SANDPOINT — A Bonner County man’s trial on allegations he caused $7,000 in damage to Langille Canyon Road is being postponed because a key state’s witness was unable to testify, court documents show.

Richard Carl Hamacher is charged with obstruction of a public roadway, a misdemeanor. He was to be tried in magistrate court on Thursday, but Bonner County Sheriff’s Sgt. Chris Bell was unavailable.

A new trial date is pending.

Hamacher, 78, is accused of blocking the road north of Oldtown with concrete blocks and digging a trench across it on Sept. 17, 2007. Hamacher maintains in an affidavit he was trying to repair damage to part of his water system after it was damaged by a utility truck installing telecommunications cable.

Hamacher has been locking horns with the county for years over the road and its impact on his water system. Hamacher has filed at least two lawsuits over the road’s maintenance, court records show.

Hamacher and two other families sued the county in 1998 alleging a road-widening project fouled their water supply and made it unfit for consumption. Routine maintenance, such as snow plowing and roadside herbicide spraying, also harmed water quality, the plaintiffs further alleged.

The suit was settled in 1999, with the county paying the plaintiffs $50,000 in compensation and implementing measures meant to protect the water supply, court records show.

Hamacher said in court documents his water system’s flow was greatly diminished last year when Verizon installed a cable in the roadway. A conduit was damaged and Hamacher contends he was trying to install a new one when he tampered with the road.

Hamacher’s defense counsel, Coeur d’Alene attorney Art Bistline, moved to dismiss the charge, arguing that his client’s established and constitutionally-protected water right entitled him to conduct the repairs.

Judge Barbara Buchanan denied the motion. She held that Bistline’s argument had no bearing on the criminal charge and pointed out that Hamacher had admitted digging up and obstructing the road, according to her order denying the defense motion.