Press Realease - DEC vs Public Land

[Guest]

PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Publication
Lake Placid, New York
September 10, 2007


McCulley Defeats DEC’s Motion Asking for Order Finding Him Guilty of Operating Vehicle on Forest Preserve Land, and DEC Administrative Law Judge Denies DEC’s Request to Close Old Mountain Road

Almost a year ago, on September 25, 2006, the DEC filed and served in its administrative enforcement proceeding against James W. McCulley a motion asking Chief Administrative Law Judge (“ALJ”) James T. McClymonds to find Mr. McCulley guilty of operating his motor vehicle on forest preserve land without a trial. DEC also requested from ALJ McClymonds that he order Old Mountain Road closed under Highway Law §212. On September 7, 2007, ALJ McClymonds, in an 18-page decision, denied DEC’s motion for an order finding Mr. McCulley guilty and denied DEC’s request to close the Old Mountain Road. The matter will be scheduled for a hearing in the near future.

In denying DEC’s motion, ALJ McClymonds stated, “The existence of Old Mountain Road as a public right of way, however, pre-dates the State’s ownership of Lot 146 [where Old Mountain Road lies in part]... Thus, when the State acquired its portion of Lot 146 from the prior landowner, it did so subject to a public highway in the nature of an easement.” ALJ McClymonds recognized that DEC has the power to regulate forest preserve land, but noted that “it does not necessarily follow that such power includes the authority to regulate public rights of way under the jurisdiction of other State entities or municipalities.” DEC ALJ McClymonds ultimately concluded, “Nothing in the [DEC] submissions on this motion allow [him] to conclude, as a matter of law, that jurisdiction to regulate the use and management of Old Mountain Road has transferred from the Towns of North Elba and Keene to the [DEC].”

With the Towns of North Elba and Keene having jurisdiction over Old Mountain Road, Mr. McCulley cannot be found in violation of operating a motor vehicle on forest preserve land. But, perhaps more damaging to DEC’s case and its age-old informal road closure policy in the Adirondack Park was ALJ McClymonds’ finding that no evidence was presented to demonstrate that DEC ever closed Old Mountain Road pursuant to Highway Law §212, as DEC alleges. Accordingly, ALJ McClymonds denied DEC’s request for an order to close Old Mountain Road and questioned whether such an order could be issued given the facts and legal arguments presented and despite the fact that the Adirondack Park State Land Master Plan indicates that Old Mountain Road was closed. ALJ McClymonds also specifically noted that such a prospective order would not support a violation on the part of Mr. McCulley as alleged by DEC.

In response to the DEC administrative law judge’s decision, Mr. McCulley and his attorney, Matthew D. Norfolk, a partner at the law firm of Briggs Norfolk LLP, report that they are thrilled with its legal conclusions.

“The decision is a reiteration of the legal arguments presented in our papers submitted in opposition to the DEC’s motion for summary judgment,” said Attorney Norfolk, “The facts and the law support Jim’s position. Old Mountain Road was never closed or abandoned and exists today as a public right of way and a road under the jurisdiction of the Towns of North Elba and Keene. DEC needs to recognize Old Mountain Road for what it is, a town road.”

Jim McCulley stated, “Like U.S. federal Magistrate Judge David Homer and Essex County Judge Andrew Halloran before him, it is apparent that Chief Judge McClymonds is not buying what the DEC is selling. With this decision, the DEC will be hard-pressed to meet its burden of presenting a coherent legal theory and sufficient evidence supporting its allegations that Old Mountain Road is not a public right of way or a town road. I say this with confidence considering the DEC has been unable to do so since this legal dispute began five years ago.”

For more information contact James W. McCulley at 518.572.4073 or 518.523.3606, or attorney Matthew D. Norfolk at 518.523.5555.

Sincerely,
Matthew D. Norfolk, Esq.
Briggs Norfolk LLP
2284 Saranac Avenue
Lake Placid, New York 12946
TEL: 518.523.5555
FAX: 518.523.5559

[Guest]

(From The Press Republican)

No DEC purview on Old Mountain Road
Old Mountain Road case could have broader impact

By KIM SMITH DEDAM
Staff Writer


LAKE PLACID -- Public roads don\'t disappear into the forest.

And the Department of Environmental Conservation cannot claim a road closed under highway law without having jurisdiction orders.

Administrative Law Judge James T. McClymonds has found that the historic Old Mountain Road between Keene and North Elba was not ordered closed by the towns when land around it was bought by the state in 1875.

It remained a public right-of-way when the Adirondack Forest Preserve was created in 1885.

But in May 2003, when Jim McCulley of Lake Placid rode a snowmobile onto the Old Mountain Road, he was ticketed by DEC for driving a motorized vehicle on state land.

McCulley challenged the ticket, saying the road -- now a three-foot-wide stretch of the Jackrabbit skiing and hiking trail -- is still a public right-of-way.

On appeal in Essex County Court and later in District Court, judges agreed with McCulley, who then filed a restraining order against DEC in federal court.

After McCulley drove his pickup truck on the same road in May 2005, DEC requested a legal decision against McCulley without a hearing, claiming jurisdiction to regulate motor-vehicle traffic on Old Mountain Road.

DEC also wanted the judge to order the road closed.

But on Friday, citing laws dating back to 1810, McClymonds denied DEC\'s requests.

The judge refused to order the Old Mountain Road closed, in part, because it does not belong to DEC.

\"Such a prospective order would not support the violation alleged here. Moreover, it is not clear whether such an order can be issued on the present record.\"

McClymonds ordered the McCulley case to hearing.

In a phone interview Tuesday, McCulley claimed victory.

He had lost in Keene Town Court on round one and appealed.

\"We\'ve beaten DEC three times: in front of Judge Dawson in Essex County, Judge Homer and Judge Kahn in Albany. Now an ALJ (administrative law judge) has agreed that the Old Mountain Road is an open public road and DEC has no jurisdiction over it.\"

No records show DEC was granted possession of the road from North Elba or Keene, McCulley said.

\"The state is trying to use the legal theory \"because we said so.\" There is no law called \"because we said so.\" What it means is that DEC is going to have to start following the law on road closures. They are going to have to file a ministerial act to close a road; they can\'t just say it\'s closed.\"

The Old Mountain Road case sets precedent because a large percentage of roads closed in the Adirondack Park were done so illegally, McCulley claims.

\"They\'ll have to either follow the law or reopen the roads.\"

Other roads in North Elba may garner the same status, McCulley said, including portions of South Meadow Road and Kelly Road to Pine Pond.

These and other old town roads could potentially provide motorized vehicle access -- including snowmobiles -- through sections of state land, which is why McCulley appealed the tickets in the first place.

McCulley\'s attorney, Matthew D. Norfolk, said he did not know how DEC would support its case going forward.

\"Judge McClymonds has said there is no proof that jurisdiction of the Old Mountain Road ever transferred from North Elba and Keene to DEC.

\"We\'ve won. I\'m going to, in good faith, ask DEC to drop this case against Jim.\"

kdedam@pressrepublican.com

[Guest]

(From The Lake Placid News)

Judge questions DEC claim on Old Mtn. Road

By ANDY BATES, For the Enterprise

LAKE PLACID — Lake Placid resident James McCulley notched what he called a small victory last week in his long-standing legal battle with the state Department of Environmental Conservation over motorized access on the Old Mountain Road.

McCulley and the DEC have been at odds since 2003, when he was ticketed for driving his snowmobile on the road, which is part of the Jack Rabbit Trail, a popular cross-country ski route. McCulley is president of the Lake Placid Snowmobile Club.

Since that time, the state has deemed the road closed and therefore under its jurisdiction as Forest Preserve, which is off limits to motorized use. McCulley, however, claims the road was never legally closed and is still under the jurisdiction of the towns of Keene and North Elba.

After successfully challenging that ticket, he was again ticketed in May 2005 for driving a pickup truck on the road.

Last September, the DEC filed a motion asking its chief administrative law judge, James T. McClymonds, to find McCulley guilty of operating a motor vehicle on state Forest Preserve land without a hearing and also to officially order the road closed under state highway law.

In a decision rendered last Friday, McClymonds denied both of those motions, saying, “In sum, legal and factual issues exist concerning whether the Department has jurisdiction ... to regulate motor vehicle traffic on Old Mountain Road that require further hearings and legal argument.”

DEC officials did not immediately return a message seeking comment on McClymonds’ decision.

From McCulley’s perspective, the DEC has already been given enough chances to meet its burden of proof and has been unable to do so. He said Monday that he plans to ask McClymonds and the DEC in an upcoming conference call to set a hearing date to dismiss the case completely.

“The real question is whether they’re going to keep prosecuting me when they have no chance of winning,” McCulley said. “It’s clear they’re going to have to come up with evidence they don’t have.

“When their own judge is saying they have no evidence, they have no evidence. They don’t have a legal leg to stand on other than their claim the road is closed because they say so. We’re going to request they say, ‘Enough is enough.’”

To be fair, the DEC did present evidence and an affidavit from land surveyor Floyd Lampart allegedly showing where McCulley crossed from private property on the Old Mountain Road into the state-owned Sentinel Range Wilderness Area.

Nevertheless, McClymonds labeled that evidence “insufficient” but added that McCulley’s submissions also do not sufficiently establish that he didn’t cross onto state land.

McClymonds also found that the existence of Old Mountain Road as a public right of way predates the state’s ownership of the road. He wrote, “Nothing in the submissions on this motion allow me to conclude, as a matter of law, that jurisdiction to regulate the use and management of the Old Mountain Road has transferred from the Towns of North Elba and Keene to the Department. To the contrary, conflicting statutory provisions and circumstantial evidence require further legal argument and evidentiary proof before such a determination can be made.”

McCulley said this most recent decision is surprising, though somewhat in line with Essex County Judge Andrew Halloran’s decision that the road had never legally been closed, as well as Federal Magistrate Judge David Homer’s statement that he saw no indication the DEC would prevail in enforcement action against McCulley.

Homer’s statement was part of his ruling recommending McCulley’s federal lawsuit against the DEC be thrown out.

That suit, however, is still in the air, pending the outcome of these enforcement proceedings, and McCulley has never wavered in his claims that he has been unfairly singled out by the state because of his past outspoken criticisms of the DEC.

“It’s obvious they’ve come after me because I’ve been vocal and have challenged them,” he said. “They’ve lost every attempt to prosecute me. They’re angry, they’re frustrated, and I think they don’t want to show the public they can be beat.”

A conference call between McClymonds, the DEC, McCulley and his lawyer Matthew Norfolk of Lake Placid is scheduled for Thursday, at which time a hearing date regarding the case will likely be set — unless, of course, the DEC yields to McCulley’s request that it drop the case altogether.

Contact Andy Bates at 523-4401 or abates@lakeplacidnews.com.

[Guest]

Old Mountain Road hearing delayed one month


By KIM SMITH DEDAM
Staff Writer


LAKE PLACID -- A hearing in the Department of Environmental Conservation trespass case against Jim McCulley has been moved forward one month.

The Lake Placid resident received a ticket more than two years ago after driving his truck on the Old Mountain Road, the former Pitchoff Pass, between North Elba and Keene.

DEC gave McCulley the ticket for motorized-vehicle use on state land.

In a letter dated Oct. 4, DEC attorney Charles E. Sullivan Jr. said the agency is now surveying to find the state land boundary lines on Old Mountain Road.

In the letter, Sullivan said \"a key matter of evidence -- a survey of the state land boundary line as it crosses Jackrabbit Trail (Old Mountain Road) -- has not been completed.\"

Sullivan, who was assigned to take up the case only last month, also said that \"despite good faith efforts to get up to speed, I am not yet in a position to adequately represent staff\'s interests.\"

McCulley\'s attorney, Matthew Norfolk of Briggs Norfolk, called the delay \"outrageous.\"

\"Justice delayed is justice denied,\" Norfolk said in a telephone interview.

\"It was DEC who accused Jim McCulley of going onto state-owned land. Now they can\'t locate the state land boundary line? And then they ask for an adjournment three business days before the trial? It\'s outrageous to think they\'ve spent taxpayers\' money and resources for the past two years to prosecute Jim without knowing where the state line is; it shocks the conscience.\"

DEC attorney Sullivan asked that the hearing be postponed until the week starting Nov. 12, \"which should allow time to complete the survey, time to provide Mr. Norfolk with a copy of the survey map and time for his review of same before the hearing.\"

In a notice issued Wednesday, Chief Administrative Law Judge James T. McClymonds set the hearing date for 9 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 13, in Ray Brook.

McClymonds, in a written recapitulation of the conference call, said the initial hearing date of next Monday \"was tentative and depended, in part, on the ability of the new staff (DEC) counsel to come up to speed on what is admittedly a complicated case and a voluminous record.\"

It is the first DEC request for delay, McClymonds said, since the case was referred to his office.

DEC also said that, if the survey finds McCulley did not cross the boundary onto state land, they would not pursue the case, according to McClymonds\'s notice.

\"They told us if they find it (state land boundary) and can determine Jim never went onto state land,\" Norfolk said, \"they\'re going to drop the case.\"

Norfolk said he and McCulley objected \"adamantly and profusely\" to the delay in a conference call Wednesday.

\"They filed a statement of readiness (two years ago). It was obviously not a true representation of their ability to go forward.\"

Norfolk has a federal case on a previous ticket received by McCulley pending outcome of this hearing.

kdedam@pressrepublican.com

[Guest]

McCulley to go before DEC today

By WILL ABRUZZI, Enterprise Outdoor Writer


RAY BROOK — In a showdown that has become an epic struggle spanning nearly half-a-decade, a showdown that is a classic example of conflicting Adirondack interests that bear no common ground, the adjudicatory hearing that will determine the fate of Old Mountain Road in Keene enters its third day of testimony this morning.

“I call (the DEC hearings) purgatory,” said Jim McCulley, party to the proceedings. “You’re not quite in hell, but you’re not quite out either.”

For the past two days, the DEC has put on its case at its offices in Ray Brook, and today McCulley will present his side.

The conflict between the state Department of Environmental Conservation and McCulley began when the DEC ticketed McCulley for riding his snowmobile on Old Mountain Road, and subsequently ticketing him for driving his truck on the road.

The DEC argues that the road is closed to motor vehicles and is now a trail. McCulley said that the road has an historic place in Keene’s past and was never closed by the town, leaving the corridor outside of the jurisdiction of the DEC.

The current hearing comes in the wake of a flurry of court cases ranging all the way from Keene Town Court to Federal court.

According to McCulley, the DEC called two former along with the current North Elba Highway Superintendents as witnesses. He said that all of them testified that the road had never been closed by the town.

McCulley said that he plans to call two witnesses who own property on the road as well as Bruce Reed, the Keene highway supervisor, and then finish his case by testifying himself, and that he believes he will prevail.

In 2007, the case ended up in front of Chief Administrative Law Judge James McClymonds who denied the DEC’s motion for an order without a hearing, the administrative equivalent to summary judgment in civil court.

The DEC motion requested that McCulley’s affirmative defenses in the case be denied and that the road be determined closed, leaving McCulley liable for the tickets he was issued.

The judge denied the motion, stating that the DEC hadn’t proven that the road was closed and that “conflicting statutory provisions and circumstantial evidence require further legal argument,” but dismissed several of McCulley’s affirmative defenses.

Arguments for the current hearing conclude today, and a decision determining the ultimate fate of Old Mountain Road will be forthcoming.

Contact Will Abruzzi at 891-2600 ext 28 or

wabruzzi@adirondackdailyenterprise.com.

[Guest]

Old Mountain Road focus of trial


By KIM SMITH DEDAM
Staff Writer


RAY BROOK -- Testimony in the trial of Jim McCulley is under way, rooted in ancient Old Mountain Road documents.

Administrative Law Judge James T. McClymonds is hearing the case, which started Tuesday and is expected to last through Friday.

Attorney Matthew Norfolk, defending McCulley, argued successfully to limit testimony to the North Elba portion of roadway, which runs behind Pitchoff Mountain to Keene.

Charles E. Sullivan, lead counsel for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, predicated his arguments on early land-sale deeds. Norfolk highlighted language in each of them granting public access: \"subject to the rights of others\" as \"a town road.\"

The road was variously called Old Military Road, Mountain Road and Old Mountain Road on old maps.

NO CLOSURE ORDERS

Norfolk asked for DEC orders showing the road had been formally closed.

\"We didn\'t find any,\" Sullivan told the judge. \"Frankly, (DEC) staff do not know what this thing was.\"

After five weeks spent interviewing locals and searching deeds and materials in the New York State Library, Sullivan said he found nothing conclusive in highway law defining the Old Mountain Road.

\"Staff believe this definitely was a public road at some time.\"

ROAD MAINTENANCE

But it has not been maintained as a modern road in recent memory.

Consistently, Sullivan asked witnesses if the road has had any kind of gravel, grade, road signs or plowing.

Consistently, the answer was \"no.\"

The current and two previous town highway superintendents for North Elba each took the stand Tuesday.
Kent Pratt, a lifelong resident of North Elba, was highway superintendent from 1967 to 1997.

He told Sullivan the town always called it \"the Old Mountain Road\" and that the first mile in North Elba is maintained.

\"How would you characterize the road condition or trail east of the area the town maintained?\" Sullivan asked.

\"It was passable with a four-wheel-drive vehicle. At one point, it was fairly narrow. We went to put culverts in (during the) late 60s,\" Pratt said.

Sullivan asked if a passenger car could drive over the road.

\"I wouldn\'t put a car in there,\" Pratt said. \"First off, I wouldn\'t have any reason to. Secondly, it was narrow.\"

But other motorized use of the road was common, he said -- \"in the Sixties, when you had different roads designated snowmobile roads. There was about 15 of us that used to use it. It was the main route between Keene and North Elba.\"

Highway superintendents Ronald Hathaway and Norm Harlow also said Old Mountain Road -- named Mountain Lane in 2003 for E-911 purposes -- is considered a town road.

MEASUREMENTS

DEC forestry staff testified the road width is between 81 and 83 inches in sections west of the Keene town line.

Culverts, man-made bridges and clearings remain along much of the traveled lane, according to witnesses.

Four big trees beside the roadbed were dated by Forest Ranger Sean Reynolds to be between 48 and 70 years old.

SKI-TRAIL USE

Tony Goodwin, director of the Adirondack Ski Touring Council, testified Wednesday, saying he began routinely maintaining the roadway as part of the Jackrabbit ski trail in the late 1980s.

\"At that point, we still believed it was a town road,\" Goodwin said.


Over the last 15 years, the Adirondack Ski Touring Council formalized arrangements with DEC creating an Adopt a Natural Resource agreement to maintain the trail on the old roadbed. Crews have used dynamite, bulldozers and chain saws to keep the route open to the public.

A December 2004 enforcement order issued to neighboring landowner Ken Jubin was admitted as evidence late Tuesday, over Sullivan\'s objections.

With a cover letter on DEC letterhead, the order states:

\"Since the Old Mountain Road cons***uted a highway by use, the Town of North Elba has the right to a public highway across these Forest Preserve lands up to a width of three rods.\"

Testimony continues today, with closing arguments expected Friday.

kdedam@pressrepublican.com

[Guest]

Old Mountain Road trial concludes

By KIM SMITH DEDAM
Staff Writer
(Originally published in the Press Republican)

— RAY BROOK -- Hearings in the trespass case on Old Mountain Road ended Thursday with final testimony on jurisdiction.
Lake Placid attorney Matthew Norfolk represented defendant Jim McCulley, whose alleged trespass in 2005 occurred when he backed a truck down the old woods road.
The road has not been maintained as a modern highway for decades, according to testimony from town highway superintendents.
It has been kept open and heavily used as a ski trail and woods trail by the Adirondack Ski Touring Council, with work that included installation of bridges, culverts and blasting to remove boulders.
But the Department of Environmental Conservation maintains the road, which runs through a section of Sentinel Range Wilderness, automatically closed when the towns stopped using it.
DEC says the road is not open to motorized use, even though in recent years, under temporary permits, they approved Ski Touring Council\'s use of bulldozers to clear rock.
SEEKS DISMISSAL
Norfolk maintained that only towns can close their roads, and he filed an oral motion Thursday to dismiss the case.
\"The whole point is to show DEC they don\'t have jurisdiction over roads in the Adirondacks just because they go through Forest Preserve,\" McCulley said.
North Elba has not closed the road or attempted to abandon it.
After McCulley\'s violation, Keene issued a qualified abandonment but maintained it as a public right-of-way.
\"I think the trial came out like this: DEC did not prove that the road had been abandoned or closed and, in fact, proved that it has been there for over 200 years,\" McCulley said.
Attorneys will next file briefs on the motion to dismiss.
If Administrative Law Judge James T. McClymonds does not dismiss, lawyers will offer closing arguments in writing.
APPEAL POSSIBILITIES
McClymonds will ultimately present his decision to DEC Commissioner Pete Grannis, who will have the option to accept the judge\'s decision or appeal it.
\"If Grannis dismisses, they (DEC) have no more options against me,\" McCulley said.
If McClymonds finds McCulley guilty, the decision will be appealed, McCulley said.
\"Oh, yeah, does a one-legged duck swim in a circle?\"
STATEWIDE IMPORT
Five or six members of the public sat through portions of the three-day hearing.
Mike Vilegi, a former DEC ranger in the High Peaks region, watched all of it.
\"I see this as a kind of David and Goliath saga,\" Vilegi said. \"For the whole time I\'ve known Jim (McCulley), with a small amount of resources, he\'s been battling the state, which has tremendous resources. To see it come this far, I feel vindicated for Jim and every other snowmobiler in the Adirondacks. This really was about seeing something he felt to be right through to the end.\"
Beyond motorized use, town jurisdiction over public rights-of-way hangs on this case, Vilegi said.
\"At the federal hearing in 2006, the state\'s senior forester, under oath, said they (DEC) has been fighting this so hard because it could change land-management policy across the state.\"
In fact, in the federal court transcript from Feb. 3, 2006, Robert K. Davies, DEC director of lands and forests said the case does raise important issues.
If DEC were \"required to go out and take some type of affirmative steps to officially close these already previously abandoned and long-forgotten roads, that would be a tremendous burden,\" he testified.
Norfolk expects to learn the judge\'s decision by May 2008.

[Guest]

Ruling in DEC vs. McCulley case may not be decided for months

By HEATHER SACKETT, Enterprise Staff Writer


SARANAC LAKE — After three days of testimony, a ruling could still be months away in the conflict between James McCulley and the state Department of Environmental Conservation, which will determine the fate of Old Mountain Road.

The road, which runs parallel to state Route 73 in the towns of North Elba and Keene, has been the subject of a heated struggle between McCulley and the DEC for years. Administrative law judge James McClymonds presided over the hearings, which were held Nov. 13 through Nov. 15. The DEC called 10 witnesses, McCulley’s side called four.

“The state no question proved it’s a town road,” McCulley said. “They proved it’s not abandoned and I appreciate them doing that. The truth of the matter is that case had been decided five times in my favor. They haven’t produced a coherent legal theory yet.”

The argument dates back to 2003 when McCulley was ticketed by the DEC for driving his snowmobile on the OMR, part of which is now the Jack Rabbit Trail, a popular cross-country ski route. He was ticketed again in 2005 for driving his truck on the road, which the DEC says is closed to traffic as part of the state Forest Preserve. McCulley maintains the road was never legally closed or abandoned and remains open under the jurisdiction of the towns of North Elba and Keene.

McCulley’s attorney, Matthew Norfolk, remained confident that despite a potentially lengthy wait on a decision, the judge would rule in their favor.

“The DEC, by their own testimony, proved the existence of the road and offered nothing to establish the road was abandoned or closed. I would say hands down the Old Mountain Road is still a road, and I’m confident we are going to prevail in this proceeding.”

McCulley and his lawyer now have until Dec. 10 to put in writing why the motion to dismiss the charges against McCully should be granted. The DEC has 30 days to respond.

“We are looking at February or March for just getting the written briefs,” Norfolk said. “This is a complex issue.”

Dave Winchell, spokesman for the DEC, said the final decision could take even longer. The administrative law judge does not have the authority to make a decision on the motion to dismiss and can only make a recommendation to DEC Commissioner Pete Grannis, who has the final say. If Grannis denies the motion to dismiss, both parties must submit additional written materials.

“The commissioner will then make a ruling on the case, which may be six months or more from now,” Winchell said.

The DEC continues to manage the portion of the Jack Rabbit Trail that crosses Forest Preserve lands as a trail on which no person may take a motorized vehicle.

Contact Heather Sackett at 891-2600 ext. 24 or hsackett@

adirondackdailyenterprise.com.

[Guest]

Our tax dollars at work!
I just love the DEC for it\'s wondrous preservation of our forest lands for hikers and bird watchers (all millions of acres).

[Jerryjks]

Does anybody know how this case is going?  Any updates or decision?

[Guest]

You can follow it more at this newspaper website.

Search Local News for McCulley

http://www.adirondackdailyenterprise.com

The site has documents posted from the case.  No decision has been reached. McCulley has filed another suit

[Guest]

March 4, 2009
Lake Placid resident Jim McCulley has filed a lawsuit against the state Department of Environmental Conservation in an effort to force a decision by the agency on an enforcement case against him.

[TwinStick]

Here is the final outcome of this case. It is obvious to me that the DEC does not have the publics best interest in mind. This case is just one of many, where out of control law enforcement officers abuse the very people that keep them getting thier paychecks.

http://www.adirondackdailyenterprise.com/page/content.detail/id/511630.html