MAGNOLIA SPRINGS, Ala. — Talk of paving Beasley Road — a dirt road lined with majestic oak trees — seems as insistent as the breeze in those oak boughs. It comes a rustling from time to time. At least, such has been true for the past several years.

Diane Merrill, who has lived on Beasley for approximately 15 years, said she and other Beasley Road property owners have been contacted of late by the Baldwin County Highway Department concerning the possible paving of the road which lies between Foley and Magnolia Springs.

“The county would like to pave all the dirt roads for our citizens,” said Debra Morris, a right of way technician for the Highway Department, this week.

According to Morris, the Highway Department is making calls to Beasley Road property owners about paving the road and interest they might have in surrendering property to create a 60-foot right of way.

“We get our answers from there,” Morris said of the telephone contacts.

But Merrill, who has been contacted, said the old and majestic Beasley oaks that line the road aren’t being mentioned in the county’s survey. According to Merrill, she asked that very question of the person who called her and was told that the county isn’t asking landowners about the role, if any, the oaks play for them in deciding the paving issue.

“I could stand it,” Merrill said of Beasley being paved, that is, if the oak trees are not cut down to make the 60-foot right of way possible.

Should the oaks be in jeopardy, however, Merrill said, “I’d be one of those crazy ladies out there chained to a tree.”

Asked if the county survey is picking up concerns by property owners about the oaks, Morris said, “Oh, gosh, yes.”

At the same time, Morris said the county is also hearing from people who want the road paved period. These are people whose cars are being damaged by traveling the unpaved road, who have “dust on everything,” and who suffer from allergies.

Merrill understands those concerns, but her concern is that one individual is allegedly behind the paving issue and is pushing it. She doesn’t want it to be forgotten that people like her enjoy living “on one of Alabama’s vanishing dirt roads.”

While Merrill feels a 60-foot right of way is “extreme,” Morris calls it “standard” for the county. Should more development occur along Beasley Road in the future and with it more drainage issues, Morris said a 60-foot right of way normally provides plenty of room to control that.

Morris said the county’s interest at this point is “very preliminary. As far as anything set in stone, we’re not there.”

Beginning in 2006, rumor was afoot that hundreds of Beasley Road oak trees might be on the chopping block in connection with a residential subdivision that required road improvements to be approved. As it turned out, subdivision plans changed and the canopy oaks were spared.

Merrill wants to see them spared again should paving in the future threaten the oaks.

“It is my understanding that the landowners on Oak Street in Magnolia Springs faced the same dilemma years ago, and they stood firm that they wanted the road paved, but they also wanted the trees preserved, and they got it. They also have been able to protect the mutilation of their oaks from the power company saws.”