NATCHEZ — A decision made 10 years ago to keep Black Bear Road out of the county road system is having serious present-day consequences for residents.

A group of Black Bear Road residents, led by their self-styled “de facto spokesman” Doug Fisher, told the Adams County Board of Supervisors that the road has become so damaged due to wash-out that they have to access their homes by all-terrain vehicle.

“I understand that we are a private road, but we are in a bind,” Fisher said.

The road has three dips, two of which the residents have been able to maintain and repair themselves, but the third dip has washed out to a depth of nearly 12 feet. That means residents have to park their vehicles on one side of the ravine, get on four-wheelers and ride nearly a mile out of the way on a nearby logging road to get to their houses, Fisher said.

The logging road is very muddy and not in great shape itself, he said.

“People are having to bundle up their babies and ride through this muck and mire.”

On a more urgent note, Fisher said a cancer patient who lives on the road was not able to receive hospice care because the hospice worker could not access her house.

Supervisors’ President Darryl Grennell said that the county was required in 2000 to separate and define what were county roads and what were private roads. At that time, the owner of Black Bear Road wanted to keep it a private road.

Residents have done the best they can to maintain the road through the years, and the road’s owner also did his part to keep it accessible, but Fisher said the owner has now become too old to do the work.

“We would love for it to become a county road, but we can’t afford to bring it up to county standards,” he said. “At this point, I know (the owners) would, too.”

Board attorney Scott Slover said that legally there wasn’t much the county could do since the road was private property, but he would seek an attorney general’s opinion and would meet with others to see if other emergency remedies could be found under the law. The board voted to allow Slover to do so.

In a related matter, the board heard Lower Woodville Road resident Walter Green’s testimony that county drainage was insufficient and caused him property damage.

Grennell said the county engineer would go to Green’s residence and determine if the problem is the county drainage system.