Two wealthy ranch owners continue battle over locked gates
Shafter
Cibolo Creek Ranch owner John Poindexter is exploring avenues—other than a current lawsuit—to regain access to La Morita Road in Shafter that he states is crucial for accessing livestock on a tract of his land in eastern Presidio County, according to county officials.
Those avenues include discussions with county officials about the road historically being “common use,” meaning various landowners and the public routinely traveled through it with unlocked gates, and Poindexter may even be claiming it was a county road at some point.
When Johnny Weisman bought the 66,000-acre Lely Ranch southeast of Shafter in the fall of 2024, he eventually locked the gates at La Morita Road that provides access to the ranch and several other ranch properties, including Poindexter’s Harper Ranch with livestock. Poindexter’s attorneys argued that employees at the Cibolo Creek Ranch resort had used La Morita Road as the primary route to the Harper tract and their other resort fort at Cienega (although that resort is accessible as well by Tinaja Road northeast of Shafter). Without access, livestock could starve or die of thirst, according to the lawsuit filed in June.
The lawsuit is technically being brought by Southwestern Holdings, Inc. (Poindexter’s Cibolo Creek Ranch) against Hunter JRW Holdings, LLC (Weisman’s ranch, now named Flying W). Cibolo Creek Ranch is just north of Shafter, and Poindexter has been restoring buildings in the town to make it a historical destination. Weisman purchased a home he’s renovating in Shafter for occasional getaways from his home in New Braunfels and visits to the Flying W.
Weisman’s attorneys argued that access to Harper Ranch is possible from Casa Piedra and Big Bend Ranch State Park and that access to La Morita Road was always by permission only and not by any easements or continual use that could make it subject to ownership through adverse possession. Affidavits from several Shafter residents support the Flying W’s position, while affidavits from Cibolo Creek Ranch employees support their position of continual use with open gates.
Both Poindexter and Weisman have made fortunes, the former in heavy trucks and equipment and the latter in state highway construction. So, both have the financial ability to withstand a lengthy legal battle. Currently, the parties are in a discovery phase with no new hearings set.
Presidio County Judge Joe Portillo said Sunday that there were discussions about the historical use that might make the road public, but he said nothing has been placed on a Commissioners Court agenda.
The court could simply vote to make the road public, although that could put the county in a position of facing a lawsuit or being enjoined in the current one. The possibility of either is why County Commissioner Deirdre Hisler is objecting to the idea, and she said she’d fight to keep it off any future agenda.
“This is Texas, and this seems to be an issue between two private landowners, and I, as a commissioner, have no interest in enjoining Presidio County into any potential lawsuits,” Hisler said Monday.
Hisler said she did meet with Poindexter in Shafter, at his invitation, and told him her position. She said Poindexter told her that County Commissioners Franky Ortiz and Margarito Hernandez were scheduled to meet with him afterwards that day. However, Cibolo Creek Ranch Manager Tom Davis said the Ortiz and Hernandez meetings never happened. Neither Ortiz or Hernandez responded to requests for comment. County Commissioner Frank “Buddy” Knight said he has had no discussions about the road and only knows about the lawsuit from reading about it in Big Bend Sentinel.
Hisler said Poindexter told her that, should the road be made public, he would maintain it, something his lawsuit said his employees had always done in years of use.
Davis said any discussions on “common use” were the same as the ranch’s arguments in the lawsuit—that the resort employees had a long history of unrestricted access to La Morita Road.