Two Barnhardt residents are fed up with the fence around the Barnhardt Circle ballfields.

A lawsuit against the city of Fort Oglethorpe, Catoosa County Board of Education, and Lakeview Fort Oglethorpe Recreation Association was filed in the Catoosa County Superior Court on Oct. 15.

The plaintiffs are Ed and Radonna Parrish.

City manager Ron Goulart said Fort Oglethorpe and the Board of Education both own parts of the ballfields, and the recreation association organizes teams and events on the fields.

The plaintiffs have sued the city for “substantially and irreparably” harming the public and themselves for allowing the ballfields fenced in with the gates kept locked.

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of the Parrishs by Weldon Law Firm in Ringgold, says the fence is a violation of the William and C.W. Stephenson deed from 1950. It says the property was given to Fort Oglethorpe “to be used for the purposes of public schools, and/or parks or playgrounds and other public purposes, and for no other purpose.”

The 14-page lawsuit says locking the fence up keeps the public out and violates the deed.

The fence was put up in May 1974.

“It’s a little late to be raising these issues,” Goulart said.

He said the fences are there to keep out vandals and to protect the people watching the games.

Goulart wondered how players will know they hit a homerun if there’s not a fence.

“We love to let people use the ballfields,” he said.

The plaintiffs are asking for the court to rule that the fence be removed. They also want the defendants to pay their lawyer fees.

Each defendant has 30 days to respond to the lawsuit.

Neither of the plaintiffs nor their lawyer could be reached for comment.