Free Linden

Here's an update, guys. We've almost won this thing, but it's not over yet. As others have said, there was a story done on KOLR 10. If you saw it, you might have noticed Sheriff Kyle with a big smile insisting that they "never intended to keep anyone off the property," and that everyone was welcome up to the high water mark. Nevermind that had a line of purple-painted boulders drug across the river for exactly that purpose. Nevermind that my family and dozens and dozens of others were thrown off the banks more than once. Nevermind that I was threatend by his office with obstruction of justice charges for saying I would let everyone know that the dry banks to the high water mark were public. No, of course, he never intended to keep anyone off the property. I'm glad he finally conceded the dry bank issue, but I'm pretty disgusted with his two-faced routine on KOLR 10. And it's not QUITE over yet. They are still incorrectly informing the public about the dam and threatening to arrest people about it. The issue with the dam is this: Most of the dam is underwater, with water flowing over it. At each end near the bank is a dry raised portion. We have never disputed that it is illegal for people to loiter on these dry sections, as they are not only not part of the physical river but are well above the high water mark. It is, however, okay to walk across these dry sections while going from upstream to downstream (or vice versa) and it is literally the only way to go from one section of the river to the other because of the dam. The sheriff's department doesn't dispute this. In other words, when it comes to the dry sections of the dam, we are complete agreement with the sheriff's department and what they are currently telling people. The problem is the submerged sections of the dam. They are telling people that they are trespassing if they stand or sit on the underwater dam. This is simply false and they are once again trying to twist river law. It doesn't matter that the Lindenlure Homeowner's association owns the dam. The public has legal right to the use of the river--all of it--and neither the sheriff's department nor the homeowner's association can legally do one single thing to diminish those rights. The fact that that exact portion of the river happens to sit on top of the homeowner's dam instead of creek gravel is immaterial. The public has the same right to stand in that section of the river and fish, or swim, or sit, or wade, or stand their and pick their nose as they would ANY other section of the river. Just as someone who purchases land along a river must be aware that the public has certain established rights to the use of the river, the same applies to if that same property owner decides to put a private construction UNDER the river. That private construction underneath the water doesn't suddenly cause the public's rights to the use of that river to evaporate. In fact, if what Sheriff Kyle was describing was true, ANY river-adjacent property owner could simply close off their entire section of the river by putting a private construction under the surface of the water. For example, a river-adjacent property owner could cover the underwater bed of the river with cinderblocks and then claim no one could stand in that section and fish because they'd be standing on that property owner's cinderblocks. It simply does not work that way. The law does not allow that. You cannot put a construction, like the quarried blocks of the dam, under the water and then cry foul when the public has to stand on your dam to be physically IN that piece of the river. As a property owner, you have exactly two choices in that situation: Remove your dam so that nobody can stand on it, or realize that people will have to stand on it to be in the river. So, if we can get them to acknowledge that they are incorrect about this one last issue as they have been incorrect about EVERYTHING else before now, this will finally be over. Those of you calling and helping, THANK YOU! And please don't stop now. Please let them know that you know you are not trespassing if you choose to stand on the submerged sections of the dam and fish.

Thank you guys! To answer some questions, I have contacted every media outlet I can think of. They've all expressed interest, but other than the Christian County Headliner I have yet to see any of them do stories on it. So if you feel like contacting them to encourage them to do so, that would probably be helpful as well and I've got all their contact information on the main freelinden.com website. And they have been turning away everyone--fisherman, floaters, swimmers. Granted, if it's a weekend and they have their hands full turning people away, they may not be willing to cross the river to tell you that you are supposedly trespassing if you set foot on the dam (you are not, of course, but they believe you are). But I watched literally hundreds of people get turned away Memorial Day weekend, and even with two deputies doing so many people managed to get by them and portage around the dam and they did not appear overly motivated to wade upstream and tell those people they supposedly trespassed, but they attempted to stop as many people as they could before they made it that far. On less busy weekends, I imagine they will manage to stop everyone.

I just wanted to make everyone aware of a situation that's occurring (and I hope this is the appropriate forum to post this in). At the Linden dam on the Finley River, the Christian County prosecutor and sheriff have been attempting to keep people off the river for several months now. They started with erecting a line of boulders across the river and painting them purple and putting up No Trespassing signs and threatening to arrest anyone who ventured north of the dam on the river. With enough publicity, they eventually backed down somewhat and said that it was legal to be in the waterway itself. They are still posting off-duty deputies there every weekend and threatening to arrest anyone who sets foot on the gravel banks--nevermind that people have been fishing and swimming here for decades. We've started a protest website to make everyone aware of the situation. If you guys would like to help, there are instructions on the main page of our website on what to do. At the least, if you could like our Facebook page and help spread the word, that would be awesome. Thank you! http://www.freelinden.com