Robert D. King [01/18/2008]

To the editor:Since the Madison Selectmen have been saying in public that we "lost" Solomon Harmon Road in the Bourne case, and that it is no longer a Class VI road, allow me to set the record straight. Their mistaken statements do a disservice to important town interests and reveal how distracted and inattentive they are in Class VI road matters.The fact is that the court upheld the one and only right-of-way that allows public travel all the way from East Madison Road southward to the 300-acre parcel of recreational lands set aside for public use in 1976 by Professor Malcolm McNair. The McNair parcel affords access to the spectacular Bald Ledge viewpoints. Known as the Kelsey easement, this public right-of-way was deeded to the town by Patrick and Patricia Kelsey in 1979 at the request of the late Professors McNair and Hocking, who paid $1,500 for it out of their own pockets.What the town actually did lose in the Bourne case was of a section of old town road that duplicates a portion of the Kelsey easement but that falls well short of reaching the McNair parcel. Evidently regarding this second set of rights as redundant and unnecessary, the trial judge declined to recognize the prescriptive rights established during the residency of Solomon Harmon's family on the road from 1826-1859. This older part of the road ends at the Harmon homestead ruins, in the middle of the Bourne lot.Another loss was the court ruling that the Kelsey easement's language excludes snowmobiles, even though snowmobiles have been using it since the early 1970s without objection from the parties to the easement, including Kelsey and his successors until Bourne came along. We might have won this snowmobile issue, too, but neither the town nor the snowmobilers put up a serious defense, so it was essentially lost by default. The Selectmen have also been saying that Solomon Harmon Road is "just a trail now," but this, too, is wrong. The Kelsey easement excludes the use of privately owned motorized vehicles, but allows all types of official vehicles, including law enforcement, fire trucks, and vehicles driven by town officials. In short, it's just as much a vehicular road as it has always been. Adding to the confusion, the selectmen and other town officials have been saying that as a result of the Bourne case, this is no longer a Class VI road. To the contrary, it is just as much a Class VI road as it has ever been. RSA 229:5 defines road classes I through V, then states that Class VI roads shall consist of all other existing public ways. Notice that the word is ways, not roads. Blacks Law Dictionary defines a way as a passage, path, road, or street. In a technical sense, a right of passage over land. Evidently, town officials mistakenly believe that only old town roads can be Class VI, and overlook the fact that there has never been an old town road that reached the McNair parcel or Bald Ledge.Incredibly, Marc Ohlson and Noreen Downs of the Planning Board have formally proposed to abandon Solomon Harmon Road, and the selectmen have not repudiated the idea. Professors McNair and Hocking must be rolling in their graves.The town meeting will likely be equally horrified at such a proposal. In 2000 when Roger Cyr petitioned an article to discontinue this road, it was overwhelmingly rejected (Article 23). The legislative body followed up with a resolution demanding that the conservation commission, as the steward of the McNair and Kelsey easements, increase its attention to the care and protection of these valuable assets (Article 39).George A. James, Jr., a Connecticut resident who once owned the land through which this road passes on its way to the Bourne lot, was much alarmed when he heard about Cyrs discontinuance article. In a letter to the selectmen dated March 7, 2000, he described the roads history of great usefulness to the public and denounced Cyrs proposal. His concluding remarks are as valid today as they were then. Heres what he said:At this point in the towns development there may seem to be no need to retain class six roads; however, as towns grow and the woods fill up with houses, the no trespassing signs go up and the entire quality of the town changes from a rural openness to the private, keep out mentality of the suburbs. This particular class six road provides public access to a vast undeveloped area to the south of the [East] Madison Road as well as a link to a class six road on the other side of the street which provides public access to a vast area of woodland to the north. I have lived in a number of towns which have rued the day that they gave up public access wood roads when they had them. Old Lyme had a number of these wood roads which the planning commission voted to abandon some years ago. Now the town is having to pay a premium price for open space with recreation as the top priority. The public finds itself having to do their walking, jogging, and biking amid the traffic on Route One. The freedom of the people to move about the land and experience the natural beauty of Madisons countryside is something you have as a sacred duty to protect and preserve. I urge you not to give up any class six roads in Madison.I am hopeful that the Town Meeting will agree with Georges wisdom on this issue.