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BeachSandpiper

Beach Comber
May 3, 2019
21
12
62
South Walton
It is confusing so I went to the Clerk of Court records, did a case search on Year 2018, Course Type Circuit Civil (CA), and Sequence #547 and there are over 850 court documents. The county filed on Dec 11, 2018 against 1194 properties listed in Exhibit A, although the county is listed as owner of some of those parcels so not sure if they are also suing themselves? Anyway, the documents do confirm that the County is the one doing the suing (Plaintiff) and the property owners are the ones being sued (defendants). There are no countersuits mentioned in any of those documents. I did find Doc 784 asking the Judge to dismiss the lawsuit but I can not find anywhere that the Judge responded.
Thanks for the information. I checked your description, and you are right. Under circuit civil ca #547 the county is suing alot of people. I would be responding too. What is up with all that? The county using taxpayer money to sue taxpayers? There is something wrong with that picture. That money could be used by the county to do so many more things for the community like creating more public beach accesses to accommodate all of the tourists that help support our businesses.
 

Lake View Too

SoWal Insider
Nov 16, 2008
6,849
8,277
Eastern Lake
I stand corrected. I do remember several lawsuits filed against the county earlier by BFO’s pertaining to the earlier customary use ordinance. But I’m sure I’m going get an assful of slings and arrows for not having my legalese in order.
 

Dawn

Beach Fanatic
Oct 16, 2008
1,198
519
It was never "customary" for forced occupation of private property in Walton County, nor is it reasonable to remove private property right from the owner, nor is this free from dispute if the county is spending millions of dollars on a lawsuit to try and take away these rights. This has nothing to do with sharing. This is about who has the right to determine who can use private property, the owner or the county.
This illustrates the intractable nature of the property owners. I understand that you feel backed into a corner. The other side wants to enjoy the beach. Not YOUR beach. THE BEACH. They don't see any property lines. Never have. Never will. So both sides are far apart. Neither will compromise.

Thing is, living with neighbors is about nothing other than compromise. It is what being a community is all about. SoWal WAS a community before we had luxury and branding.

:cry:
 

FloridaBeachBum

Beach Fanatic
Feb 9, 2017
463
112
Santa Rosa Beach
This illustrates the intractable nature of the property owners. I understand that you feel backed into a corner. The other side wants to enjoy the beach. Not YOUR beach. THE BEACH. They don't see any property lines. Never have. Never will. So both sides are far apart. Neither will compromise.

Thing is, living with neighbors is about nothing other than compromise. It is what being a community is all about. SoWal WAS a community before we had luxury and branding.
What role, if any, do you think past and present Walton Commissioners and TDC is responsible with the premise of this thread and ill will?
What percentage of the 13 miles of intractable owner private beaches do you think the public can not access?
Is the about 13 miles of government public beaches not enough or not convenient for you?

There are some principles worth protecting. American founders fought a Revolutionary war to free themselves from English tyranny. Property rights and due process being key Constitutional principles embodied in the 5th and 14th Amendments.
 
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BlueMtnBeachVagrant

Beach Fanatic
Jun 20, 2005
1,305
386
This illustrates the intractable nature of the property owners. I understand that you feel backed into a corner. The other side wants to enjoy the beach. Not YOUR beach. THE BEACH. They don't see any property lines. Never have. Never will. So both sides are far apart. Neither will compromise.
Well.....
That’s exactly how the hunters felt who used other people’s land for hunting for a long period of time. In case you haven’t heard or just refuse to acknowledge it, Theriaque, the current Walton County CU attorney, won the case AGAINST the hunters in their attempt for CU on the lands they’ve hunted for a long time.

Drawing a parallel from your post:
Hunters said Not Your land, THE LAND. They don’t see property lines. Never have............
Never will. That last part will definitely land them in jail today.
 

Stone Cold J

Beach Lover
Jun 6, 2019
150
171
SRB
That’s exactly how the hunters felt who used other people’s land for hunting for a long period of time. In case you haven’t heard or just refuse to acknowledge it, Theriaque, the current Walton County CU attorney, won the case AGAINST the hunters in their attempt for CU on the lands they’ve hunted for a long time.

I just looked up the Hunter Case that Theriaque was the Plaintiff attorney protecting private property rights, Case 2014 CA 2951 and found the quote from Judge Gievers at a hearing on Oct 31, 2017 "This is private property, and there's no right that the hunters have to be on the plaintiff's property"

In this case Mr Theriaque represented the private property owner and argued that the public cannot use private property if the private property owner did not give permission... and won.
 
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bob bob

Beach Fanatic
Mar 29, 2017
719
419
SRB
I hope that a judge understands the difference between carrying guns onto a property with intent of killing and taking animals... and catching rays and riding waves.

Stupid example. :rolleyes:
 

FloridaBeachBum

Beach Fanatic
Feb 9, 2017
463
112
Santa Rosa Beach
I hope that a judge understands the difference between carrying guns onto a property with intent of killing and taking animals... and catching rays and riding waves.
Stupid example. :rolleyes:
bob bob you have to understand the legal criteria ancient English common-law doctrine of public customary use of private property to understand the difference. Both hunting and catching rays on private property is the common denominator. Not the activity. The ancient English doctrine of custom is not specific of the activity or if the property is highly desirable beachfront private property or private hunting property. Just that the custom criteria, that has been posted previously, is met. The private property owner’s attorneys will make sure judge will understand the differences.
 

FloridaBeachBum

Beach Fanatic
Feb 9, 2017
463
112
Santa Rosa Beach
I stand corrected. I do remember several lawsuits filed against the county earlier by BFO’s pertaining to the earlier customary use ordinance. But I’m sure I’m going get an assful of slings and arrows for not having my legalese in order.
Thanks for owning that. That is the problem, this cycle of jumping on and accepting erroneous beliefs at face value, because it fits an agenda, regardless if it is factual or based on the law or not; that incites others with the same agenda to perpetuate the erroneous beliefs as fact but is an illusion of fact, and the next thing you know lies about local celebrities stole public beach for $400 with quiet title judgments [quiet title has been between two private property owners, never public property, and a judge quieted the title based on the facts/evidence] or single handedly got a FL bill passed, or Walton beaches were all public use until HB631 “privatized” all of “our public” privately owned beaches, and the internet slide from a known “bizarre” CU activist proved the belief. Then the anti-social media jumps on the band wagon, partisan polls show might makes right, and “progressive” news channels echo the erroneous belief that fit the agenda and increases hits, which continues the vicious cycle of repeating over and over again an erroneous belief, that regardless if the belief is lawful or not, tax payers end up spending millions of dollars to litigate the belief, may get nothing in return except the Defendants legal fees, and a whole lot of finger pointing, anger, and ill will that may damage SoWal community for a long time. The premise of this thread.

Regardless of who prevails in court the public demand to enjoy a beach grows but the Walton beach supply governments and private citizens own is fixed. No one will take care of the real property beaches better than an private property owner with an economic interest in the property. Not the public and not the government and you can not ignore property owner’s Constitutional property rights because you don’t like that fact.

Supply and demand (and lack of enforcement) is a major cause of bad public beach behavior. Without managing the demand for beaches, because the supply is fixed, with education of acceptable behavior and respect for private property rights; demanding beachfront owners “compromise” by Commissioners not litigating against 4,600+ owners if they will trade their Constitutionally protected property rights for enforcing bad beach behavior, that is the responsibility of the Commissioners regardless of who owns or has rights to use private beaches, is misguided by a belief American property laws don’t matter polls do, and disingenuous at best.

Sad thing is many owners are willing to share, but not if you force them by litigation (and cost them money to protect their property rights) or social media shaming. That just make us BFOs mad and not want to share any more. Is the CU agenda making a mountain out of mole hill out of a belief in principle regardless of American law? What if BFOs property rights prevail in court? (1) Public education and (2) respect of property rights can change the current course of actions but not if you want to litigate in court and shame on social media. The elected Commissioners made the political decision to litigate instead of finding a political solution to the beach supply & demand problem and self proclaimed leadership of the CU agenda can change civil discourse and social media shaming if they try. It will take time and effort on the leadership’s part. We didn’t get to this point of community ill will overnight. Otherwise what’s for BFOs to compromise? BFOs are the Defendant with private property right they have had since 1776 and have today and have nothing to prove or compromise if they so choose.
 
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BeachSandpiper

Beach Comber
May 3, 2019
21
12
62
South Walton
Ok, I get there is disagreement about “owning” and “using” the beach. And I do get that we won’t solve that here, but I re read Reggie’s original post that drew me to this thread (and btw, where is he? Is he banned? Never got an answer to that.) So imho it seems the County leadership is really at the bottom of all this since they haven’t been strategic in planning for all of the growth in our beach communities and the huge increase in tourists. I don’t know about you, but “the word is out” that Florida panhandle beaches are THE place to visit, bring the family, and enjoy an amazing beauty that we get to enjoy everyday. How can I find the county strategic plan? How can we get the county leadership to be better planners? Would pro CU folks accept more planned public accesses or are they really just wanting to fight with bfos?
 
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