Christian Co. Impeding Access To The Finley River At Linden

[Free Linden]

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

[Wayne SW/MO]

Maybe you should contact the AG. He's suppose to be the peoples advocate so it might be interesting to see where he stands. It is an election year.

I would think any private dams on a stream that flows year round could be questioned in this day and age.

[Outside Bend]

Have you contacted local newspapers? Seems like there could be a better use for law enforcement dollars than this.

[Jack Jones]

The dam that is there appears to be one of those things that's been there for a very long time. No one seems to know when it was built or who built it. As for the boulders, my understanding is that the folks at Lindenlure claim that they were left there from a construction project that they had nothing to do with. That sounds a bit hinky to me. However since they are down river from them, I imagine they weren't too worried about them.

I admit, it would be interesting to determine when that dam was built and who built it. I might be willing to do the research if someone could point me in the right starting direction .

[Daveinozark]

when i was there 2 weekends ago, a local said that the deputy is not there to hassle fishermen climbing the dam. Sure enough, I know he saw me climbing it and didn't say anything to me. I think they are just after the rif raff. It may be a different story if someone with a fishing pole gets stopped, since it's not trespassing to fish the river, no matter what side of the dam you're on. Now carrying your 12-pack over the dam may be a different story, and I think it should be

[dtrs5kprs]

Think I would be spending some camera time there waiting to see someone dump lubricant into a waterway. Has to be a clean water violation there somewhere. Good luck with it.

Real issue is the need to control the drunken floats that have become the norm for so many people.

[Mitch f]

when i was there 2 weekends ago, a local said that the deputy is not there to hassle fishermen climbing the dam. Sure enough, I know he saw me climbing it and didn't say anything to me. I think they are just after the rif raff. It may be a different story if someone with a fishing pole gets stopped, since it's not trespassing to fish the river, no matter what side of the dam you're on. Now carrying your 12-pack over the dam may be a different story, and I think it should be

I suspect you are right, a guy with a fishing rod is much less a problem than a bunch of drunks. Some places just flat out attract the finest people. When we ended last years float and boat on the gasconade, there was a huge group of people at the Riddle bridge boat ramp just darn near blocking it. They weren't fishing, just a local hangout I guess.

[Justin Spencer]

e-mail sent to prosecutor.

[Daveinozark]

I sent an email as well, on behalf of those of us that want to fish and aren't looking for a party spot.

I recommended posting and enforcing a ban on alcohol use. I continue to go back to that as being the problem here. Once it is no longer considered a party spot, the rest of us can enjoy the lake

[Free Linden]

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.