Douglas County officials say they will act soon to shut down a haunted maze being run by a farmer.
Douglas County officials intend to act soon to shut down a haunted maze being operated by a farmer in violation of his temporary business permit.
"Appropriate enforcement actions will be taken sometime over the next few days," Craig Weinaug, Douglas County administrator, said Friday.
What those actions will be had yet to be decided, Weinaug said. They might entail an injunction, court order, fine or combination of those actions, he said.
Richard Strong, the farmer, said he would be open for business this weekend and was prepared to deal with the consequences "until I go to jail or someone can give a little better ruling than my local officials."
Strong opened his haunted maze without heeding restrictions spelled out in a temporary business permit granted by the county commission.
Namely, Strong didn't treat his gravel road with special chemicals to control dust. He didn't put down a $500 cleaning deposit with the county. And he's not closing at 8 p.m. each night.
"Our goal here is to assure that the conditions that were decided upon by the county commissioners are met," Weinaug said. "Our goal is not to take punitive action against anybody or penalize anybody."
Strong believes the county's goals should be to support him.
"I'm just trying to make a living," Strong said. "I'm fighting a county government that ought to be helping me rather than finding ways not to."
Strong's Halloween-themed haunted maze is carved out of a lost sweet-corn field at 1919 N. 1500 Road. Strong said the maze would be open from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday through Sunday.
He said he doesn't consider himself above the law. In this case, he said, the law is on his side.
Strong is arguing that, as a farmer, he should be able to make money using his own land.
"If I have to, I've made the decision with my lawyer to go as far as this has to go," he said. "I'm trying to stick up for others in the county, other farmers."
-- Kendrick Blackwood's phone message number is 832-7221. His e-mail address is kblackwood@ljworld.com.
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