Arkansas Canoe Club Forums

Recently, I visited with an attorney on staff with Dustin McDaniel's office about the issue of acces to the Cadron Creek at Pinnacle Springs being shut off by the property owner. He suggested that if members of our paddling community wanted to petition Attorney General McDaniel to interceed on our behalf, he would at least consider bringing an action to have our prescriptive easement for access recognized by a court. Thus, if you would care to be involved in preserving our right to this access, please cut & paste the Petition below and gather signatures of paddlers who have used the Pinnacle Springs access for over 7 years and have continued to use it since the owner put up his gate several years ago. Send completed Petitions to Attorney General McDaniel at the noted address. Thanks! Crane

TO: Attorney General Dustin McDaniel
Cattlet-Prien Building, Suite 200
4th & Center Streets
Little Rock, AR 72201

Dear Attorney General McDaniel,

We, the undersigned, are asking for your help in maintaining a public access on the Cadron Creek. This access point is located at the Pinnacle Springs bridge. The undersigned have used this location to put into the Cadron Creek for many, many, years, and in some cases, decades. A few years ago, a gate was erected by the property owner, Mr. Tillman, to keep the public from accessing to this location. However, the public, and the undersigned, ignored the gate and continued to put into the Cadron Creek without permission from the owner of the property, at this location. In the past few months Mr. Tillman has marked a gate and other locations with purple paint and let it be known that he intends to call local law enforcement if anyone continues to access the Cadron Creek from this location. At this time the undersigned have no other viable option for accessing the Cadron Creek, other than this location. Accordingly, the undersigned would like your help to obtain acknowledgment of the public’s prescriptive easement for access.

NAME, ADDRESS, DAY TELEPHONE NUMBER, & NUMBER OF YEARS ACCESS USED

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As a point of clarification, should someone sign this if they have not accessed the creek via the Pinnacle Springs bridge for a period of 7 years? I have accessed it, but only in the last year or two and suspect there may be others like me.

Thanks for sheparding this important issue.

No, only those who have been using it for over 7 years...

BTW, by signing the Petition no one is committing to going forward with litigation. This is to start the information process possibly rolling, if it comes to that.

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No, only those who have been using it for over 7 years...

Although "individuals" that have used it for over 7 years is good, I think a showing that the "general public" has used it over 7 years would also be helpful. (I guess the 7 year individuals could testify about the public use over the same time - and if there are enough individuals then maybe they are the public) But I admit, I'm no public easement expert:

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/g ... 53&invol=2

Individuals make up the general public... and if there are a number of them (which I believe there are) they can establish the case for the paddling community having a right of passage there.

Woohoo! I just realized I first paddled the Cadron in 2002, right after I met PaPa Bob. It was a few weeks after today, though. Close enough?

Show me where to leave my pawprint. Surfdawg's been hittin' the creek there since 1992.

Print the Petition, sign your name, give the years and send it to the AG. Pretty simple, eh? Mine started in 1989... hmmmm... 20 years ago I was just a pup!

In Response to the Original Post About Cadron Access:
My grandfather is John Tillman, owner of the land in which this post is in reference to. My family has lived in the big log cabin that sits up on top of the bluff there at the bridge for over 15 years now. I also have benefited from the Cent Ark Canoe Club's posts for several years and have several friends who are long-time members. I just wanted to say a few things concerning this matter and want to point out that I am not taking any sides or stepping in or speaking on anyones defense.

I completely understand the desire for access to this stretch of the creek. It is a great float that is easily reachable for most floaters in the Central Ark area. Many obviously have long ties to this great run. We all should have access and be able to enjoy this float.

I wonder if there is any person who has used this access point over the years who has been denied access when asking permission? We often see numerous cars parked at the gate, unloading boats and never once (as far as I know) has anyone been asked to leave or remove themselves from the property. It is trespassing given that it is marked, however Mr Tillman has never once pursued his legal right or even asked someone to leave. Our family are all lifelong floaters and have enjoyed seeing people playing in our backyard. The thing that we have not enjoyed is the dumping. Over the last several years we have removed over 25 loads worth of trash, used tires, dead cows, etc. etc. The gates were put up, not to stop people from accessing, but to stop the misuse of the area. I know the dumping is not related to anyone in the Ar Canoe Club! We know most of you go out of your way to clean up after yourselves (and others).

I think if any of you wanted to use the area all you would have to do is call up Mr Tillman and simply ask. I just got off the phone with him concerning this matter and he was quite upset to see these matters being taken. I understand that offers have been made to buy some of the land there at the bridge. I was told the original offer was 15 acres and that no one got back with him on his original offer. Instead a petition was formed instead. Mr Tillman says he would love to see The Canoe Club be able to purchase the land so that it can be used for floating, parking, picnics, etc. He said he was willing to cut down the size of the purchased land considerably should that be more financially feasable. He never received another phone call concerning this so he would very much like to sit down and talk through this matter.

I would love to see a boat launch put in giving everyone access to the area. I completely understand your situation and will continue talking to him about making sure this happens. I also strongly encourage each of you to talk to him as well about this matter. In the meantime, just ask permission to use the access, clean up after yourselves, and enjoy the beautiful float! Should be ideal level this weekend with a spot of rain.
Thanks for listening.

Thank you SOO much for the time and effort posting here on this issue. It means a lot. Years ago we actually did ask someone if it was ok... not sure it turned out to be the owner. Also remember how heartbreaking it was before the gate...tvs, other appliances and trash for days.

Not long ago a crew raised the suggestion to contact and discuss this with the owner. I guess it never happened. This should be the course of choice.

Zack how do we get in touch with Mr. Tillman

Zach,

Thank you very much for taking the time to post. I met you and your friends at Hwy 65 a couple weeks ago...we were loading up as you all got to the boat ramp. I have sent you an email with my contact information and I hope that we can speak very soon.

Heather Huckeba

Ditto the thanks for logging in to share your point of view, and thanks for being so calm about it considering the surrounding circumstances. Please make sure your grandfather understands "The Club" has not voted to pursue this course of action. While almost all Club members would have a very generous definition of navigability and almost unanimously agree about our right to float down the stream, many are land owners themselves and are actually quite adverse to "demanding" access rights at specific locations on privately owned land. And while some are supporting this petition, there are others of us that are quite concerned about the "backlash" and potential damage to our relationships with other landowners around the state.

Clif wrote:Not long ago a crew raised the suggestion to contact and discuss this with the owner. I guess it never happened. This should be the course of choice.

No, that is not correct. Contact was made - but given what Zack has said it is now clear that there was some type of miscommunication, or misunderstanding. There is an access committee, but it was reported to that committee that Mr. Tillman was only interesting in selling a larger block of land. Due to the number of acres X the per-acre price, it was far beyond something the Club felt it could reasonably raise to gain one access point on one creek. But the committee was not moving towards legal action - they were moving to identify and then contact other landowners to see what options we might have available for obtaining access via a cooperative effort, purchase of an easement, purchase of a smaller plot of land, etc.

gannon311 wrote:Zack how do we get in touch with Mr. Tillman

If you don't want to post a number, please PM the # to DeBo or Lupe; both are on the access committee and would absolutely love to contact Mr. Tillman. If you could be there to help with the initial introductions, that would be fantastic.