Our Voice : Citizens For a Better Lebanon Maine

Some people might say, “Oh why don’t they stop whining?  It was decided in a court of  law that they really don’t own that land.”  I ask you, if you have owned a piece of  land that you had a legal binder/bill of sale for, and you paid taxes on that land  for 50 years, wouldn’t you be upset, even outraged?   There are three different drawings of our parcel of land in the town vault.  I ask, “ Why is that?”  Could it be that O’Donnell Surveyors, the creators of our somewhat imperfect town’s tax maps, couldn’t decide on what the parcel was supposed to look like from the deeds?

We learned  in a deposition from one of the defendants, that in 1973 they “HELPED O’Donnell Surveyors establish their boundary lines”.  Why didn’t SOMEONE contact my husband’s family back then, and say there was a problem?  A phone call from any one of the defendants, or a letter, perhaps some notice from Lebanon’s municipal government, would have saved much time and litigation. But then, there were still still too many people who were alive and could tell the truth. There didn’t seem to be any question as to who owned the 15 acre parcel for the preceding eleven years, or to who the tax bills were sent. Could that be because the primary parties to the transfer of the 15 acres WERE STILL ALIVE, and could corroborate what was sold? Why for almost 50 years did my husband’s family pay taxes on 15 acres of land? Not until wood was cut on almost 12 acres of land that we own, and we tried desperately to stop them, was ANYTHING said about O’Donnell Surveyors.  Why did they cut the wood on what they THOUGHT was their land and we KNOW is our land?  The explanation in one defendants deposition was the wood was “HANDY”!  So watch out,  this logger might come onto your land, and cut your timber because “It was HANDY, too”!!!

So you see why we are steadfast in our anger and resolve over behavior of the defendants that can only be characterized as atrocious?  People need to know that it is not JUST town government that needs to be better.  It’s the unethical and unlawful things that go on all over this town that need to be stopped.  It has been going on for years and years, or “Generations and generations”, as the defendants seem to like to put it.

There is not much more that we can do now, except to go public and tell all of our story. What better place than here for all the citizens and interested parties to see?  This family continues to acquire land, not only here in Lebanon, but in many of the surrounding towns. What keeps sticking in my mind is, why do they want OUR land.  I will tell you why.  It almost completes a large block of several thousand acres around us. Maybe those few independent landowners here should check their deeds and surveys? In the will for these defendants land they can start to develop it in January of 2010.  Guess what!!! It’s now February of 2010.   Parts of this several thousand  (or so) acres is in tree growth, (supposedly)!!  I can tell you that ever since last year you could hear logging equipment up near the Acton line.  What do you suppose they were doing?   I don’t want to even hazard a guess, but I’ll bet it wasn’t roasting marshmallows.

How much truth there is to the defendant’s rumors saying, ”The Henderson’s are expanding their land holdings”, or another, “This whole mess is the town’s fault”, is not only completely untrue, but actually laughable.

So you may ask, ”Are we are sore losers”?  Not by a long shot,  outraged is more like it.  Are we hurt at how the State of Maine thought this was such a trivial matter?  You betcha.  You know the old saying “Money Talks,” and so on  and so on?  It sure does.  Don’t think for one minute that this couldn’t happen to you.  Because it can.