Sorry for the OT but you folks know property and local government.

Last Monday an excavator called me. He was letting me know that his company was contracted by the county and they were going to completely replace two county tiled drains on my farm and they were starting tomorrow. They were also going to remove all the trees and vegetation on 75 feet of both drains. OK. Why did nobody tell me this before they moved onto my farm?

So he calls the County Surveyor(new this year) to explain it to me. I asked the Surveyor, " Why did I not get any legal notice"? Him: "Didn't Jane send you a letter?" No? "Well no problem. We have the right of way so we are proceeding." I inform him that 1) My farm is a tree farm and the excavation and tree removal are going to cause significant financial damage to me. Just off the drain by about 50 feet, I have 10 acres of red oak planted 80-100 years ago and ready to harvest in the next decade.

State codes do require legal notice to maintain or excavate drains.

While they had good weather, they really got going. I have lost 5 black walnut trees already. One drain meanders over my farm for 4000 feet and the other 1500 feet. The second drain will take out all the trees next to my house, my fenced garden, my new 10' by 20' grape arbor and my greenhouse as they are changing the route.

I have calculated the loss of trees to about 20-25 acres. They have right of way but they are destroying all the work I have done over 20 years. In 2010, my farm became a federal conservation protected forest. I feel like I must get an attorney as I can't trust them to stay within their right of way or treat me appropriately. I n 2010 an open drain in the county was cleared and the contractor decided to double the right of way to 150 feet on each side and then burned all the wood.

I have a file that I got out that contains all the correspondence over the past 20 years from the County Drain Board. Largely notifying me of drain assessments and when the Drain Board meeting will be. So I treat their correspondence as important.

Wow! I'm so sorry that's happening to you and your land.

I think consulting an attorney would be appropriate.

Do any of the documents say anything about keeping the right-of-way clear, ie not putting a garden or building there?

Contact an attorney pronto!

Contact every environmental "tree hugger" group immediately.

Contact your local paper and one of the Indianapolis t.v. news stations.

Contact your County Commissioners right now!

Why have you not got an attorney on this?

Thanks Frank will look. I downloaded Indiana Codes regarding drain law once. Hit print then realized it was close to 400 pages. They have right of way by state law, but are abusing power. Will get attorney ASAP and am taking pics to document. In 2011 just before my hubby died, he contracted with a pilot to fly over the farm and take pics. He had a real hoot and the pics were great. Would like to find pilot and redo with me this time.

This reminds me of an incident near where lived several years ago. A college decided they wanted a new campus in the town, so they decided to take about 200+ acres from a local on a hillside overlooking the ocean. They proceeded to attempt to condemn the land and take it.

Well, the family that owned it turned out to be an old long time family that were some of the first settlers in the area. Realizing that stuff like this was eventually going to happen, they encouraged, trained and got their children and family members on the local and county and state boards that oversees these things. Likewise some of them were the judges, both locally and the higher courts.

As far as I know, the land is still undeveloped. A 200 acre piece of flat land, former vegetable/potato fields a few miles away now has that college campus on it.

I had two similar circumstances where City and or County workers were going to trespass onto my property with heavy equipment just because they had an "utility" easement.

In one case they had a 5 foot easement for electrical, telephone and cable use. They had the right to cross my property to gain "access". That's reasonable access.

Their new plans were to add more electrical wires to accommodate a new development down the road. Instead of adding wires on the utility polls, they wanted to dig a trench and lay the cables and conduit under ground.

I had a long concrete driveway designed to carry loads up to 10,000 pounds, not a 50,000 pound excavator. I had underground electrical, plumbing and gas lines that could not take the weight of a 50,000 pound excavator. I have plants, trees, scrubs and grass along the way that they were going to stopple, crush or remove, outside the easement.

So I called my eviction attorney who has attorneys in every court house ready to file any motion. So the next day as the court opened, I had the attorney file for an emergency Cease and Desist Order. Citing they were going to destroy my land, plants and underground services. And that i have a Septic System with the tanks within 70 feet of the easement and leach lines all over the area where they wanted to run their equipment. I also provided pictures to my attorney.

While my attorney was in court, I was outside parked on my property not allowing anyone to trespass with anything larger than a ladder. The contractors called the police who threatened me with arrest. I told them that their threats do not phase me. I am her to defend my rights. If those machines go onto my land, they can cause up to a quarter of a million dollars in damages. They are on notice and you the police are on notice.

You need to read your easement terms and check with your city codes on this. If the City needs to replace a utility poll and get a digger over there, they will have to use a light weight one with a long extension arm.

My attorney got the Stop Order and texted/emailed me a copy that I posted and showed the cops and construction crew.

When I left, and drove around the block, they forced open the electric age and started to drive their equipment on the property. The fine for doing so was so much less than the contract price, they were willing to risk it.

you need an attorney to immediately file a temporary injunction. Showing up at the next meeting will be too late.

Funny (odd) how governments work.

I had an electric company tell me they were going to put some new poles on my land. I requested they not do it. They, in a big huff and puff, told me they had a right to do it as they had an easement by prescription. So I ask them what that meant. I already knew. They told me.

I then said - so I have an easement by prescription on one of your easements for water lines. Seems like 50 some hundred years ago (little exaggeration) a house I have was built over the main water line that brings water to the city. They have never complained about it. In fact their maps show the water line is about 60 feet away from where it is actually located. For some reason they never put up any new poles.

I have also read where a railroad wanted to build a new track over some guys land. He didn't want it built but they told him "go jump in to the lake. We can do what we want.

Lana- What did they do with the 4 black walnut trees? I would be mad that the excavator took the trees to the mill and got the $$. Those are worth some $$$$ alone.

Easement is 75 feet each side at right angles from center line. 150 feet total. I am used to them replacing single tiles only when a sinkhole develops due to cost constraints.

Deed ends with:" subject to legal right of way for L Rd, subject to all legal drain easements and all other easements of record."

I would be angry. There is no reason to remove all vegetation on the complete easement other than as a power grab. They should only be removing what is necessary to replace the lines. I would be getting a lawyer and having an injunction placed in an instant until it can get sorted out in court. It's likely that once you get the injunction they will come back with something more reasonable in terms of clearing.