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Groups to discuss damage at historic place
Published 2/5/2010 in Local News
By KATHY HANKSSpecial to The Telegram
SCOTT CITY — Representatives with Tidelands Geophysical, a division of TGC Industries, plan to meet with Scott County commissioners and county attorney John Shirley on Feb. 16, according to Pam Faurot, county clerk.
The company is facing a charge of criminal damage to property because of extensive damage company vehicles allegedly did to the ground surrounding a National Historic Place known as Battle Canyon.
"A bad situation" was how Daniel Winn, Tidelands executive vice president, described what happened when he spoke to The News this week, adding that the company planned to do everything necessary to rectify the situation.
"There was no malicious or criminal intent when we went across with our machines," Winn said, explaining his company had accessed what they believed to be a public road linking two properties for which they had permission to enter.
"We believed this to be a public road because there was no signage stating it was private," Winn said. "We did not know the road was unique."
According to Winn, they never acquired seismic data but wanted to use the road to access other property.
"We did cause cleat marks," Winn said, explaining cleat marks are indentations and are not as deep as ruts, just three to four inches deep.
Winn said the company wanted to fix the damage, adding it was the first time the company, with offices in Plano, Texas, has experienced a situation like this since they began working in Kansas in 2001.
"We have a good reputation in Kansas," Winn said. Tidelands Geophysical gathers seismic data for the oil and gas industry.
While there is a public access road to the Battle Canyon monument, Scott County Commissioner Larry Hoeme said the damage officials were most concerned with was off the public access road, in a place where they wanted people to walk, not drive.
The deepest marks are not on the road, but roughly 100 feet northeast of the monument and go down to the den where the Cheyenne women and children hid during the battle.
"Those ruts are 16 inches deep and three to four feet wide, and were never there before," said Jerry Snyder, a Scott County Historical Society board member.
The company had no lease on the ground, and had been denied six times requests to go on the 30-acre property owned by the county, Hoeme said.
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