Commissioners frustrated by those moving concrete barriers, stealing signs at Haskins Ford


Times photo / Jessi Dreckman Western District Commissioner Layne Nance confirmed Monday that the bright orange signage at Haskins Ford has been “flipped down” to warn residents that the crossing is under water, and the roadway is closed. When the area is passable, the bottom sections of the signs are flipped upward, hiding the message. This photo was taken Monday afternoon. Nance said the water in Bull Shoals lake is still rising, and County Road 863 continues to be closed at the ford.

At their Monday morning meeting, the Ozark County Commissioners discussed upcoming bills and payroll, the upcoming General Municipal Election and the need for area drivers to be more aware. 

 

Haskins Ford crossing

One hot topic centered on the Haskins Ford crossing, an area where County Road 863 crosses the upper reaches of Bull Shoals Lake. 

“The ford’s closed?” Ozark County Presiding Commissioner John Turner asked Western District Commission Layne Nance during the meeting.

“Yep. It’s closed, and the water is getting higher,” Nance replied. “The signs are [flipped] down [warning drivers that the road is closed], and people just need to obey them.”

The commissioners say the area is often accessed by fishermen who sometimes launch their boats from the roadway even when the road is closed. 

Haskins Ford has been the location of multiple water rescues in the past several years when drivers have attempted to cross the dangerous bridge when the roadway is underwater. 

Bright orange signs were permanently installed in March 2020, taking the place of removable signs that were used previously. The signs warn residents when the road is closed in that area. A sign close to the lake crossing says, “No crossing when water is over road,” and another sign at the top of the hill before the crossing says, “Danger High Water Ahead.”

Nance said Haskins Ford has been a frustrating problem for the western district for a long time because, no matter what the county does to block the roadway and warn residents of the closed road at the dangerous crossing, those efforts are soon undone.  

“Put [the concrete barriers] up, and they put a chain on it and pull it away. They’re going to drag them off because they’re putting $50,000 to $70,000 bass boats in [the water] down there,” Nance said. “And you can’t put a camera down there because they’ll shoot it and tear it up. We’ve tried it all.”

“At least if you put a barricade up, they’ll have to go around it to get out in it,” Turner said.

“No, they’ll just hook a chain on it and drag them out of the way,” Nance said. “I’ve been going down there all my life. And come sucker season, they’re going to get in there, one way or another.”

 

‘Well, I’m going to fish’

“I’ll tell you one that I witnessed personally,” Nance continued, referring to a time when he worked for the county’s Road and Bridge Department crew before being elected to commissioner in November. “We were fixing the Haskins Ford bridge. Now, we had it tore out where you couldn’t drive through there. We had it barricaded. Then we come off over the hill, and I said, ‘Look there.’ A guy had a chain hooked on to one of those big concrete blocks, and he’d pulled it out of the way so he could back his truck out there to sit on his tailgate and fish. We went up to him and said, ‘What are you doing?’ and he said, ‘Well, I’m going to fish.’ I mean, it’s the fishermen who are doing it. I’m a fisherman, but I’ve never done anything like that before.”

Nance said he doesn’t have an answer or solution to the problem at this point.

“We’re doing everything by law that we can do,” he said. “I thought of building gates, but I know what’ll happen if we build a gate. They’ll take a torch down there, and they’ll cut it up.… A gate will be tore down, I guarantee you. It’s bad. I hate it. But you’re messing with their season now… and they’re not going to let that happen.”

“We could put [the barricades] up where they can drive through them [to go fishing], but they’ll have to slow up to drive through them. That way they can’t drive 40 mile an hour through there,” Turner said. “Maybe then they won’t pull them out of the way. But if someone tries to go through there and tries to get killed, we can say we’re doing everything we can to warn them. We could put the signs on the barricades.”

“OK, I’ll order some signs. Then I’ll tell you what, I’ll order three more. That way we have them after they steal the first ones. Because that’s what’s going to happen. That’s what happens to all the signs, unless you put them in concrete,” Nance said. 

“You’re darned if you do, darned if you don’t,” added Eastern District Commissioner Gary Collins, who added that he’s had a similar issue at the water crossing on County Road 551, known locally as Smokey Road. 

“Coming from Bakersfield on Old Smokey, you come around [a curve], then another, and then it’s another slight curve, and by the time you get to the slab, you’re in a curve. You can’t see it,” Collins said. “I had boulders put down and a tree laid across there [to block traffic from crossing the bridge]. And they moved it. They sawed it up and moved it. Then they took a tractor and took the boulders off too, pushed them plumb off the lower side of the slab. Well, then this young gal from Bakersfield come flying around there and hydroplaned and went right out into the water. There wasn’t anything to slow her up.”

 

A county settlement

Turner said the county’s insurance paid out a $25,000 settlement to a couple with a baby who tried to cross the lake when the road was closed. 

The commissioners say that, before the incident, the county had signs installed warning of the road closure. “The sheriff and a deputy called me when those people run off in there. They said there was a baby, and they were damned near killed. Then they asked why we didn’t have barricades up. I said, ‘We have signs up.’ They said, ‘Well, signs don’t stop nobody,’” Turner said. “I mean, we’re all for people not getting killed there, but we can only do what we can do.”

Nance said he was especially hurt when, after the incident, a Springfield television station broadcast a story saying there were no signs at the crossing. 

“There were signs up. I’d put them up myself. Said, ‘Danger. High water. Road closed.’ Me and Keith Lyman put them up,” Nance said. “So when they said that on the news, it just went all over me. We’d put those signs up three days before that happened.”

Although Turner couldn’t confirm who had received the settlement, the last known incident involving an infant was in February 2019 when Casey Dawn Shelton and her roommate Richard Corn attempted to cross the flooded Haskins Ford.

In that incident, Corn reportedly drove their Chrysler LeBaron into the high water covering the road at Haskins Ford, and the car floated downstream. The couple swam to shore, carrying the 6-month-old baby and a small dog that was also riding in the car. With no phone, they spent about three hours on the bank in 30-degree weather waiting for a car to come along. Finally, Dan Dooley spotted them while he was out checking on his cattle in the area. Shelton and the infant were transported to Mercy Hospital by Air Evac; Corn was transported by ambulance. All three recovered.

 

Other Haskins Ford incidents

About nine months later, in November 2019, a vehicle in which Mary and Franklin Treece were traveling floated into the lake at Haskins Ford after they drove into water that covered the road leading to the crossing in the early hours of a foggy morning. The couple managed to swim to shore and were able to call for help on Mary’s cell phone, which miraculously worked after being submerged in the cold water. After warming up in a responding vehicle and being checked out by the Ozark County Ambulance crew, the couple drove home, where their seven children were being watched by babysitters.

Another incident occurred in February 2013, when former Thornfield residents Pam Stoker and her husband, the late Charles Stoker, drove their Toyota Scion into water covering Haskins Ford and were swept about 50 yards downstream. They managed to climb onto the Scion’s roof, and Pam called 911 on her cell phone. By the time Missouri State Highway Patrol officers rescued them by boat about two hours after they went into the water, nearly 40 people – friends and first responders – had gathered on the lake’s shoreline, watching helplessly because the current was too strong for swimming and the bank was too muddy to launch a boat. The Stokers later moved to Arkansas. Charles Stoker died in December 2017.  

 

Slow down on county roads

Another discussion during the commissioners’ weekly meeting centered around drivers on gravel roads. 

“I just wish people would slow down on the county roads,” Collins said. “I talked to Ms. Eslinger, who is having trouble with cars going fast through their road. She said, ‘I think there ought to be a speed bump on it.’ I told her I can’t do that . . . . I mean, if someone gets hurt . . . we just aren’t able to do that.”

Nance agreed that it’s a good time for people to be more aware.

“It’s just that time of year. We’re going to be out there patching potholes, and we’ll be starting quick . . . as soon as we get some material in. And we’ll be brushhogging and a lot of things. So people need to take that into consideration. It’s a lot going on . . . even MoDOT. It’s that time of year when there’s going to be a lot of people out and about working. Keep your eyes open, and slow down.”

Collins said he’d once talked to former State Rep. Lyle Rowland about the need for a speed limit on county roads. 

“Someone driving that fast on a county road, even if it’s just base rock, then you come up on a curve and can’t stop. It’s hard to go that fast on a county road, but it’s legal to do it,” Collins said. “I told him it’s going to take some legislation to change it.”

Current state law (Missouri Revised Statute 304.010) says, “Roads and highways in this state not located in an urbanized area” have a speed limit of 60 miles per hour.

The statute stands true for Ozark County’s county roadways, few of which could safely be traveled at that speed. The county has discussed ways to try to get drivers to slow down on the county roads, including putting up signage. 

“From what I understand, and correct me if I’m wrong, is that we can put a sign up, but all that really is, is a bluff tactic. Until we go in there and change the law, it’s still [60] by law, signs up or not,” Nance said. “We’ve got a few signs up that say 10 miles per hour, 15, but basically it means nothing.”

 

Can the county set speed limit?

The statute does indicate that the commissioners have the ability to set their own speed limits on county roads if they wish to do so in the future. It says, “The county commission of any county of the second, third or fourth classification  [Ozark County is classified as third] may by ordinance set a countywide speed limit on roads within unincorporated areas of any county . . . and may establish reasonable speed regulations for motor vehicles within the limit of such county.”

However, the statute goes on to say that enforcing the speed limit may be a little cumbersome at first. 

“No person who is not a resident of such county and who has not been within the limits thereof for a continuous period of more than forty-eight hours shall be convicted of a violation of such ordinances, unless it is shown by competent evidence that there was posted at the place where the boundary of such county road enters the county a sign displaying in black letters not less than four inches high and one inch wide on a white background the speed fixed by such county so that such signs may be clearly seen by operators and drivers from their vehicles upon entering such county,” the statute says. 

A county-set speed limit could also get pricey, as Ozark County’s 700 miles of county road would need to be marked with speed limit signs.

The statute says, “The commission shall send copies of any order establishing a countywide speed limit on a county, township, or road district road in the county to the chief engineer of the Missouri department of transportation, the superintendent of the state highway patrol, and to any township or road district maintaining roads in the county.  After the boundaries of the county roads entering the county have been properly marked by signs indicating the speed limits set by the county commission, the speed limits shall be of the same effect as the speed limits provided for in subsection 1 of this section and shall be enforced by the state highway patrol and the county sheriff as if such speed limits were established by state law.”

Ozark County Times

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