Two prominent Belize City families – the family of Senior Counsel Rodwell Williams and the Yearwood family of Cemetery Lane – are locked in a land dispute, which, it appears, will have to be resolved by the courts of Belize. That is because both sides claim official title to the same parcel of land; and they have both purported to hold title documents.

Amandala spoke with a spokesperson of the Yearwood family, who moved a few houses up the street about a decade ago, leaving their relatives to occupy the land, which one title document says was owned by Richard Young of Gracie Rock, but deeded collectively to his descendants in perpetuity back in the 1930s. (The Yearwoods say they are descendants of the Youngs.)

Two Saturdays ago, Williams relocated a gacho shop owned by a businesswoman who had been using another property of his to the premises for which he steadfastly claims that his father, Rodwell, Sr., holds title.

Williams claimed that his father received title to the land “decades ago,” and he told us that he has gotten an injunction against the Yearwood/Young family and is suing them. That injunction, he said, was issued last Friday.

One of Young’s descendants told us that it was their grandfather who allowed Williams’ grandfather to set up a home on the property when they didn’t have anywhere to live. However, the relative said, the Williams family stayed on the land for three generations – and Rodwell, Jr., is insisting that they have property rights.

In fact, Williams told our newspaper that he was raised there, on Cemetery Lane, and after Hurricane Hattie blew off the top of their two-storey house, they went back and lived in the downstairs. He said that his grandmother, Egzene Williams, last lived there.

“People are just ignoramus and what they do, they figure Rodwell Williams and his family have enough. Why should they own this?” Williams said.

He told us that he was relocating the gacho shop to the property so that the businesswoman could use it, because he doesn’t have any use for it.

The Young family spokesperson said, though, that the businesswoman was relocated from a piece of land which Williams uses as a parking lot for his law firm. They, too, have pledged to take the matter to court. The Youngs said they had been paying property taxes on parcel # 1142, Lot 404A, at 23 Cemetery Lane. The land document produced by the Youngs show 533.18 square meters, or 637.74 sq. yards surveyed on August 9, 1989.

Whereas Audrey Matura-Shepherd is attorney for the Young family, Williams told us that he happens to be a lawyer so he takes care of his father’s affairs – in this case, the land in question, for which he claims his father has been paying property taxes for years. Williams told us that his father owns the land and he will build an edifice on it.

The Young family recounted to us that two Fridays ago, Rodwell Williams, SC, sent a carpenter to take measurements on the front portion of the land, but the family was adamant that Williams could not put anything on the family property.

On Saturday, armed police and military officers were dispatched to the site, while a small wooden shop Williams had sent over was placed on the property. When we checked this Tuesday, the structure put up by Williams on the Cemetery Lane property remained erected.

When we asked the Youngs how the Williams family got into the picture, the spokesperson said that Jimmy Williams had asked the Young family for permission to live on the property until he and his wife could do better. The grandfather agreed. The Williams family stayed until the third generation – which was when they relocated to a new property. Only Williams’ grandmother remained there.

The Youngs say that by a decree set out in his will, Richard Young indicated that the land should remain within the family.

The Young family contends that the Williams family were friends – never relatives, and so should lay no claim to the property in question.

In fact, the family spokesperson said that Williams had attempted to put a “for sale” sign on the property some years ago, but police officer Fitzroy Yearwood, a descendant of the Young family, protested and so the sign was not erected.

The spokesperson said that Young’s son had wanted the Williams family to move for years and they did not heed his wishes – but remained on the property.

The family furthermore claims that after Williams’ grandmother died, a relative of the Young’s occupied the house that the Williams family left behind, and the property was being demolished with him inside.

The Youngs contend that the Williams family does not need the space and one of the Youngs could put a house there.

They insist that the property should remain in Richard Young’s family line.

While Williams did speak with our newspaper briefly on the land dispute, he indicated that he was being reserved in commenting because of the threatened lawsuit.