Two state agencies are at odds over which should maintain a lightly used but disputed section of roadway in the extreme northwestern Warren County communities of Brunswick and Bellevue.

The matter is not a new one, with its beginnings coming in legislation more than 50 years ago. But this week it has Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace sending a letter to the state Attorney General’s Office to help his department protect about 80 of the area’s residents.

&#8220The way things stand now, the road might as well be in a foreign country,” Pace said.

At issue is a 2.4-mile portion of Mississippi 465 that runs along the levee next to Chotard Lake to the border with Issaquena County.

While reasonably smooth, the narrow strip of asphalt still has an occasional bump and hole. Cattle guards, evenly spaced rails that cows won’t traverse, appear every few hundred feet to keep cattle inside fenced areas.

In 1952, state lawmakers gave the task of maintaining what was once called Levee Road to the Mississippi Department of Transportation on a &#8220temporary” basis. That legislation never defined what temporary meant and no end date was provided.

In the intervening 50 years of MDOT maintenance, the road was kept up, but fell behind evolving structural standards for roadways.

&#8220The road meets absolutely none of the standards that we have,” Central District MDOT Commissioner Dick Hall said.

Fellow commissioners with MDOT agreed, and in 2001 decided to end maintenance of the road because of its condition and transferred it to the board of the Mississippi Levee Commission. The action, made effective June 30, 2002, also dropped the road from the state highway system.

Legislative acts are usually needed to make such an action official, but none has passed so far.

Also, the commission overseeing the levee system along the Mississippi River in four counties and parts of two others, including Warren, is responsible only for the gravel roads leading to the road, not the road itself, said board attorney Charles Tindall, to whom commissioners referred questions.

&#8220It’s a rather poor way for a state agency to act. They can’t just make that decision unilaterally,” Tindall said.

According to MDOT officials, the degree of maintenance performed on a given road is a discretionary decision of the department. No formal opinion has ever come down from the attorney general on the subject, leading to Sheriff Pace’s inquiry. The levee road is still, officially, Mississippi 465 and is listed in the state road inventory.

Pace’s interest in ending confusion over who is in charge of the road’s stretch in Warren County is rooted in his department’s response to calls from all areas on county-maintained roads.

Two such roads, Ziegler and Laney Camp, are on the lake side of the levee, accessible only by using the disputed section of roadway.

About six months ago, a patrol deputy brought to Pace’s attention an &#8220end state maintenance” sign alongside the road just yards from the rising slope of 465 leading to the levee top. Pace said it was the first time he became aware of the disputed portion of the road.

Around the same time, Pace said, a motor vehicle accident occurred there, usually a situation where deputies respond initially before turning it over to Mississippi Highway Patrol which has primary jurisdiction.

But in that instance, Pace said, troopers effectively obeyed the MDOT edict by considering the road county property and not providing assistance.

&#8220We will continue to respond to calls up there as we always do,” Pace said.

According to records compiled by emergency dispatch, the sheriff’s department has responded to 14 calls for various situations on Ziegler and Laney Camp roads in the past two years. Four medic calls and two fires were also reported during that time, records show.

Other records collected by addressing and mapping officials at E-911 showed 43 residences on Ziegler and 36 on Laney Camp.

Pace said the numbers &#8220may not sound like a lot,” but still pose enough of a need to provide protection that he is asking for guidance from the attorney general.

&#8220I just want a definitive answer from the attorney general before we have a catastrophic emergency up here,” Pace said.

Responding to emergency calls elsewhere on 465 and on other state or federal highways in Warren County is usually part of routine response, Pace said, adding Mississippi Highway Patrol has &#8220a great group of troopers, but just not enough of them.”

The problem, he said, is the &#8220high activity” such as accidents and other incidents on those highways, coupled with the state’s unwillingness of the state to pay overtime to the troopers.

&#8220There isn’t an overtime policy reflective of other state agencies,” Pace said.

Of the 562-trooper force, seven are assigned to Warren County, one of the 10 counties assigned to Troop C, along with Claiborne, Copiah, Issaquena, Sharkey, Hinds, Rankin, Yazoo, Madison and Simpson.

Troopers work rotating shifts that are assigned on a 28-day work cycle. During that cycle, hours assigned under normal circumstances will be 171, making for nine-hour shifts.

&#8220We try to keep 50 percent of our force on duty at all times. As some troopers are on days off, different shifts still have to be worked, which means one to three troopers should be working at any given time,” Troop C Capt. Johnny Rawls said.

Efforts are under way to build up troop force, Rawls said.

&#8220We just graduated a class which was just over 40 and was able to place two to four extra troopers in each district. There are nine districts in the state,” Rawls said, adding that the current shortages are due to retirement and military activation.

We are planning a new cadet class to start maybe in August and we are hoping to graduate several new troopers. We are gradually building our work force back but it will be a lengthy process.

Rawls credits Warren County deputies’ help in accident response, usually by redirecting traffic until a trooper arrives to take the report and investigate, in keeping response time minimal.

Another challenge being addressed by government at many levels is communication, specifically by radio.

Currently, sheriff’s deputies can communicate with MHP only by outdated low-band radio frequencies. Assistance on wrecks happens through &#8220crosstalk,” department lingo for having the dispatch center contact MHP’s dispatch.

&#8220Like many agencies, we’ve upgraded to 800 mhz radios. But they are still using radios from the 1940s,” Pace said.

Warren County supervisors were asked Monday by Undersheriff Jeff Riggs to consider purchasing radios for the seven troopers assigned to Warren County, a request taken under advisement for further discussion.

Higher-end 800 mhz models are sold by multiple vendors and can cost up to $4,000, depending on the features. If supervisors agree to purchase them, it is likely they will opt for mid-grade models that range closer to $2,000.

State officials in Mississippi and around the nation have discussed upgrading inter-operable communications for law enforcement and first responders during times of emergency, with the topic getting more attention following the response to Hurricane Katrina.

The main holdup on the governmental end has been whether to choose one vendor over another or letting free-market forces dictate which companies develop the best technology.