The haunted maze has found its way to the court system with a lawsuit filed by Douglas County.
Douglas County filed suit Monday against the farmer running a haunted maze in violation of restrictions in his temporary business permit.
With the lawsuit, the county filed documents asking the court for a temporary restraining order that would close the haunted maze until the legal issues could be resolved.
Richard Strong said Monday evening he hadn't seen a copy of the lawsuit but had been contacted by county officials interested in a compromise.
"We're waiting to see what they are going to do and what they are going to offer us and go from there," Strong said.
Strong opened his haunted maze Thursday in a failed corn field at his farm at 1919 N 1500 Road.
He had been granted a temporary business permit for the maze with the conditions that he put up at $500 cleaning deposit, treat the gravel road with dust-controlling chemicals and close at 8 p.m.
Strong has done none of the three things.
The county's lawsuit claims Strong and his mother, Virginia Strong who owns the property, are violating the county's zoning regulations.
The lawsuit also says that by allowing Strong to ignore the commission "other citizens of Douglas county will be encouraged to violate the Zoning Resolutions."
It's an issue of credibility, said Craig Weinaug, county administrator.
"This individual decides he doesn't like those conditions and is not going to follow them," Weinaug said. "It kind of forces us to try to get the issue resolved."
The lawsuit is asking Strong to comply with the three restrictions.
Strong is arguing that his maze is an agricultural product and, as a farmer, he doesn't need county permission to run it.
The case has been assigned to Douglas County District Judge Michael Malone, who started a four-day jury trial Monday.
That means he won't be able to hear the arguments until Thursday or Friday and probably not until next week, Malone said.
If that is the case, Strong will have one more weekend of operation before the case would see a courtroom.
-- Kendrick Blackwood's phone message number is 832-7221. His e-mail address is kblackwood@ljworld.com.
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