Taxpayers Association Opposes Rails to Trails Project

The Pickens County Taxpayers Association has come out against a proposal that would turn the former Pickens Doodle Line into a path connecting Pickens and Easley.

In a release sent out yesterday by the Association's board, officials state they feel the land should revert to its original owners.

"Until 1983 the law was clear about what happens to a railroad right of way when a railroad company terminates service on a particular rail line “abandons” the right-of-way," the release states. "In virtually all cases, with very few 'Ands, ifs or buts,' the land reverted to the landowner across whose property the railroad right-of-way passed.

"While the right-of-way was being used for railroad purpose, the landowner had what is known as a 'reversionary interest,'" the release continues. "Upon abandonment, the reversionary interest ripened into or vested and the right-of-way or easement ended. The landowner was free to use and enjoy the former right-of-way property as he saw fit."

The Association believes that the grantors of the easements for the Pickens Doodle believed that they were granting the easements "with the understanding and trust that eventually the land would revert back to them, or at the very least they were protected by the Fifth Amendment from unlawful taking of land without providing just compensation."

"Just because the federal government passes an Act to appease environmental activists does not make the action morally right," the release states. "These citizens who own property along the current Doodle easement deserves no less consideration of their property rights and privacy than any other citizen of the county would desire for himself.

"What can we say about a society where the rights of anyone, even if only one, can be trampled for the enjoyment of a small select group, or that a small special interest group is allowed to infringe on the rights of property owning citizens for no other purpose than their own benefit and enjoyment while offering no sacrifices of themselves?" the release concludes.