Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 101, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 April 1911 — Representative Guild Says New Ditch Cleaning Law is Adequate. [ARTICLE]

Representative Guild Says New Ditch Cleaning Law is Adequate.

\ Knox Republican. Mention was made in these columns last week that the new clean-out ditch law made no provision for cleaning out a ditch beyond its specifications. Judge VurpiUat had taken this view of the law, and the petition which had been filed in court asking for the recleaning of Yellow river ditch is predicated upon this view of the new law, but Representative James R, Guild, of Medaryville, author of the measure, says an amendment was inserted into the original draft, as introduced by him, providing for the enlarging of a ditch where circumstances seem to warrant it Mr. Guild has written the following letter to the editor of this paper: “I note In your paper an article regarding a clean out of Yellow river, which I presume is under the bill I introduced in the legislature. "I note also that you are at a loss to know what to do in regard to enlarging, the outlet. If you will read the law carefully you will find the following: ‘And what if any necessity exists for the curing of any defects therein with complete specifications showing how said ditch should be repaired to drain the land affected.’ This is an amendment to the .original bill to provide for deepening and widening. It was the intention that conditions in your county should be met by this law.” Attorneys are somewhat mixed on the law, as Judge Vurpillat has held that the work of reclaiming may not go beyond the original specifications. It would seem that very little permanent good can come from providing a thirty-foot outlet for a stream which is over a hundred feet wide for several miles above. If a lasting goOd is to be obtained, the outlet must be made to obrrespond with the general size of the river. The expense for the work will have to be borne by a general assessment on the land owners along the stream or by persons more immediately affected.