County trucks and heavy equipment have been used during a grading project on Horseshoe Bend Drive. Cherokee County Councilman Charles Mathis insists the county did nothing wrong when it did grading work on property on Horseshoe Bend Drive.

At Mathis' request, county public works crews on Tuesday graded an incline on property located on Horseshoe Bend Drive, according to a work order at the Cherokee County Roads and Bridges Department. Horseshoe Bend Drive is off Hwy. 29 near the Cherokee/Spartanburg county line.

The work was done to correct a drainage problem, Mathis said.

Cherokee County Interim Administrator Ben Clary said silt from the bank was clogging drainage pipes on the road.

Both Mathis and Clary said the work was done on a public right-of-way. The county also obtained an easement to the landowner's property, they said.

A nearby property owner disputes that.

Bobby Horn said he believes the public property on the road only extends from ditch to ditch.

He said the state surveyed the road in the early 1990s for a road-widening project, but neither he nor adjacent landowners granted the state rights-of-way to their properties.

A huge stump is removed from the site. Interim county administrator Ben Clary said it was removed to improve visibility on the road. "The county says they have an easement but I don't think they do," Horn said.

Clary said the county obtained the easement and acquired the rights-of-way to the property on July 24, 2000. Easements and right-of-way acquisitions are typically filed at the county's building inspector's office. But Cherokee County Building Official Chuck Bobo said his office has no record of an easement or rightof way for Horseshoe Bend Drive.

The work crew also hauled off a large tree stump on the bank that was cut down by the landowner, Mathis said.

Clary said the tree stump was still on the property, but Mathis said the tree stump was removed so the county could use a bushhog on the bank.

Horn said the county wasted taxpayer money by transporting the tree stump off the property. He said he was told the county removed the stump to improve visibility on the road.

"Just cut (the tree stump) up," he said. "They don't have to take it and dig it up."