On Fri, 2005-25-02 at 13:00 -0500, Benign Vanilla wrote:
"Derek Broughon" wrote in message
a...
snip
Well, you know, I'd have to doubt that you could be forced to pay for
replacing everybody else's cable service if they've got lines running
through your land without an express right of way.

From the MD, Miss Utility site...

"Penalties for Violating the Miss Utility Laws: Actual repair costs, and
civil penalties up to $1,000 per violation for the first offense, plus up to
10 times the actual cost of repairs, which can equate to millions of
dollars, for each subsequent offense. "

Sure, but don't they have to have a right of way? Not for your own
utility supply lines, but I've never seen a case of a legitimate utility
line running straight across a person's property: they either run on the
road allowance, or they get an explicit lien (which goes on your
property deed). You'd be hard-pressed to be in violation otherwise. I
_have_ seen illegally (in the sense of not having permission from the
property owner, not service stolen from the cable co.) and improperly
installed shared cable lines, and whole blocks have lost their service
when someone cut it - but the Cable co is on the hook for repairs.
--
derek