Answer Man: A question about river access at Lindenlure and my bumpy ride once there

It is a difficult task for anybody to know when judges — in this case the Missouri Court of Appeals, Southern District, based here in Springfield — will issue a ruling.

I left a message for Craig Street, clerk of the southern district appeals court, but did not hear back by deadline. I'm doubtful he will be able to give me a date or approximate date.

Heck, I also asked Pokin. He couldn't get an answer, either.

I can't tell where the questioner stands on the great legal controversy in recent years — the one languishing with the appellate court: Whether the public should be able to use a short, narrow road to access the Finley River at Lindenlure?

Local people have been doing just that for decades and, some say, a century or more.

Property owners block access road

That changed in March 2020 when property owners Carla and Michael Adams of Nixa, who own several parcels near the access point, blocked off Canyon Road.

The short, narrow road jogs off Highway 125 down to the river. The Adamses put up a locked metal fence and large concrete blocks were strategically positioned.

Several people who have accessed the river at this location sued.

It's a spot they've used for river access for fishing, swimming, putting in a canoe or kayak, catching rays and, some say, skinny dipping.

Those in opposition created the River Access Coalition. They won in Christian County court in August 2021 and the road was opened. But the verdict was appealed; a hearing was held in January 2023 and the only thing that has happened since, according to online court records, was that in March 2023 one of the many attorneys withdrew.

The River Access Coalition sued not only Mike and Carla Adams, but another couple that owns property near the access point — Michael and Sheri Frazier.

In addition, they sued Christian County.

Why?

For years, Christian County road crews have done some maintenance work a couple times a year on the continuation of Canyon Road along the river, says Tom Van Someren, a member of the River Access Coalition.

In my opinion, I'd say it's a stretch to call this a “road.”

The county's position in legal proceedings was to side with the property owners who wanted to ban access, Van Someren says.

He says at the trial, advocates for opening the road called as a witness a former county employee who testified that he had worked on maintaining the road over the years.

It is Van Someren's belief that the county, the two homeowners and the Lindenlure Association all want Canyon Road closed at the point of access.

“We think the association is really bank rolling this,” he says.

I tried to reach Darrell Crocker, who I believe is the contact person for the Lindenlure Association, but did not hear back by the time this story was published. The Lindenlure Association was not part of the lawsuit.

Let me briefly explain the lay of the land. The community is called Linden; the lake that was formed when the low-wall dam was built is called Lake Lindenlure; and the collection of beautiful old lakefront homes is called Lindenlure.

Access to the homes — by land — is restricted by an access gate at the only entry point.

Private land, public waterway

But Lake Lindenlure is a public body of water. Paddlers often enter from the north along the Finley River; portage the dam; and continue on their way for several miles.

In other words, the body of water is public but the land around it is private.

Van Someren readily concedes that there was a problem with drinking, drugging and leaving trash behind at the river's access point.

“People were trashing the place,” he says. “There's been some pretty crappy behavior down there. The public was not respectful of the landowners there”

Members of the River Access Coalition voluntarily pick up trash and items dumped there.

Van Someren tells me he believes the “straw that broke the camel's back” was when a relative of Mike and Carla Adams found a body on the sliver of public property next to the Adams's land.

Someone had taken their own life there.

Down to the river and some 4-wheelin'

On Thursday, April 11, I drove to Lindenlure to verify first-hand that the road was open and the river was accessible. It was.

While there, Craig Hesington, 75, of Nixa, pulls up. On the back of his Ford F-150 is a River Access Coalition decal. He is a contributing member. He occasionally comes here to drive the battered road, enjoy nature and pick up trash.

Today, he is with wife Millie and sister Bunnie, 79, who has just moved back to the area after decades in San Francisco, Washington state and, most recently, Jefferson City, where she helped care for their mother.

This is Bunnie's first time back to this spot since she was about 17.

“I was probably at some naked river party,” she tells me. “There was a lot of skinny dipping back then.”

Hesington is a paddler. For decades, he says, this is where he and many others have put in to float the Finley.

He, also, understands the problem of trash and drugs. He has found needles, he says, during his volunteer trash details.

Still, he says, no one property owner has the right to unilaterally take public property and make it private.

“It has taken a long time to get this opened up,” he says.

Thus far, the legal cost has been $75,000.

“We cherish this, Mr. Pokin, because of the memories,” he says. “We come down here and light campfires and think about the past.”

He tells me about the swimming/fishing hole just up the path — or what some claim is a road — and asks if I want to jump in his truck.

We take off. It's a bumpy ride. A sign says danger, gun range.

It's a ruse, Hesington tells me. There is no gun range.

The river is iridescent — from green to blue to brown.

He stops and gets out to survey the water-covered trail before us. On the other side is higher ground. He gets back in the truck.

Are we going? his wife asks.

“We didn't pay for four-wheel drive for nothing,” he says.

This is Answer Man column No. 71.