking Edwards not to move them. However, they were found to be on the Edwards property.

He told the court the measure he used for surveying came from Chuck Honeys corner and went 20 chains, a survey measurement. Edwardss husband, he said, cut down the original corner tree.

According to McGough, Mr. Edwards cut 18 trees off McGough land and burned trash on their property. McGough said his father called Honey, who gave Mr. Edwards the choice of stopping or paying triple damages.

McGough said he moved onto the property in 1974, didnt do much with the land, but did get his father to show him the corner fence.

He said he heard power saws one day and found his trees being cut. Leon Jackson and I put a crosstie there, where I approximated the (corner) tree would have been.

Basically, the case boiled down to the location of the property line. Edwardss side presented the court a survey, showing the boundaries as determined by Webb Surveying of Hope. The line showed the trees in question had been on Edwardss property.

Hale ruled McGough guilty and ordered him to pay $5,000 and costs. When questioned about the countersuit McGough had filed, Hale denied it, saying it had no validity whatsoever.