After years of litigation between Meramec Farms Road resident Don Gruver and Crawford County, the courts on June 24 deemed the road no longer a thoroughfare.

On June 24, the county’s motion to set aside was denied again by Judge Brice Sechrest, which officially allows the residents of the road to block access to his part of the road. Donna Olson, a resident on the road, said that it originally belonged to resident Mary West, who then deeded the property in 1997 to Don Gruver.

“And when she deeded the property, it was her road at the time, the railroad had used it many moons ago, and she had allowed them to use it,” Olson said. “She was the person responsible for even coming up with the name Meramec Farms Road. When she deeded the land to Don, that included his portion of the road.”

Olson claims that she and Gruver are the only people who reside on the road, while the rest are part-time owners who only “come, and they visit their properties.”

Since they had so many problems with people driving through the property, such as trashing it, running off the road and hitting trees or attempting to steal their cattle, Gruver started the process in 2014 to vacate the road. Following regulations, a hearing notice was placed in the June 11, 2014, edition of the Steelville Star regarding the petition to vacate part of Meramec Farms Road.

During the hearing on June 17, 2014, residents attended to give their opinion on the subject, with many on both sides of the argument of whether to vacate the road or not. No action was taken during the hearing, but the discussion continued at the June 24, 2024, commission meeting.

Resident Bill Seay said that for a road to be vacated, county funds utilized on the roadway must cease for a minimum of five years before any vote to vacate can be taken. In response, a motion to stop all roadwork on Meramec Farms Road, from the Kemnitzer cattle guard to the Gruver cattle guard, was accepted with a 3-0 vote.

Olson said the suit that Gruver filed in March 2022 was to claim the road as their own, which she claimed Prosecuting Attorney David Smith, on behalf of the county, missed many of those meetings.

By default, Judge Megan Seay granted the road to Gruver.

Olson said that was when Gruver put up the gates to cut off access to the road.

Smith submitted a motion to set aside the order on August 7, 2025, pursuant to Rule 74.05(d), which means that he needed to meet three specific requirements for the default judgment to be set aside. Smith needed to file the motion within one year of the default judgment, it must include facts that establish a meritorious defense and show good cause for the default.

As the motion was made over a year after the default judgment and Smith0 was unable to prove a meritorious defense — which is a legitimate legal argument that could change the outcome of a case — the motion to set aside was dismissed by Sechrest on April 28.

Smith then filed an appeal of the motion on May 6 and an amended motion on May 27. On June 24, Sechrest denied the motion because it didn’t provide sufficient legal authority to set aside the initial judgment.