Steve Valentine of Mount Judea was fit to be hog-tied when he discovered a wooden platform on his property at the convergence of Dry Creek and Big Creek not far from the controversial C&H hog factory (that some in the industry like to mislabel as a farm).
No one had asked Valentine about constructing what looked at first to him like a hunting stand. So he called the Newton County sheriff and asked what he could do. He said the sheriff told him do whatever he wanted since it was on his property. So he cut the thing down and had it hauled away.
Several weeks later he learned from a friend the mystery stand had been constructed as part of Dr. Andrew Sharpley's ongoing attempts to monitor water quality around the factory our state permitted to house up to 6,500 swine.
The University of Arkansas environmental sciences, soils and crop professor is being paid a lot of money by our state to monitor this factory our state wrongheadedly allowed into our state's treasured Buffalo National River watershed. The professor's team is tasked with examining the effluent from surrounding fields that are regularly sprayed with raw hog waste.
Confused, Valentine said he couldn't understand how, since Mount Judea is a place where everyone knows everyone else and their relatives, the professor's folks would apparently ask everyone but him for permission to built a stand on his property.
" I learned Sharpley had contacted my neighbors, whose properties also butt up against Dry Creek, for permission to build his monitoring station on their land. But they turned him down.
"This is where it gets interesting," he continued. "At no time did Sharpley contact me for my permission. Instead, he contacted the Newton County judge, Warren Campbell, for permission--and [apparently] got it."
In addition, Valentine heard through the grapevine how Sharpley intended to build another monitoring station over the remains of the one he'd removed.
In the process, news of the university's mysteriously destroyed monitoring station had made news.
After discovering what this structure had been, Valentine did what most of us would do. He contacted Sharpley directly with an email that read in part: "... I don't recall giving my written permission to have any structures built on my land ... If it were not for the assistance provided to me by an activist opposed to the hog factory, I would never have known who constructed the platform ... I learned that it was put there by the University of Arkansas ... so my question to you, sir, is do you have any documentation from me that grants you or the university permission to build anything on my land? If you do, please contact me as soon as possible with a copy of that documentation ... Believe me, sir, I do not enjoy writing this letter, but I believe you have the right to defend your actions ..."
I can only imagine Sharpley's expression when he got that bit of news on University Hill in Fayetteville.
The professor responded basically by saying oops, but the county judge told us in writing it would be all right. "Thank you for giving us the opportunity to respond to your concerns," he wrote Valentine. "Last year, an External Review Panel recommended that we monitor the quality of Dry Creek as it enters Big Creek, as three large fields, which are permitted to receive slurry [hog waste], have the potential to contribute chemicals to Dry Creek.
"Agreeing with the Panel's recommendation," Sharpley continued, "I started the process of getting landowner permission before doing anything else. Thus, at the beginning of September 2014, I obtained information on the ownership of land adjacent to the proposed Dry Creek sampling site (map attached). From that map it appeared that the main landowners around that bridge were Sam Dye and Ronnie Campbell, who had worked with Dr. [John] Van Brahana to conduct dye tracer studies.
"On September 15th and 22nd, I called Dye and Campbell and left a message. Not hearing back, I wrote them on September 29th, requesting permission. As I did not receive a response, I decided to contact the County Judge [Campbell], who agreed to give us permission to place the stand and monitoring equipment within the easement of the county road and bridge. On October 20th, Judge Campbell signed a Memorandum of Understanding for us to install our monitoring equipment. This agreement was the same as those signed by landowners of all our other sites.
"I can assure you it was never my intent to encroach on anyone's property without their expressed written and preferably verbal consent and have obtained landowner permission prior to conducting any monitoring work on any private property. If I had known or been told that this stand would be on your property, I certainly would not have proceeded without contacting you and your approval.
"As this is the only logical location to locate a sampling station for Dry Creek, we will not pursue or try to relocate this site unless you agree to our presence. I would be more than happy to visit with you at your convenience to explain exactly what we would be specifically doing at that site and what we are doing in general for our monitoring and why."
Valentine says, in light of the inexplicable way this encroachment occurred, he's decided against giving Sharpley that permission. Can't say as I blame him.
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Mike Masterson's column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Email him at [email protected].
Editorial on 02/24/2015