Fed up, man protests township's work

Liberty's administrator says a comprehensive engineering study is needed to reduce flooding.
By TIM YOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
LIBERTY -- A 63-year-old Goldie Road man is charged after lying down in front of township equipment that was cleaning out the ditch in front of his home.
"I lost my cool," admitted Robert Thomas, who is scheduled to appear today in Girard Municipal Court on a charge of obstructing official business.
Thomas said the township road department wasn't helping Monday morning to reduce flooding at his 320 Goldie home. Rather, he asserted, the township was making things worse.
"I'm going to get a double flood" when it rains, Thomas asserted.
Here's the question
Township Administrator Patrick J. Ungaro said the recent storms have raised a question in attempting to reduce flooding: Can the township go on private property?
Thomas explained that a ditch that is partially on the side of his property overflows during a normal rainfall. It's caused by a large drainage pipe flowing into a smaller pipe, resulting in backup.
With the township partially cleaning out the ditch in front of his home and unclogging the drain pipe under his driveway, more water will drain onto his land, he said.
Thomas said the road department didn't inform him it would be doing the work on his property. He hadn't given them permission to go the property and told them to stop working.
Police called in
The road crew told him they have a right of way, Thomas said, adding that's when the police were called.
Thomas alleged that police told the crew to go to another location to dig while the situation was straightened out. When digging resumed, he said, he laid in front of the backhoe.
Ungaro said trustees have hired MS Consultants Inc. of Youngstown to determine what's needed to eliminate flooding in the troubled areas. The administrator said the road department has been cleaning ditches in Thomas' neighborhood and believed they were helping him.
The township, Ungaro explained, needs a comprehensive plan to reduce flooding.
"This is unfortunate," Ungaro said of Thomas' run-in with the law, "but everybody's trying to help."
Thomas said he's written letters to the county engineer's office about the flooding in his yard, but hasn't received a response.
yovich@vindy.com