Access pits neighbor against neighbor

A legal battle out of Beaverhead County has once again irritated Montana's sore spot of public access and pitted neighbor against neighbor. The parties in this case are tailor-made to get the public fist-shaking angry: On one side, a longtime Montana cowboy; on the other, a transplanted California lawyer. The fracas started two years ago when Peter Tomaryn (the lawyer from California) and owners of the Diamond Bar J Ranch cut off access to a private road that runs through their property. The crux is this action has prevented Art Robinson (Montana cowboy) from using this road - a road that he has traveled for the past 20 years - to get back and forth to his ranch in the mountains south of Dillon. The road at the center of the litigation is about an 8-mile stretch that starts at state Highway 91 and runs along Grasshopper Creek. The private road runs through the Diamond J Bar Ranch and Tomaryn's land continues to Robinson's property, which is known as the Frenchie Place. Robinson purchased the Frenchie Place in 1987, long before the current owners of the J Bar Ranch and Tomaryn bought their land. Robinson used the road - called Grasshopper Creek Road - for two decades as the main access to and from his property. Robinson's lawyer, W. Dennis Starkel, said his client was never prevented from using the road in all that time...read more