Quite a lot if someone’s trying to block you from reaching your home.

By Gary Meyer, TME

The residents of Ridge Route Drive in Lebec saw some action during April in their struggle to reach their homes on a safe road.

Survey markers were placed by the Kern County Map and Survey office, but within hours the markers were reported stolen.

Brief History: Long Saga

One neighbor, who does not live on Ridge Route Drive, has blocked other residents from using the legal road leading to their homes for three and a half years.

Davin Cano built a rock barrier preventing anyone from driving a vehicle larger than a pickup truck on the road that residents are authorized to use under the 1976 legally recorded easement in a subdivision by Jim and Emilie Wainright.

Cano has defended his barrier with a misleading interpretation of a 1994 recorded document, which retains easement rights for neighboring property owners but closes the road to the general public.

In 2018 the Kern County Fire Department ordered property owners Bruce and Ines Fuller to remove Cano’s obstructions—Davin Cano lives at the Fullers’ property. But KCFD has done nothing to enforce its order. KCFD also refused to explain why not, when asked by this newspaper.

In 2020, Cano’s misleading interpretations to sheriff’s deputies became the basis for a forcible arrest of one Ridge Route Drive property owner.

The fire department’s refusal to enforce its demand for the Fullers to remove the obstruction now forces delivery, maintenance and emergency trucks to use an illegal…(please see below to view full stories and photographs)

Photo captions:

A survey marker on Ridge Route Drive in Lebec, on April 6, just hours before it was stolen. “CL” means Center Line.

A Kern County Bar Association investigator views the scene on April 19 with a Ridge Route Drive resident.

A 60-Foot Easement: The 1976 Ridge Route Drive easement is a still-valid 60-foot right-of-way to residents; 30 feet out from the center-line marker in both directions.

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This is part of the April 29, 2022 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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