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COUNTY PAPER e

THURSDAY, JANUARY 31, 2008 - 1 SECTION: 18 PAGES

 

50 cents per copy

 

VOL. 83, NO. 30

Dispute Filed Over Adamsville Church 1 in Chiefland

 

 

Longtime Williston residents will remember this building, possibly Williston’s future City Hall,
when it was the Brass Lantern Restaurant.

By DAVE GRIFFITHS
STAFF WRITER

‘Williston may soon have a new City Hall. During the past
40. months Mayor Hethcoat, City Manager James Colman and
the City Council members have investigated alternatives for
relocating Williston’s administration to a new location. The
current building, completed in 1956, is in poor condition,
and its room layout does not readily meet storage and

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The council members agree the property located at the
‘northwest corner of NW 5 Place and N. Main Street (routes
US 27/41) will, with some internal changes, better meet the
city’s needs for the foreseeable future, and remain close to
Williston’s commercial center. The desired building was
built in 1986. Originally, the Brass Lantern Restaurant, most
recently it served Williston’s congregation of the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints until the congregation
built a new place of worship on adjoining property. The
church remains the owners of the property. The asking price
is $674,900. Coleman conjectured that, while the current
building may be devalued, the market value of the present
site, located in Williston’s commercial center, is likely
equivalent to the desired property’s market value.
The City Council in a unanimous vote directed City
Manager Coleman to issue a Letter of Intent to purchase
the desired property, research alternate financing strategies
for the council’s consideration and list the current City Hall
property for sale.

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records needs which have emerged over the last half century.

An old AME cemetery and the dilapidated shell of a
building that county records identify as the former a former
AME church are involved in a legal dispute with the current
property owner, Rollin Hudson of Hudson Farms. Hudson,
also a Chiefland city commissioner, was served a legal
action claiming that the land he currently owns belongs. toa
successor of the original trustees.

According to Douglas: McKoy, president of Security Title
Services, which represents Hudson’s interest, said there.
has never been a chain of succession in ownership from
the original trustees named in the 1893 deed. No church
organizational records exist and no meetings have been held
since the 1930s by the plaintiff’s own claim. There has never
been a separate title recorded for the disputed parcel of land,
and the people from whom Hudson bought the property in
2006 had relatives buried in the cemetery in 2006.

‘The structure the trustees claim is the Adamsville AME
Church had been nearly totally consumed by forest and
brush in 2006, when Hudson began to clear the property to
graze livestock. While he was clearing the land, he heard
that the AME church claimed the property where the old
church was. He went to McKoy for clarification. The title
company said it was his. He said the seller of his property
also claimed the half-acre and paid taxes on it for many
years.

In 2007, Julia Dexter Henderson filed a | warranty deed for
a half-acre of Hudson’s property with the Levy County Clerk
of Court, Danny Shipp. The copy of the deed presented by
Henderson to the county’s property appraiser was filed in
May of 1893.

McKoy had the claim of ownership removed by presenting documentation of continuous
ownership that did not show any other claims to the property.

In 1893, a parcel of the property was deeded to trustees of the AME Church by the
original homesteaders, the Wilder family who gained possession of the property in 1862
from the federal government. The parcel conveyed is described as a “half acre in the
extreme north éast corner/of the south half of the south west quarter of section 32 in
township 11 south.of range fifteen east of Tallahassee Meridian in Florida.”

The property in question was conveyed to previous owners with a clear chain of title

_ since before the 1950s, longer than Florida law requires, which is 30 years. The Florida law
(Chapter 712) of Marketable Record Title states, “A person shall have a marketable record

title when the public records disclosed a record title transaction affecting the title to the land
which has been of record for not less than 30 years purporting to create such estate.”

Hudson offered in late 2007 to donate property to the county to maintain the road to the
cemetery so that access to the cemetery can be maintained by the county. The cemetery
is enclosed with a chain link fence, but visitors have access to the gravesites through a
walkway through the fence. Hudson stated that he has not limited access to the cemetery in
any way.

Until 2007, no other claim to the property has been filed.

Henderson said she has filed legal action because she believes the property belongs to the

-Adamsville AME Church.

“Our hope is we get it oo because we don’t want to have a conflict,” Henderson said.
“But we want what is ours.” Hudson stated Tuesday that he has not been contacted at all by
Henderson or her nephew, Rev. Harry James Dexter. Last week, Rev. Dexter, pastor of the
Temple of Faith Ministries in Chiefland, visited the Levy County Commission to ask that a
right-of-way contemplated for Northwest 35th Avenue, which connects the cemetery to U.S.
Alt-27, not disturb any graves. The dirt road runs on Hudson’s property between the old

ADAMSVILLE CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

Sheriff Reo a
Volunteer’ S Efforts — |

By KELLIE PARKIN
STAFF WRITER

__ Sheriff Johnny Smith and Regional Director Barbara Thomas recognized volunteer
Beryl Bayer for her many contributions to the Seniors vs. Crime program in Levy County
on Tues., Jan. 29.

“Beryl Bayer is such an asset, not only to this program, but to this department,” said

" Sheriff Smith. Bayer was presented with the 2007 Regional Director’s Award for her
outstanding service and extensive volunteerism,

Seniors vs. Crime (SVC) is a special project of the Florida Attorney General’ s office
created in 1989. The program is designed to educate against senior victimization and to
provide direct services to seniors who may have been taken advantage of by businesses
or service providers. SVC volunteers partner with local police departments and me Levy
County Sheriff’s Office.

Contrary to the name, the program is available to all people regardless of age, said
Thomas, regional director of district four which includes 14 other counties along with
Levy. “We’re here to help everyone,” she said. The program originally formed as a
result of the Florida Attorney General’s Task Force on Crimes Against the Elderly, and
has since evolved to serve all community members with a continued focus on seniors. °

SVC offers free services ranging from resolving civil disputes to remedying monetary
scams. Most conflicts are settled through informal mediation. Criminal cases are turned
over to the appropriate law enforcement agency and SVC volunteers support victims
throughout the justice process.

Statewide SVC has a successful recovery rate in workable cases of 77 percent. The
Levy County SVC has recovered more than $20,000 since ioe the es in August
2006.

For more information on program assistance or to volun your time contact the
Seniors vs. Crime storefront located at the Levy County Sheriff’s Office, (352) G86: Sill
ext: 356. See photograph, Page 2.

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