Renter responds

Dear Editor,

Regarding the story about the lawsuit between the city and I in Saturday's paper, there are a lot of things that weren't said. I thought this should be between just us, but since they opened this can of worms, I might as well empty the can.

In the first place, I didn't owe them $4,000 and I didn't have a lease with them.

I had told (then city attorney) Daylene Bennett last spring that we needed to re-do the lease because the land is dryland, not irrigated.

Nothing was ever done. Now I will tell you how I was asked to vacate the property. I had been driving most of the night. I had just gotten to sleep when a deputy started beating on my door. He gave me a paper that said I neglected or refused to pay rent despite demands from the city. I had never heard anything from the city for years. Things weren't any different now than before. I'd farmed that land for 40 years. I probably hadn't had over four or five leases the whole time.

Whenever they'd think about the lease, we'd renew it, pay back rent, pay advance rent and go on. After I got this letter, I called the city attorney and city manager.

The city manager never returned my call and still hasn't to this day. The city attorney called me back that evening. I told her I would pay the rent when they paid my son Bryan and when we decided what the rent was. She said Bryan's deal was different and I couldn't do that. I told her I wasn't going to pay irrigated rent for dryland. She said they were going to take my crop. I wrote to the City Council and explained the whole thing to them.

Again, no reply from anybody. I thought maybe (city manager) John (Bingham) hadn't showed them my letter, so I wrote to (city councilman) Dick Trail Again, no reply. How do you fix anything when no one will talk to you? Then they filed a lawsuit against me, giving me five days to go to trial. No lawyer can work that fast, and then I had to post a $6,000 bond to take this to court.

I can't afford that, so I had to let them take my mile that they had to have last night. Well tonight, I came home, nothing was done with on the city ground, so why couldn't I have cut my milo today?

Such a waste. The first crop I've had since all this dry weather started. This fall, a city employee came out and had me sign a paper saying they could take soil tests on that land.

He said I would be paid damages. Then John went on the radio and said I wouldn't be paid damages. Did the city lie to me? John can't talk to me, but he can to the radio.

Anyway, now back to what started all this. The city came out and condemned some of my son's land for three new wells. They hadn't tested or anything. They had already put in a water line that didn't go anywhere, so I suppose they had to hook it to something.

Some of the neighbors asked to meet with the council members concerning our concerns. Some council members refused, some said they didn't even know where the wells were going to be, and some met with us. Phil Lyons was one of them who talked to us.

They spent around a million dollars and some didn't even care enough to come look.

Anyhow, I went out with the appraisers. Judge Clark asked me if I had any questions for them. I asked if any of them knew anything about farmland. They said no, but they thought they could figure it out. They were paid $700 and came back with an appraisal of 30 percent of what Bryan paid for the land.

We went to court and got a little more, but were told it was for people and they were taking the land. End of story.

Then they started laying pipe.They messed around all summer and Bryan never got to plant a crop at all that year.

Pete Burger said he would be paid damages. As of yet, Bryan has never been paid one dime. I kept reminding him, and still no payment. Last spring, when I was talking to Daylene, I reminded her. Again, no payment. I told the City Council about it. Still nothing. I don't know why the city thinks Bryan doesn't deserve to be paid. Isn't their word any good? Bryan has to pay the balance owed on the land, plus every year has to pay the taxes. Bryan has lost 10 times of what I owe for rent. I told Daylene that last spring. Again, no reply.

Why should Bryan have to get stuck every year so people can have water. Myself, I have to pay 1 1/2 times the rate for water to get back the water they take from us.

Sounds fair to me. I don't really think I was being unfair to ask for Bryan to be paid. Like I said, all I want is what's fair and honest. Is that too much to ask? I can't believe that over the years, there hasn't been one council member who couldn't see how they took advantage of Bryan. To me, the city is being pretty cheap when they're going to have more than $20 million spent on all their water deals and they can't pay the damages they've caused to a young man who's trying to make a living farming. Just be fair and honest.

I always think about this saying we should all live by: "Let your conscience be your guide, but let God guide your conscience."

Thank you for your time and have a nice day.

Doug Hauxwell,

McCook