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Photo by File photo Ken Bible works on his sign.

The bitter and longstanding property dispute between Ken and Connie Bible of Midwest Screen Print and Attorney Allen Fugate took a strange turn on Wednesday, June 10.

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Midwest Screen Print has a large sign in dire need of repair on the south side of their building, but Fugate has barred them from going onto his parking lot for the purpose of fixing it.

The Bibles own their building at 206 N. Jeffers, but Fugate owns the adjacent building on the north and parking lot on the south.

Unable to repair his sign from the ground, Ken Bible elevated his thinking.

Beginning with a standard aluminum extension ladder, he added two pieces of three-quarter inch electrical conduit that he bent to allow him to hang the ladder from the lip of his roof.

He also attached a longer piece of conduit to the bottom of the ladder to keep him away from the wall and give him room to work. It took approximately three hours to modify the ladder.

The finished product was something larger in scale but similar in function to a boat or swimming pool ladder.

“It’s something that I had been thinking about doing for awhile,” said Bible. He also said that he had looked into renting a boom truck that would allow him to make his repairs without violating Fugate’s property, but decided that option was too cost prohibitive to pursue.

On June 10, Bible hung his ladder, climbed down, and began to work on the sign. He had with him a pole with a magnet attached so he could retrieve any dropped tools without getting off the ladder.

Shortly after Bible began working, Fugate walked onto the parking lot and ordered Bible off the ladder and to remove it, claiming that even though he had not set foot on the parking lot, he was still violating the property’s space.

Fugate was referring to the common law tenet that holds that property ownership extends ab infernis ad cielos, or “from hell to heaven.” Whoever owns the surface also owns the land beneath it down to the center of the earth and the air above it to the sky.

The law is interpreted that way to protect individual land owners’ mineral and water rights, but also their air-space rights. Fugate believed that Bible and his ladder were trespassing on his property.

Fugate told Bible that if he did not stop and remove the ladder, he would call the Sheriff’s office. When Bible did not comply, Fugate followed through.

Sergeant Dan Newton of the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office arrived at the scene and interviewed Fugate, who according to Bible wanted an arrest to be made.

Newton then approached Bible and asked him to get down off the ladder and speak with him.

“I can’t,” Bible replied, “I’m not allowed to.”

Newton stood at the bottom of the ladder and took a statement from Bible, still suspended above the ground.

Newton wrote a report but did not issue a citation or make an arrest. The Sheriff’s Office said that the report would be referred to the County Attorney’s office to see what action could be taken.

In regard to this latest incident, Fugate said, “The Bibles have had numerous opportunities from the beginning to resolve this matter in a business-like manner, and they have declined every one of those opportunities.”

The feud began in 2006.

The Bibles say that Fugate waited several months after purchasing the property before agreeing to talk about the parking lot. When he did meet with them, he offered them a licensing agreement instead of their traditional lease.

The Bibles had paid the previous owners $75 a month for the use of five parking spaces. They say that they took Fugate’s proposal to three different attorney’s and that all of them discouraged signing it.

Shortly after that, their dispute took its first bizarre turn. The Bibles allege that Fugate parked a trailer and a junked car directly in front of the rear entrances to their building, barring the doors from being used.

At the time, Fugate said, “I had a trailer and an old car to park. They’re on my property.”

As the trailer was backed into place, it reportedly struck the Bible’s building and damaged an awning to the tune of $300, so the Bibles called the police.

Fugate proved to be uncooperative with the responding officer and the matter remains unresolved.

A lawsuit filed by the Bibles in 2006 is still pending.

They are seeking damages for delays in opening a restaurant they had planned to have at the rear of their building, reasonable access rights to make repairs and general maintenance to their sign and their building and the right to use their back door for unloading, plus damages incurred by having to move a door and repairs to the building after being hit with the trailer.

Back in 2006, both Lincoln County District Court judges, John Murphy and Donald Rowlands, had recused themselves from the case, citing familiarity with Fugate.

Likewise, Dawson County District Judge James Doyle and Red Willow County District Judge David Urbom removed themselves from potentially hearing the case.

The Nebraska Supreme Court Chief Justice John Hendry appointed Kearney County District Court Judge Terri S. Harder of Minden to preside over the case.

No court date has been set, but out of court negotiations have again died on the vine.

The Bibles say that Fugate’s latest proposal is simply not something they would be amenable to. They claim Fugate would allow them to make repairs on the side of their building as long as they secured his permission first, and allowed him to select what color of paint be used should they wish to make changes.

Fugate also insists that they pay an annual $500 licensing fee.

Both Ken and Connie believe that what Fugate really wants is to force them to sell him their property by making it impossible for them to conduct business at their current address.

Fugate declined further comment on the matter.