Fish and Game: River Dave is not on our land
Jul. 30—The state says it doesn't own the land on which "River Dave" has lived for 27 years, despite the jailed hermit's claim to the contrary.
A New Hampshire Fish and Game Department employee on Thursday refuted statements made by David Lidstone, 81, who appeared in Merrimack County Superior Court via a video link from jail Wednesday.
Lidstone has been jailed since July 15 for refusing to leave the property along the Merrimack River in Canterbury.
At one point during the court hearing, Lidstone said his cabin and garden are on land now owned by the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department.
"He's not on our land. We knew he was there, and he's not on our property," said Betsey McNaughton, a land agent for Fish and Game. His homestead is close to Fish and Game's 290-acre Muchyedo Bank Wildlife Area.
Lidstone has chickens, a couple of cats and a beehive on his homestead. He lives in a cabin with solar panels and spring-fed water.
Meanwhile, a change.org petition has been launched in support of Lidstone. And people have been calling and emailing the Union Leader offering to raise money and asking what else they can do for him.
"A lot of people are saying he's 81 years old, he doesn't have that many years left. What is the harm of letting him stay? He's not going to live forever," said Boscawen resident Jodie Gedeon.
An avid kayaker, Gedeon has known Lidstone for decades, visited his cabin and speaks to him often. She started worrying when she didn't see him for a few days earlier this month. Then friends emailed her a Union Leader article about his incarceration.
She said Lidstone is kind, harmless and loves nature and animals. And he is friendly with river users.
"If it's about taxes, we're more than willing to pay them," said Gedeon, a financial analyst at a Concord investment company.
Too late to claim land
In 2017, a judge ordered Lidstone off the land as part of a legal action brought by the owner, Leonard Giles of South Burlington, Vt.
Lidstone has refused and given various stories about why he has the right to be on the land.
Judge Andrew Schulman jailed him on July 15, but Schulman said Wednesday he won't put his name to any court order that jails Lidstone beyond 30 days.
Meanwhile, a veteran real estate lawyer told the Union Leader that even if Lidstone had a claim to the land, that issue was decided in 2017.
Manchester lawyer John Cronin said principles in real estate law prevent parties from reopening cases once they are settled. The time appears to be past for Lidstone to make any claim of adverse possession, a legal doctrine that allows squatters to claim possession of another's property after a lengthy period, Cronin said.
Also, Lidstone cannot take adverse possession of state property.
"I don't know if there's much promise to his quest," Cronin said.
Lidstone has said the property borders in the town's tax maps are incorrect. Giles' lawyer has agreed to let Lidstone's surveyor onto his land, something Lidstone wants to do. But Schulman has said that won't change the 2017 decision. Lidstone has said that if a surveyor determines the property belongs to Giles, he will leave.
Lidstone has claimed that a previous owner told him he could live on the property until he died. Cronin said such a promise would have to be in writing and either filed with the county register of deeds or disclosed to the new owner before sale.
Were a surveyor to show that Lidstone is on Fish and Game property, he could not stay there, said McNaughton, the Fish and Game official. U.S. Fish and Wildlife funds were used to purchase the property.
"It's the public's land. We can't allow a private benefit on public land," she said. She said Fish and Game purchased the land in 2010 from the Concord Regional Solid Waste Resource Recovery Cooperative, which had owned it since 1999.
A review of the court docket shows that Giles filed an injunction against Lidstone in September 2016. For several months, deputies or lawyers could not make official service; service means a sheriff deputy or lawyer verifies that a defendant has received a complaint, usually in hand.
By November, service was completed by leaving the injunction in his mailbox, according to the index of the case. It does not appear that Lidstone ever challenged the injunction in court.
In January 2017, former Judge Richard McNamara ruled that Lidstone had to leave the property and would be responsible for cleaning it up.
Gedeon said she visited the property after learning that Lidstone had been jailed. His two cats are missing, and the chickens appeared aggravated, she said.
"They know something's wrong," Gedeon said.
She fears that Giles' sons will visit the land this weekend and begin dismantling the cabin, which houses all Lidstone's belongings. Giles did not return a telephone call seeking comment on Thursday.
"He's so well loved in the community," Gedeon said. "This is just heartbreaking."
