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By Andrew W. Griffin
Red Dirt Report, editor
Posted: April 6, 2009
Where does the long and winding road in Adair County lead Red Dirt Report???
STILWELL, Okla. – Constructing and maintaining roads and bridges is one of the main functions of a county commissioner’s office. But when the line between private and state becomes blurred in Adair County, one commissioner is left with more questions than answers.
Russell Turner, chairman of the Board of County Commissioners of Adair County told Red Dirt Report that he has already had some negative encounters with some folks who think the county can pave private roads. “It’s kind of an old mentality,” he said.
“After I first took office, this guy lived off State Highway 59, he called me up and wanted me to build a road for his son to put a trailer house in a field,” said Turner. “I looked at it and told him I can’t do it. I can’t build a road there. And he got madder than hell at me. I told him the money was going to the roads where they were meant to go.”
Turner admits that the State of Oklahoma is partly to blame for the problems he is facing in his home county regarding road building and repair issues. “The state should be more black and white on some of this stuff,” Turner said. “It’s somewhat ambiguous.”
But despite some ambiguity, Turner and the Commissioners do their best to follow the law.
The Association of County Commissioners (ACCO) is, according to their site, a place where “231 County Commissioners in all 77 Oklahoma counties work together for the health, safety and welfare needs of all county citizens.”
Basically, it helps county commissioners know what they can and cannot do, Turner said.
And when Red Dirt Report contacted ACCO’s transportation engineer, Randy Robinson, he was pretty explicit about the limitations that county’s have when it comes to doing work on private roadways and such. Read more…
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