Joe Sutcliffe grew up swimming and fishing in the South Fork Edisto River, which defines the boundary between Orangeburg and Bamberg counties.

His favorite spot is near Ness' Boat Landing off Binnicker Bridge Road, also known as S.C. Highway 70.

"It's a pretty beautiful stretch of water," he says. Its slow current makes it "an ideal place to go canoeing."

The fishing's great, too.

"Bream, redbreast, bass, everything," he says. One time, he caught eight different species, which he found amazing until another time, when his haul included 10 kinds of fish.

Sutcliffe reckons he's used the landing at least once a month for years, and he wasn't alone.

"That boat landing is the most accessible landing on the South Edisto River, and probably the most popular one," he said.

That changed earlier this year, when fishermen from as far away as Aiken County arrived to find a barricade blocking access to the landing. The owner of the landing says he needs guarantees from Orangeburg County that he won't be held responsible for any problems before he reopens the landing to the public.

Sutcliffe says state law ensures that waters such as the Edisto River are open to public use, but "what good is it to have that water if you can't get access to it?"

Now there are "a lot of irate folks, but they don't know exactly who to be upset with," Sutcliffe said.

He said state highway officials told him that S.C. 70 dead-ended at the landing until the bridge was built in 1956.

The landing is simple enough -- just a slab of concrete at the end of a dirt road.

County records show the property was owned by Georgia Pacific Corp. until 1992. It has had a succession of owners since then.

"Property was provided for public boat landing purposes through an easement that was granted," Orangeburg County Administrator Bill Clark said.

"If the property changed hands, there were provisions that allowed the new owners to terminate those easements at their discretion," Clark said. "And that's the situation we find ourselves in."

John W. "Johnny" Williamson III and Kathryn J. Williamson bought the property on March 15, 2005.

"I live directly across (the river) from it," Johnny Williamson said in an interview. "I can get in my boat and push across there."

"I'm in the process of putting a wetlands easement reserve on it," he said. "I'm trying to protect the environment. I can sit on my back porch and hear the owls and the whippoorwills."

Williamson is a nuisance alligator agent with the state Department of Natural Resources -- he's been doing that for 19 years -- and is a former Bamberg County Council member.

"We've got to protect the Edisto River," he continued. "The river's got everything in it: redbreast, bream, crappie, jackfish, catfish ..."

And trash. "Litter has been a chronic problem" at the landing, said Williamson, who has found "pickup loads" of trash and two burned cars at the landing.

He spoke of his ire that "young hooligans" used the landing as a staging ground for stealing boats from Williamson's neighbors.

And, occasionally, there has been gunfire.

"When I purchased the property, I gave (the county) the opportunity to renew the lease," Williamson said. "It was discussed at a County Council meeting and they did nothing about it."

"There have been problems at the landing the whole time," Williamson said. "My lawyer, this bugged him. Every month he'd call me," asking if the county had agreed to indemnify the Williamsons from liability in connection with anything that might happen at the landing.

"After 15 months of them not taking any action, my wife and I could not stand the exposure (to potential liability) and we did what we had to do to protect ourselves," he said.

"They forced me into doing what my lawyer said I needed to do," he said. "In March, my attorney wrote them a letter saying (the landing) would be closed" to the public.

Still, "I had no contact from them," he continued, until after a County Council meeting in late June.

"We had 15 to 20 individuals at that meeting who came to express their concern to have the landing remain open" to the public, Clark said.

Sutcliffe was among those individuals. "I came expecting to be a spectator," he said, but he ended up speaking on behalf of the others.

"Being a landowner, I certainly appreciate Mr. Williamson's position," he said. "I respect the rights of the property owner to keep people off his property."

"I wish there was some way Johnny would reconsider and work something out with the county," he added.

With Ness' landing closed, "we have only one public boat landing on the South Edisto," Sutcliffe said. That is Hog Pen Landing near Springfield.

That's on the Orangeburg County side, he acknowledged.

And that is Williamson's point.

"Access is not an issue," Williamson said, citing a new landing "three minutes away. It was installed by the state Department of Natural Resources, with a paved access road, off Secondary 49, in Bamberg County."

There's Bobcat Landing on U.S. 301 and another on Cannon Bridge Road, he said.

"All of those are finished, paved, maintained landings," Williamson said. "There's plenty of access."

Sutcliffe countered that it's not a simple matter to travel up and down the river, with its fluctuating water levels and many logs.

He said stores near Ness' landing have seen a drop-off in business since the landing was closed.

"That's right, it's been off a good little bit," said Rock Ransdale, whose wife owns Jack's Country Store.

"At one time I was selling a lot of bait, but I'm not selling as much now," Ransdale said. The same goes for beverages and snack foods popular with anglers and boaters, he said.

"A majority of them like to go to Ness'," Ransdale said. "I wish they could do something to get it back open."

Sutcliffe said he has offered to buy two acres of the land -- at the price per acre Williamson paid for it -- and deed it to the county.

Clark said he has talked with Williamson twice.

"The first time was to get his concerns about the landing," he said. "The second time was when I came back to him to address what I believe the county could do to address the concerns he gave me previously."

"I laid out a proposal for him. He didn't commit one way or the other, but seemed interested in wanting to receive it in writing," Clark said.

One concern was liability.

"I proposed an agreement that would indemnify him from liability," Clark said.

Another was litter.

"We have a supervised crew that does cleanup activity," Clark said. "I proposed that we place that location (on a list) as part of their rotation."

A third concern was law enforcement. Clark proposed asking for increased patrols in that area.

The fourth concern was Williamson's request for changes in the access road.

"I am summarizing our last conversation into a letter. He will receive it next week. It will give him some official communication to respond to," Clark said.

"I want to remain optimistic about the dialogue at this point. We've given him some ideas to think about. He needs adequate time to review the proposal in writing," Clark said.

"We're trying to see if we can create a win-win situation out of this," he said.

T&D Staff Writer Lee Hendren can be reached by e-mail at lhendren@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5552. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

You must be logged in to comment.