COAL CITY, WV (WOAY) – Coal City residents are asking state officials to step in after a state road has been illegally blocked.
Within two weeks, over 600 people signed a petition to remove a steel gate that’s blocking a frequently used dirt road. The road was illegally blocked by a hunting club that subleases land from Hardwood Products and Piney Creek Association.
“I got in touch with the DOT in Charleston and they informed us the dirt road is still a state route. The Supervisor for DOT told me under no circumstance even though this route is a hundred years old that the hunting cub cannot block this road off,” said Commission President David Tolliver.
Residents are most frustrated with the fact that the hundred-year-old dirt path leads to a well-visited cemetery where many of their loved ones reside.
“Once I found out that the gate went up it broke my heart. It broke everyone’s hearts in this community. One of the last walks with my mother was on this road,” Coal City resident Lucy Lester said.
“I have a mother up there, I have a daughter up there. I have a lot of loved ones up there and neighbors that I knew growing up. Just about anybody from around here knows someone up there,” said another resident, Belinda Ellison.
Raleigh County Commissioners were able to confirm that the dirt road is, in fact, a state route and is now in process of getting the steel gate removed by contacting the Department of Transportation
“To me, that would be illegal since it’s a state route. That where we’re at now is getting in touch with DOT and Hardwood Products and tell them what we found and what they have to do,” Tolliver said.
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