Tehama County strikes back after a resident cut down a gate blocking a Cottonwood road

Just a few weeks after a Cottonwood man took matters into his own hands and cut down a gate blocking a county road, a new barrier has been installed.

Tehama County officials placed two large concrete blocks across Farquhar Road in the same area where Bill Poland cut down a large metal pipe gate that had blocked the road.

Bill Moule, the county supervisor who represents the area, said he asked the county Public Works Department to install the barrier and a sign that says "Road Closed."

"Because there was nothing but a fire hazard down there, if people would drive their cars down. In order to eliminate all those problems, we just blocked it off. We'll let a court decide it, if that's what it takes," Moule said.

The county also installed a sign that cites a penal code section forbidding people from committing "any of the following acts with respect to any real or person property not his or her own." The sign says violators could be jailed for up to a year and fined $10,000.

More: Cottonwood man takes matters into own hands, cuts down gate he claims blocked public road

But the sign does not list the actions that could potentially be a crime.

The gate had pitted neighbor against neighbor, as Poland had tried for more than three years to remove the previous gate, which he said was installed illegally. Poland had even sued the county earlier this year, trying to get the gate removed.

Farquhar Road is off Bowman Road, about 9 miles west of Interstate 5. The gate was less than a quarter of a mile north of Bowman Road. Beyond the gate, a rutted path overgrown with weeds leads down to the South Fork of Cottonwood Creek a couple hundred yards away.

But Poland's quest faced stiff opposition to removing the gate from neighbors and Tehama County officials.

On July 25, Poland used an electric saw to cut the large, steel pipe gate at both ends. Rob Burroughs — who will be the county supervisor representing the area next year — accompanied Poland during the gate-cutting operation. As Poland cut the gate, a neighbor came out and demanded that he stop. The neighbor also threatened to call the sheriff's department.

Poland said earlier this week he did not know the blocks had been placed across the road since the gate was removed.

Barricading the road would remove an important fire escape for some residents who live on the north side of Cottonwood Creek, according to Poland, but other residents said there had been problems with people partying, dumping trash and abandoning vehicles in the area.

Closing the area off would prevent that, said Scott Willems, a retired California Fish and Wildlife Department official. He said there is no problem with people walking down to the creek, as long as they stay off private property.

"It's vehicle access that has always been the problem, from day one, because once they're down there, they can run up and down the creek and cause quite a bit of stream damage. And then the other issue that was happening (was) the dumping of trash and even the abandonment of old vehicles," Willems said.

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Poland said he also wanted the gate out so he could get down to the creek to launch his boat.

But Moule said that on the other side of the barricade, the road peters out and it would be difficult to reach the stream in most vehicles. "It's much to-do about nothing. You know; somebody wants to be important," Moule said.

On Thursday, Poland said he wasn't sure what he planned to do next. He said he had calls out to other county and state officials to hear their opinions about the blocked road. But he said the county should have left the road open.

"They're taking one or two people over the whole community, and that's, that's not right," he said of county officials who installed the concrete blocks.

Reporter Damon Arthur welcomes story tips at 530-338-8834, by email at damon.arthur@redding.com and on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @damonarthur_RS . Help local journalism thrive by subscribing today !

This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Tehama County strikes back after a resident cut down a gate blocking a Cottonwood road