Second challenge to Mitchell County ordinance made
By By Jean Caspers-Simmet
simmet@agrinews.com
Date Modified: 05/27/2010 9:34 AM
E-mail article | Print version
OSAGE, Iowa —With a ruling expected this week on the constitutionality of the Mitchell County Road Protection Ordinance, a second motion has been filed asking that the ordinance be set aside. The ordinance bans steel wheels on hard surface roads in the county.
On May 13, Mason City attorney Colin Murphy entered a not guilty plea, requested a jury trial and filed a motion to dismiss a citation for violating the ordinance on behalf of his client Lloyd Z. Nolt, 47, of Osage.
Mitchell County Magistrate DeDra Schroeder set a hearing on the motion to dismiss for 1 p.m. June 4. A jury trial on the charge has been scheduled for 10 a.m. June 25.
Schroeder is expected to rule this week on a motion to dismiss a charge of violating the ordinance filed on behalf of a 13-year-old Orchard boy. He was ticketed for driving a steel wheel tractor on County Road B17 in January. Schroeder found the teenager guilty of violating the ordinance during a March trial.
Murphy argued at a May 7 hearing that the ordinance is unconstitutional because it violates the Mennonite's religious beliefs.
At the hearing, Mitchell County Attorney Mark Walk said the ordinance is constitutional because it affects everyone equally. He said it does not single out Mennonites.
The ordinance "is designed to protect the roadway and the resulting costs of repairs," Walk said. "The issue is whether taxpayers of Mitchell County should be forced to build and rebuild roadway."
Murphy's motion filed on behalf of Nolt asks that the ordinance be set aside for the same reasons.
Nolt is a member of the Groffdale Conference Old Order Mennonites. It is a rule of their church that they can't own or drive motor vehicles with rubber tires. They can use self-propelled farm machinery if it has steel wheels.
Nolt, who operates a dairy farm southeast of Osage, was issued a traffic ticket in April for driving his steel wheel tractor on Orchard Road.
Nolt said he can get to most of his land without crossing a paved road but he owns 40 acres across the black top from his farm. He said he drove his tractor across the road to get to the field. A neighbor reported him to the Mitchell County Sheriff.
Nolt said he isn't sure how he'll get to the field now, but he won't drive across the road again. Paying someone to haul the tractor across the road on a trailer may be a short-term solution, but it isn't something he can do in the long-term. He needs his tractor at the dairy on a daily basis.
Nolt moved to Mitchell County in 1995 and built new dairy facilities six years ago. He and his family milk about 100 cows.
"We've been here quite a few years," Nolt said. "I pay taxes. It hurts a little bit that the supervisors would do this."