Plot : Star of “The Blair Witch Project” retires from acting, moves to small town in Maine, gets elected to municipal governing board.
Fact or fiction? Fact.
A year later, Heather Donahue faces ouster from town office after allegedly vandalizing private property.
True or false? True.
Donahue, who since 2022 has lived in Freedom, Maine is embroiled in a legal battle over whether a local road is private or public.
The retired horror-movie star, an avid hiker and snowshoer, said she moved to the area because trails were an important feature to her.
But others on Beaver Ridge Road say it’s a private way and are fighting to keep the public – including Donahue – off it.
Townspeople will vote April 23 to decide whether to oust Donahue from her position on the Select Board.
Donahue allegedly used blaze-orange spray paint to mark trees along what she believed is the public portion of the road.
The Hadyniak family, which moved to Beaver Ridge Road in 1997, had posted it private, claiming they’ve always believed at least part of it to be their road.
But town officials including Donahue disagree.
The family is suing the town to keep the road near their land private.
Hadyniak’s wooden barricades were run over last year by an ATV, and shortly after that, a private-property sign they erected was vandalized to say “Town Road Open To Public.”
Donahue’s marking the trees along what she believes is the public portion of the road with orange spray paint crossed a line for some Freedom residents who began petitioning for her removal from public office.
The retired actress told the Midcoast Villager she believes she was completely within her lawful rights to mark portions of the road public.
Just another thing which Maine Government has messed up–The public/orivet road issue
Another “,bitch from away “ ( a lot of them here ) who marches into town and starts telling locals what to do , to say, to think , and to pay for . Thanks babe . Why don’t you just go back to where you came from ! We were doing just fine without you here .
Can I spray paint the front of the town office? Can a selectman?
I don’t think so — it’s called “vandalism.”
Now the interesting question is if this was a town road that was discontinued — a lot were in the ’60s & ’70s because there wasn’t anyone living on them anymore, at least in the winter, and winter plowing was getting better and hence more expensive.
Remember that a century ago, people put their cars in the barn for the winter and used horse drawn sleighs — the towns used to roll the roads — drag a heavy concrete roller over the roads to pack down the snow and then people could walk on it or ride a horse or in a sleigh.
Then was the road discontinued or abandoned? Often they discontinued maintenance on the road, but didn’t close it because they wanted to keep it open for fire fighting access, particularly after 1947, the year Maine burned.
And then was the road subject to “gates and bars” — was it closed off? If that hadn’t been done in (memory is) 20 years, then the public has a right to access it. Provided that it was open — dropping a tree across it counts as blocking it.
And the thing she really wants to worry about is 46 USC 1983 — violation of civil rights under color of law. She is a public official, is she acting “under color of law”? That’s grounds for a suit in FEDERAL court against her.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/42/1983
Why do Mainers vote for these wacko transplants for local offices? (And I’m a transplant, FFS. But I have respect for the people here.) Angus King is a fake Mainer though (From Alexandria, VA, and didn’t move to Maine until after he finished law school)… and now he is a fake independent back in the swamp where he came from. Oh well….
Dr. Ed’s comment is spot on. I would just add: a prescriptive easement can exist after just 10 years of public / town “use.”
The Courier article has some interesting facts — I think she’ll win if she has competent counsel because you can only sell that which you actually own, and even if the property limes were the center of the road (and I’d want to go back all the way to make sure), that doesn’t mean that there isn’t an easment. Unless the town sold the road to the adjoining property owners, for at least $1, this gets very interesting.
There can be a public easement across private property and that’s actually quite common in coastal Maine where access is across ledges and such. And then the power poles can get interesting.
And then there are the 17 people who live along that road. Do all of the deeds grant a right of way across the entire road? In other words, unless it is public, they would all have to have a deeded right of way all the way to a public road.
This would occur if they purchased it in the past 60 years or so and had a mortgage because the bank would require they have title insurance and the title insurance company will insist on a deeded right of way to the public road. That’s absolute!
Unless it is a public road, or undivided property (which it wouldn’t be), the only way they could buy those properties is if they had a deeded right of way from everyone *before* them on the road. In other words, A, B, C, D, & E are neighbors along the road. A’s, B’s, C’s, & D’s deed would have to give E a right of way across THEIR land to get to the public part of the road.
The other question is what does the town tax map show? If no one is paying taxes on the road, then that’s town property, Likewise, how are the properties evaluated — on the basis of being on a discontinued public road, or on a private road (which would have higher value).
And then what are these people telling their fire insurance companies?
If she does her homework, she should win.
Now as to the spray paint — that she won’t.
And we need another ice storm like in ’98 to clean out the state.
As a subscriber to Maine Wire, imagine my surprise to find myself the subject of an article.
Mr. Ed is right. To clarify: the road in question was discontinued in 1956 with a public easement explicitly maintained.
The town is currently being sued by a family of lawyers from New Jersey, who claim it is their private property, though their property pins are clearly outside the easement and public use has been ongoing.
I used surveyors marking paint on the trees, which is already faded, as it is designed to do.
I marked those trees for an exhibit in an affidavit for the town’s defense against the current lawsuit. I have been the Select Board’s lead researcher on legal matters and ordinances. My affidavit is available on the Town of Freedom’s website.
I have taken a key role in fighting the high voltage power line and commercial solar farms proposed for Freedom. We now have robust ordinances protecting our town from both. I think you’ll find that this is part of the underlying reason for the efforts to recall me.
I also represent my district on MMA’s legislative committee, helping to keep an eye on legislation that would threaten the rural character, food sovereignty, and other rare freedoms that we enjoy here.
I moved to Freedom because it one of the last places in the country where a person has the right to live simply. How I live, off grid in a tiny house, would be illegal even down the road in Belfast, for example.
Am I a “bitch from away”? Only on my best days 😉
The town is currently being sued by a family of lawyers from New Jersey, who claim it is their private property, though their property pins are clearly outside the easement and public use has been ongoing.
What do their deeds say? And then what did the prior deeds say? And the town’s tax maps?
If I was taking this to court, I’d both want answers to these questions and I’d also want a survey done by a licensed surveyor.
And then there are trespass rights.
As to power lines, where do people think that all the electricity for all these electric cars is (a) going to come from and (b) get to them? We aren’t there with superconductors yet, and the higher the voltage, the thinner the wire can be.