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By Phil Brown
After State Supreme Court Justice Richard Aulisi handed down his decision on navigation rights a few weeks ago, several media outlets wrote about the case. As the defendant in the lawsuit, I tracked the news coverage closely. Given the public interest in the case, I thought I’d share the articles that I found. The news…
By Phil Brown
NOTE: THE FOLLOWING NOTICE WAS POSTED BY TOM WOODMAN, OUR PUBLISHER. New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has moved on behalf of the State of New York and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to intervene in the navigation-rights lawsuit filed against our editor, Phil Brown, by the Friends of Thayer Lake and the…
By Phil Brown
The Times Union ran an editorial this morning on the navigation-rights lawsuit filed against me by the Brandreth Park Association and the Friends of Thayer Lake. “Is it, and should it be, against the law to paddle through what’s posted as private property?” the editorial asks. “Or should centuries-old common law prevail, and with it…
By Phil Brown
The Adirondack Explorer has filed an answer to the lawsuit accusing me of trespass for paddling through private property on my way to Lake Lila in May 2009. Essentially, we argue that the waterways in question—Mud Pond, Mud Pond Outlet, and a stretch of Shingle Shanty Brook—are open to the public under the state’s common…
By Phil Brown
The Adirondack Explorer has hired Glens Falls attorney John Caffry to defend me against alawsuit filed by landowners who claim I trespassed when I paddled through their property near Lake Lila last year. The state Department of Environmental Conservation has said the waterways in dispute—Mud Pond, Mud Pond Outlet, and Shingle Shanty Brook—are open to…
By Phil Brown
A few days ago, the Brandreth Park Association filed a lawsuit against me, alleging that I trespassed when I canoed through private land last year on my way to Lake Lila. As part of the suit, the association is asking the New York State Supreme Court to declare that the waterways in question—Mud Pond, Mud…
By Phil Brown
Our latest story about Shingle Shanty Brook has attracted some attention in the blogosphere and elsewhere. The state Department of Environmental Conservation has determined that the disputed stretch through private land is open to the public under the common law right of navigation. Click here to read the online version. The print version in our…
By Phil Brown
No charges will be pursued against three kayakers who paddled through Ausable Chasm in June, the Explorer has learned. The Ausable Chasm Company complained that the three trespassed on the company’s land on the first weekend that the river was declared open (against the company’s wishes) to whitewater paddlers. Based on the company’s complaints, state…
By Phil Brown
Whitewater enthusiasts now have the right to paddle through Ausable Chasm, but they better be sure to obey the letter of the law. Ausable Chasm Co. called the state police on Friday—the first day the run was open—to complain that kayakers were trespassing. State Police Captain Brent Gillam said troopers filed criminal summonses against three…
By Phil Brown
Don’t expect the state Department of Environmental Conservation to reach a quick decision on the Sierra Club’s request to force landowners to remove a steel cable that stretches across Shingle Shanty Brook. In a recent letter to the club, DEC Regional Director Betsy Lowe says the department plans to provide “a comprehensive response” to the…