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"Discussion" in Georgia
Monroe to defend disputed border surveyBy MIKE STUCKA – [email protected] Sign up for daily e-mail news alerts
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Monroe County will go to court arguing that a survey giving it a slice of Bibb County land isn’t only the best survey but that it may have been the first time in history the line was actually marked on the ground.In a filing last month, Monroe County attorneys say they’ll call two witnesses, Hugh W. Mercer Jr. and Virgil T. Hammond, who will attack Bibb County’s claims about its doubts about the survey.
The actual position of the line could determine the fate of an estimated 400 parcels that represent $1.2 million in property taxes. The line found by the state-commissioned surveyor, Terry Scarborough of Warner Robins, slices through the parking lot of Bass Pro Shops, which was built in Bibb County.
Mercer, a surveyor from Forsyth, wrote in Monroe County’s filing that, “Bibb County has made repeated efforts to identify the exact location on the ground of the boundary line. Bibb County’s claims that the location of the boundary line on the ground has long been known by the counties or is well-settled is contradicted by their efforts to identify the location of the boundary line on the ground and is contrary to the historical record.”
Hammond, a surveyor from Powder Springs, attacked Bibb County’s claims that Scarborough had found the wrong ferry (which he used to help identify the county line), ignored important records from the 1820s and had mistaken a railroad bed for a road. Hammond said Scarborough “correctly and properly identifies and marks the boundary line” between Monroe and Bibb counties based on the historical record and physical evidence.
A three-day hearing in the case is scheduled to begin Sept. 13.
Bibb County has refused to pay its share of Scarborough’s bill, about $170,000, until he gives a deposition, which he has refused to do. Scarborough said in a filing that the impasse was destroying his business and forced him to lay off his entire staff of surveyors.
In recent weeks, Scarborough’s business phone quit accepting incoming phone calls. That phone number is now out of service entirely.
Read more: http://www.macon.com/2010/07/06/1186304/monroe-to-defend-disputed-border.html#ixzz0swHzO4rN
Derek G. Graham
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7 Replies
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How does one exactly mistake a railroad bed for a road bed. I take it Bibb has never heard of VAL maps?
In the meantime the Bibb commissioners are running him into bankruptcy. Classy.
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This story is a huge example of why I stopped contracting work with governments and large corporations quite a while back. Too many of them only want to pay for what they want to hear, especially when it comes to boundary issues. And that’s regardless of having a “contract” with them.
Take care,
Ed -
i do not claim to know the intricacies of this case. i have watched it with interest, but never spent the time to delve into the facts.
on the surface, my thought it why doesn’t he just give the deposition and take away the final hurdle in getting paid? what are you scared of?
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Here’s a fresh heap of intricacies for you:
http://www.bibbmonroebattle.com/Index.html
Now you can conjecture astutely about the case to your heart’s content.
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The dispute with “Scarborough” and his refusal to give a deposition has gone on for quite some time. I’m curious as to why he apparantly would rather go bankrupt than answer questions about his survey.
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Ole Terry will be testifying now. http://accesswdun.com/article/2017/10/594758
MACON, Ga. (AP) ?? A Georgia judge is trying to force a surveyor to testify in a county border dispute.Judge orders surveyor to hearing on Georgia county lines
Bibb and Monroe counties have been fighting over their boundary for more than a decade. At stake is the tax money from about 400 pieces of land, including a Bass Pro Shops store.The Telegraph reports that a judge, at Secretary of State Brian Kemp’s request, has ordered surveyor Terry Scarborough to appear at a Nov. 2 hearing. Scarborough didn’t show for hearings Aug. 2 and earlier on the matter.
In 2005, then-Gov. Sonny Perdue appointed Scarborough to identify the boundary. Through surveying, archaeological evidence and maps, Scarborough concluded Bibb County had encroached into Monroe County.
Kemp later rejected the surveyor’s boundary, but said Scarborough would be allowed to present evidence at future hearings.
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This has been going on for probably 10 years. Not involved in it but have some limited knowledge and what I recall from talking to others surveyors down there is that the Secretary of State reneged on the payment terms after the job was done because he didn’t like the results. So he has held Terry hostage.
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