As I've made some posts about, we are thinking of operating on some track that was formally used by the US government and operated by the Cotton Belt.

I knew there was some issues about it, but they may be worse then I thought. The land is not owned, it is an easement still held by the US Army.

A part of the 2007 National Defense Authorization Act was to authorize the Secretary of the Army to donate this easement to Jefferson County, AR.

From what I can currently tell, that wasn't done.

My first question, is this part of that bill still valid or has other more recent spending bills superseded this??

Anyone know enough about this to provide some guidance?

This bill in question should help someone:

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/cpquery/? ... C_1491644&

It might take some delicate negotiations, but might it be possible to get your group, the Army, the County, and your local federal politicians together to discuss the situation? Changing a federal law might be unlikely, but given the right circumstances it might be possible to get the County to agree to turn over ownership once it is donated to them.

Once in a while, if the personalities are right, governments can make some very sensible decisions.

Might it be possible the delay could be due to the County's reluctance to take on responsibility for land they don't need, and they might be prepared to help?

Hopefully it will be possible to avoid the trap of leasing the property- you don't want another situation like the CMSR is in after a regime change.

Steve Hunter

Hi,

Civics 101 - once a bill is passed by both houses of Congress and signed by the President it ceases being a bill - it is now LAW. So even if the actual transaction has never happened, the LAW says it should. A trick used by politicians is to let the other party get a bill passed but not fund the monies to allow execution of the disliked provision.

The only way to undo the law is to get another bill passed (becoming law) stating the uncompleted actions (could be considered illegally not done) negating the original bill. This example is is easiest illustrated by the 18th amendment (prohibition) and the 21st amendment (prohibition repeal).

If the transfer of the ROW is caught in a political snag (check with your congressman - house and senate), something called a private bill might be able to help out. A "private bill" is something that allows (for instance) exceptions to the immigration quotes to allow a non-US citizen who marries a US citizen into the US and on a non-quota visa. There are many other uses for the private bill. It is basically a way to get a non-controversial and not politically sensitive change to the laws of the land to be occur (administrative changes). It is not used for pork. This is the Congressman's choice to make.

"The land is not owned" I doubt this. All the property in the US is owned by someone. check the county records room to see if there are any private individuals owning the property under the track. Assuming it is not privately owned (this sounds likely), it is owned by the US government - probably part of the the land charged to the Department of the Interior as care take for the US Government.

Contact your Congressman with a short and to the point presentation of your issue and ask if he/she will look into for you. A written letter should do it. Do not email - they get so many, their staffs can not read them all. They listen more to something that someone has taken the time to put on paper - the more professional (no misspellings proper grammar) the better. Remember he may not be interested in your topic and his time is limited. How you presented it here is good.

I've seen the "system" work many times. I've been at the fringes (behind the scenes but not a mover or shaker) for decades. The public schools do not teach the workings of government. They teach the mechanics. I was in high school when I said to myself that there has to be more than this. I asked Mom and was surprised to find she and Dad were active (not deeply) in political campaigns. Learning the lesson that government does work and how it works is a school-of-hard-knocks experience.

Do not feel overwhelmed by it. The system is slow but I've gotten letters from every President from Nixon to Bush 41. I've met (but do not know well) many congressmen, senators, governors, and so forth.

I think you have a solvable issue that can be worked through the system but just need help in how to do it.

"The land is not owned" as an added aside, I am in the tail end of a class action suit that alleged the land sold or given to the railroads to entice them to build into their city was for the operation of a railroad and railroad purposes. The laying of fiber optic cable along the ROW is not railroad use.

If this is so, a records room search at the county level will find those owners. This might be a reason the transfer of a government (military) easement has stalled - the easement says they government may use it for defense purposes only.

The congressman will be more impressed and willing to help if you have already tried to find the easement papers (should be public documents attached to the land leases).

Good luck.

Doug vV

Of course it is 'owned', it would probably now be a mix of private and government owned (city and county) land, as over the past 70 years you can imagine the underlying land plots have sold several different ways. There was some disputes, and this law was enacted to help settle those once and for all. I'm pretty sure the county was chosen as the recipient simply because it sounds better to donate it to a government entity then to a non-profit. As the law says it can then be subsequently leased or transferred as they wish. I hope to get it transferred to the non-profit just to simplify.

As said, I am fairly sure that the transfer from the army to the county never happened.

My first steps planned were to check with the county to verify if this transfer took place, and also hopefully find if the county themselves stalled the process for some reason. And of course get the current county government 'ready' for the possible transfer. (I am sure after 7 or more years this hasn't crossed their agenda in any form in a long time)

After that-would it be more appropriate to try to bring the local congressman into the loop, or write the secretary of the army to check on the status of the transfer?

Couple of suggestions:

1) You do not want to try to reach the Secretary of the Army. This is a tiny issue and not important to him. That is just reality.

2) As you said, step one is to check with the county and see if the transfer ever took place. If it did not transfer, perhaps find out why at the County level. Do your homework before calling any one above the county level.

3) As part of your initial effort, find out who in the county drove this transfer effort. Are they still around?

4) Language such as this is usually put in the budget at the request of a congressman. Track down who that was. Is he/she still in congress?

5) Armed with all that information, it might be best to present the information to the Arsenal commander. I have provided the contact data below for the Colonel who appears to be the commander. I doubt very highly he will have any idea what you are talking about, but his civilian deputy or staff may have the background someplace. Again, you start at this level before going up the chain to a Secretary. Don't go around people.

6) As to your congressman, find out who his local liaison is. They generally have someone local who is the contact on local matters while the congressman is in DC or traveling. Work at that lower level. Provide that liaison with the background, but don't let them do anything at the moment.

7) Sit back and be patient. Let the Colonel do his thing, but touch base with him on some regular basis.

8) On a final note, I would tend to suggest people take the time to read the DoD budget sometime. Its actually rather entertaining.

I would tend to agree that if this made it into the Authorization bill, then it became law and does not expire. However as you read the language there are lots of "outs" in here. Also, how the County reimburses the Army for expenses is a dicey deal. Been there, done that.

Again, to summarize, see if it was ever transferred, then work it one step at a time. Again, work with the county, the colonel, and the congressional liaisons. Keep in mind that base/post commanders hate congressional inquiries. Chances are any congressional inquiry will be well above the colonel's pay grade but will land hard on the colonel. So, work the county first and the colonel and his staff. Keep the congressional liaison informed, but do not have them do anything until its a last resort. If the Army does not come through, then turn on the congressional side and let them make the inquiry. Again, you need to track all this and it may take months.

Pine Bluff Arsenal
PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICE
PINE BLUFF, ARKANSAS 71602
(870) 540-3421
Colonel Chadwick T. Bauld
Commander Pine Bluff Arsenal

As to my background, this is what I do for a living as a consultant to Army contractors.

Good luck,
J.R. May
Wall, NJ

Hi,

Well said and better ideas than what I knew.

Doug vV