High court won't rehear Johnson Lake village case

Post date: Jun 19, 2009 7:31:35 PM

By HARRY G. PERKINS, Hub Regional Correspondent, 06/19/2009, Kearney HUB on line at: http://www.kearneyhub.com

OMAHA — The group trying to create a village at Johnson Lake lost in court again.

The Nebraska Supreme Court overruled a motion to rehear the Johnson Lake village case, according to David Skalka of Croker, Huck, Kasher, DeWitt, Anderson & Gonderinger law firm in Omaha. Skalka represents Johnson Lake Sanitary Improvement District.

Teresa J. Lanman, who with her husband, Glen, brought the case against the Dawson County Board of Commissioners, said she was disappointed but had no other comment.

Bruce Smith, chairman of the SID trustees, wasn’t surprised by the latest ruling. “We have felt all along that this would be the court’s decision,” he said. “This was like asking a baseball umpire who called a third strike to reconsider his decision.”

The Lanmans represented a number of residents in the northeast corner of the lake who have opposed the SID from the beginning. They wanted to use several neighborhood areas to form a village.

Similar petitions were denied in 2001 when organizers tried to incorporate the entire lake area, but didn’t gather enough signatures.

Then in the latest attempt, the Dawson County commissioners were advised by counsel that to permit creation of a village would violate state law and they refused in April 2007 to approve the request to form a village. Their decision was appealed to the Dawson County District Court in October 2007, and Judge Donald E. Rowlands upheld the commissioners’ decision.

The case was then appealed to the state Supreme Court, which found in favor of the commissioners on April 3. The high court ruled that state law prohibits formation of a village where a municipal body already exists and said the sanitary improvement district formed in 2003 constitutes a municipal body.

The plaintiffs then asked the court to review its decision.