Mira Monte Resident Battles County Over Trail Fee

Earl Bebout’s neighbors told him how hard it is to fight the government.

The 84-year-old Mira Monte man has waged a four-year battle with Ventura County officials over his refusal to pay for the right to cross a driveway he cannot use. His fight comes to a head in Small Claims Court today.

Bebout says his troubles began in 1987 when the county built a 9.5-mile bicycle and pedestrian pathway in front of his North Ventura Avenue home, where he has lived more than 30 years.

After the fenced Ojai Valley Trail was completed, the county provided occasional openings so that Bebout and 24 others would not be cut off from California 33.

But in 1988, the Board of Supervisors voted to charge residents a $100 licensing fee and $50 a year to cross the path, which many at first refused to pay.

Before the county bought the land from Southern Pacific railroad and built the trail, residents crossed to the highway without charge, leading some to believe that they had a historical right to an easement there.

Bebout, who is legally blind and cannot drive, is the sole remaining resident who refuses to pay, although a county official said last year that several have filed the yearly charges under protest.

The county is suing Bebout for $300, including the original $100 fee and four annual charges.

Bebout said he crosses the path only once a week when his grandson takes him to cash his Social Security check and buy groceries. The charges, now called encroachment fees, are unjust, he said.

“I don’t drive. I don’t even have a car. What are they asking me to pay for?” he said in front of his home.

Standing on an equestrian trail that was completed in 1990, Bebout squints through thick eyeglasses toward the driveway he shares with four neighbors.

The driveway--a 10-foot-wide dirt and gravel easement crossing the bridle path--is about 50 yards from his single-story, glass-fronted home.

The bridle path is covered with horse droppings that Bebout and his neighbors remove themselves.

“I had no objection to the trail when it was built,” Bebout said. “But if we have to pay to use the easement, why don’t the folks with the horses have to pay too?”

Linda Andrews, Bebout’s neighbor of many years, agrees. “I use the trail myself, and I’ll buy a license to use it if they want to sell me one. But I shouldn’t need a license to cross it . . . especially when there is no charge for the other users of the Ojai Valley Trail,” she said.

Andrews pays the fees under protest each year, but questions their legitimacy. “The easements were always there before and we never paid to cross. What other private residences have to pay an easement-crossing charge to get to their own property?”

Bebout says he is shocked that the government process affords citizens so little right to protest government actions.

“It just seems unbelievable that the county government can go along doing things like this,” he said.

County officials familiar with the case were not available for comment Wednesday.