Mulkey Road Gets Murky, County Called to Counter Disturbance Problem

In the wake of concerns by residents, the county is faced with improving part of the river access area, of which the county owns a small parcel. During last week’s BOC workshop, the board discussed the possibility of establishing a committee to recommend improvements at the Mulkey Road River access area, near the Cartecay River.

Early in the discussion, Commission Chairman J.C. Sanford recalled a conversation he had with residents of the area.

“I sat right here this week,”

Sanford said,

“and listened to a couple and the lady cried big ol’ tears because of the things that are going on right in front of their house. They’re afraid.”

Post Two Commissioner Danny Hall said that some citizens suggested closing the area down. Hall was not in favor of such a drastic measure, saying it was like closing a ball or soccer field. Post One Commissioner Will Beattie, however, disagreed, saying the county portion of the area is not a park or a ball field or even a facility. Beattie said technically the area is private property and that it is not the county’s decision to close or open it because it’s not a facility. Urged by Sanford to speak on the subject, Sheriff Stacy Nicholson spoke to the public safety side of the situation.

Nicholson confirmed his officers occasionally patrol the area, however, he noted,

“They don’t spend nearly (as much time in the area) as they need to.”

He said his office does not have the man-power to allocate to the area, but stressed that it is needed. Nicholson also cited that a community in the area, Blackberry Mountain, employs an off-duty deputy ten to twelve hours a day during the week and eight hours on the weekend to patrol the area. Although he said the deputy’s presence helps, problems persist when he’s not there.

“When he’s not there, you’ve got a parking issue; you’ve got trespassing issues; you’ve got litter issues—litter issues are all up and down the river—you’ve got public indecency issues.”

Nicholson feels these issues could be handled by establishing a facility to minimize the problem. However, he said the problems are getting worse each year.

“These folks get out of the river and they’re right in someone’s doorstep,”

Nicholson explained, adding,

“A resident had a confrontation the other night (with some people coming off the river)…They piled their inner tubes up in this guy’s driveway. The owner asked him to move them and he said, ‘why don’t you move?’”

Nicholson also said he heard a resident is selling his house because of these disturbances. Hall suggested installing a pay-box for the county-owned parking lot, perhaps, to pay for more public safety.

Present at the workshop, a resident of the area noted that the problem is not with access, but with people coming off the river. Several outfitters are also located in the area. As such, she said at one time two or three full busses are occupying the area in addition to the cars in the parking lot, saying that the area is packed with people.

“One Saturday,”

she said,

“not long a go, about 300 people (were) on the river; now, that’s not 300 people coming out of the river, but many times there are 50 or 60 people trying to come out of the river.”

She said this type of situation causes a lot of commotion. But, Beattie said,

“You can’t police commotion.”

Interjecting, Citizen Jack Smith said that the citizens are entitled to have their property rights protected, emphasizing this as the job of the commissioners. Smith suggested closing the access on the county property to prevent or minimize some of these issues, particularly the trespassing problems.

“That probably is the only solution… (to) say ‘no trespassing on county property,’”

Beattie said, adding,

“But know, when we make that decision we just told four small businesses we’re basically shutting them down.”

Beattie said the board previously explored the possibility of an alternative access point with the outfitters, but nothing came of it. Additionally, another suggestion was closing the parking lot, designating it as a put-in/put-out area only, so visitors are not parker there all day.

Later, during the regular meeting, the board approved a motion to table the establishing of a committee to improve the area. As a preliminary measure to bringing the issue up again, the board will make a legal inspection of the situation.

“It’s going to take a little while to figure this out,”

said Beattie.