The removal of a section of a fence at Thornburg Lake, on what landowners argue is private property, has prompted another lawsuit against the Adams County Board of Supervisors.

Big River Farms filed the lawsuit this month after the supervisors voted 3-2 last fall to remove the fence covering what some residents consider a public boat ramp.

The status of Thornburg Lake Road, the only access to the lake, is also tied up in litigation, but landowners say none of that matters where the fence is concerned.

&uot;Even if the road can be legally categorized as a public road and even if the lake can legally be categorized as a public lake,&uot; the public still cannot have access to the lake,&160;said J.W. Seibert, attorney for Big River Farms. &uot;There’s a strip of land between the lake and the road.&uot;

And because that strip of land is private property, Big River Farms is within its rights to fence off the lake, Seibert said.

Big River Farms is asking Adams County Chancery Court to allow the company to extend its fence across the boat ramp.

The lawsuit has drawn the ire of some supervisors who think landowners should have waited until the initial lawsuit was resolved before building a fence and filing another lawsuit.

&uot;I think they’re jumping the gun a little bit,&uot;&160;said Adams County Supervisor Thomas &uot;Boo&uot; Campbell. &uot;We don’t think the lake is theirs, nor do we believe the road is theirs.&uot;

Supervisor Lynwood Easterling said landowners &uot;should wait and let the courts handle it.&uot;

But supervisors Virginia Salmon and Sammy Cauthen, who have voted in favor of the landowners on the issue, do not agree. Cauthen said he thinks anyone has the right to fence off private property such as that which separates Thornburg Lake Road from Thornburg Lake.

&uot;I’m still of the opinion that it’s private property (between the lake and the road),&uot; Cauthen said.

The issue of Thornburg Lake’s public or private status has been disputed since supervisors voted 3-2 last summer to keep Thornburg Lake Road open to the public.

Area landowners Big River Farms, A. Vidal Davis, William Johnson and Mike Mikell responded by filing an initial lawsuit against Adams County contesting the road’s status.

Landowners say problems with vandalism at the fishing spot led them to take legal action.

The initial suit is still pending in Adams County Circuit Court.

In a hearing last fall, Circuit Court Judge Forrest &uot;Al&uot; Johnson said the supervisors must hold a hearing to produce evidence in support of declaring Thornburg Lake Road open to the public.

Such a hearing has not yet taken place.

Seibert said lawyers would most likely address the second lawsuit first, because evidence presented in that case might also impact the initial lawsuit.