BRUCE, Miss. (WTVA) -- Controversy is brewing over plans to pursue a Rails-to-Trails project in Calhoun and Yalobusha Counties.
Annette Woodson is not happy and she is not alone.
She is among a number of landowners who do not want a Rails-to-Trails project to be built on their property.
It's the unknown they worry about.
"Some people have talked about the bike riders, but our fear is people other than bike riders," Woodson said.
They only found out recently that the rail bed, abandoned by the railroad, will not return to the original owners as agreed upon in a document dating back to 1928.
Woodson says she and other property owners found out about the Rails-to-Trails project like most people here. They read it in the local newspaper.
Property owners in Calhoun and Yalobusha Counties want answers.
County officials contend they are only following federal law which they say supersedes the original right-of-way agreement between the railroad and property owners.
If a recreational district is created and in this case one has been, then the right-of-way is turned over to a holding entity. That entity is called the Mississippi and Skuna Valley Rails-to-Trails Recreational District.
"If it were my family land or some land I owned, I certainly would feel the same way and of course not being in their shoes and being there everyday when the four-wheelers are crossing and some of the other issues that they have said.
I can certainly understand their position, however I do see the benefit of preserving that rail bed for the future use and who knows that could be five or ten or fifty years from now," Yalobusha County Supervisor Lee McMinn said.
"We're going to court whatever we have to to get it back. We're trying to get the public behind us-not just the landowners, but the public to let them know that Calhoun County cannot afford this thing. We want to know what revenue this thing is going to produce for the county," property owner Steve Box said.
Property owners plan to go before the Yalobusha County Board of Supervisors Tuesday at 9:00 a.m. in Water Valley.
The question remains if this is an issue for a judge to decide or whether or not new legislation will be their only recourse.
