Commissioners say Old Hwy. 8 must be closed
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The death of Eli Todd Brown, 27, earlier this month prompted the Highway and Bridge Committee to call a special meeting with residents June 15 in an effort to close the road to all traffic other than property owners and utilities.
The original effort to close the road was implemented by Highway Patrol Sgt. Jimmy Jones in October, 2003. Jones was concerned about illegal dumping and drug activity taking place along the road, and asked the county to close the road which parallels Highway 8 but is no longer maintained by the county’s highway department.
At a subsequent meeting of Highway and Bridge Committee in February, property owners Dwight and Hannah O’Neal and Mason and Lena Smith appeared and opposed the closure. They cited negative effects on property values. Consequently, the move was tabled at that time.
But in the wake of the fatal accident, which was ultimately blamed on a mechanical failure on the Jeep Brown was driving, Commissioner Gary Prater felt the situation should be revisited.
“After this has happened, I don’t know how other members of this committee feel about it, but I want the road closed,” said Prater. “I don’t want this on my conscience. I’m not saying if the road had been closed he wouldn’t have gotten killed, but he wouldn’t have gotten killed up there.”
The stretch of highway is currently classified as a class 4 road, which receives no maintenance from the county.
“It was a thing that we inherited when the state built the new road,” said assistant highway superintendent Levie Glenn, who said the road basically serves no purpose other than to provide access to property owners, only one of which, the Smiths, actually reside in the area.
As was suggested in the earlier meetings, a system of locked gates would be implemented where only those authorized to use the road – property owners and utilities – would be issued a set of keys. During the meeting, it was agreed the county would pay for the initial installation of the gates.
Several property owners attended the meeting, including Paul Barnes, Hubert Boyd, Agatha Lawrence, Richard Myers and Chester Womack. Most supported the move, though Dwight O’Neal, who was out of town and could not attend, asked Lena Smith to read a letter which conveyed his continued opposition for the same reasons he expressed in February.
Other landowners saw the move in a positive light.
“I can see nothing wrong with gating it and giving us keys,” said Womack, “because then we can have access if we want to get in there. Otherwise we’re going to get more people killed. It’s nothing but a drug place, a place to put dead animals and so forth. I’d like to see something done, even if it’s just gating it.”
After some further discussion, the committee voted unanimously to present the plan to the full county commission.