POCASSET, Okla. – In a rural town in Grady County, Homer Hulme can’t help but feel fenced in.
“This right here is unnecessary, see?” Hulme said, gesturing to the newest addition to his house. “Really, this is a pretty sad thing to do to somebody.”
A chain link fence sprawls across Hulme’s driveway, blocking access to the house he’s lived in for 16 years.
The fence appeared about three months ago, the latest chapter in what Hulme calls an ongoing dispute between him and the town of roughly 150 people.
“It’s almost comical, and it makes you wonder why a municipality would spend money on doing this,” he told NewsChannel 4. “I was appalled that the city leaders anywhere would treat anybody different from the others. We don’t understand why we probably have the only house in the county that you can’t get a firetruck to.”
The feud started about four years ago, Hulme said, when he tried to get an easement for a water main he discovered was running across his property, which he said has been unchanged for the last 60 years.
Pocasset’s mayor referred NewsChannel 4 to town attorney Jeromy Brown, who said the fence is “for the town to protect its property.”
The town hall and community center is on the adjacent property.
Brown would not say what the fence is protecting the property from and declined to elaborate before conferring with all of the town’s trustees.
Brown offered to provide public documents about the fence, but they were not available Monday afternoon.
Hulme is able to access his property only by way of an adjacent property, on which he owns and runs a storage business.
He still worries about what the fence will do to his property value and fears the worst should someone need to reach his property in an emergency.
“If you called 911, the GPS coordinates would lead you to this mess,” Hulme said, standing by the fencing. “There’s not enough room to get a fire truck, an ambulance, or a delivery or anybody past this utility pole and this fence.”
Hulme is working on a lawsuit against the town of Pocasset and its water board.
