Topeka ? A three-hour battle 146 years ago in Douglas County has erupted anew — this time before the Kansas Legislature.

Lawmakers are considering a bill that would change the state historic sites statute because of concerns from landowners near what is called the Black Jack Battlefield, east of Baldwin.

Back then, the battle was about human rights. Today, property rights are at issue.

“Our main concern is that we want to be able to continue in our farming operation the way it is today, and even expand that operation if we so choose,” Kermit Kalb told the House Agriculture Committee earlier this week.

Kalb, whose land lies next to the battlefield site, said that under current state law, if the battlefield is declared a state or national historic site, his farming operations will be restricted.

“With the current environs regulations, this will require more paperwork and headaches for us to deal with if we do expand our operation,” he said.

Current law requires that in rural areas, the owner of land that falls within 1,000 feet of a historic site would have to submit any changes in operations to a state historic officer for review. The bill would remove the requirement.

Kalb was supported by Douglas County Commissioner Jere McElhaney and some of the state’s largest agribusiness groups, such as the Kansas Farm Bureau and Kansas Livestock Assn.

McElhaney and Kalb said they wanted to preserve the Black Jack site, but every time they looked at the state law, more questions arose about whether there could be increasing restrictions on neighboring landowners.

“It’s kind of a moving target,” McElhaney said. “You start reading the fine print, and you question whether we are taking away people’s personal property rights.”

The Black Jack battlefield sits on 17 acres of county-owned land. On June 2, 1856, free state and pro-slavery militias fought there. After three hours, the pro-slavery force surrendered. Some historians call the fighting at Black Jack the first battle of the Civil War because it constituted the first organized military fight about the issue of slavery.

A group called Friends of the Black Jack Battlefield want the site placed on the state historical register.

Kerry Altenbernd, president of the Black Jack preservation group, said the issue of encroachment on historical sites was going to come up more frequently as Douglas County becomes more urbanized.

“This may be the first real test of what kind of a county are we going to have. Can you build anything, anywhere, or are there going to be restrictions?” he asked.

¢Battle of Black Jack

But Altenbernd said he had no objection to deleting the section of the historical statute that deals with lands within 1,000 feet of a historical site. “If the environs part is really getting in the way, then maybe it’s worth getting rid of it,” he said.

Mary Allman, executive director of the Kansas State Historical Society, said she had no problem with jettisoning the 1,000-foot requirements.

But she did oppose a proposal in a substitute bill that would require owner consent for national and state historic listing. She said that requirement would run counter to federal law and jeopardize from $600,000 to $800,000 per year the state receives from the federal government in historic preservation funding.

The measure, House Bill 2168, remains before the Agriculture Committee. Committee Chairman Rep. Dan Johnson, R-Hays, said he wanted to get more information on the proposal before deciding what to do with it.