Warning, trespassing can be costly

By Jon Echternacht

Mert Timmerman, an 80-year-old retired farmer and former WWII Navy pilot who lives in River Falls, has a respect for the land. And, to keep in touch with the soil and trees after he retired and sold his farm, he retained a 30-acre portion of woods near Hudson to work on in his leisure.

For nearly 20 years, he has pruned out the scrub brush and developed a road to the back of the property. It is a special piece of land to him because it includes hundreds of black walnut trees.

"The DNR says it is the most northern wood lot in Wisconsin with a stand of walnut trees," Timmerman said. His wood lot is located in the southwest corner of Warren Township on the south side of I-94 next to the farm he worked for more than 30 years.

"The wood lot is regrowth from the 1930s," he said. "I think the fellow from Hudson who owned the property during the Depression, allowed people to cut firewood when times were tough, but it has never been pastured." Timmerman said there is a variety of hardwood on the land including red and white oak, white ash and sugar maple, as well as black walnut.

The wood lot is dear to him, that's why he was particularly disturbed last spring when the trail into it was dug up and damaged by what appeared to be a number of heavy vehicles. Estimated repair costs were more than $1,700 to put the road back in shape.

Timmerman called the sheriff and an investigation revealed the series of events that led to the gouges in his road.

The sheriff's report said Tim Rouleau of Hudson first drove into the woods and got stuck on May 20. He walked back to Hudson to get help from a neighbor, James Erickson, who tried to pull Rouleau's truck out and promptly got his 4x4 truck stuck. The reports says Rouleau and Erickson went to the Lenertz farm nearby to get help from Jeremiah Packer who got his 4x4 truck stuck trying to get the other two out.

Eventually, Jeremy Rosenberg, who worked on the farm, came with his 4x4 and pulled out Erickson's and Packer's trucks. Rouleau left his vehicle overnight, the report said.

The following day, Rouleau called for a tow truck from Mike's Standard of Hudson, which got stuck. Rouleau then called Jerry's Tow Service of River Falls who also got stuck. Finally, Rosenberg used a big 4x4 tractor from the Lenertz farm and got everybody unstuck at about 11 a.m., the reports said.

"It had rained about an inch and it was very muddy in the woods," Timmerman said.

To get the damage repaired, Timmerman ultimately had to take all six persons involved to small claims court where mediator Joan MacDonnell settled his claim. Five of the defendants showed up in court, only Rouleau was absent. The result was the five, Erickson, Packer, Rosenberg, Jason Yonash and David Wilkens, were ordered to pay $88.65 each and Rouleau was ordered to pay $1,329.75 to fix the road.

"The thing is, all six persons were in violation of the trespass law," said Timmerman.

He has given people permission to go into his land and cut firewood and he is in Project Respect where he gives out a certain number of hunting permits to people during the gun and bow deer hunting seasons.

"I have never had any trouble with trespassing until last spring," Timmerman said.