OWENS CROSS ROADS, Ala. — The City of Owens Cross Roads and Pathway of Madison County, LLC recently filed a document stipulating to the issuance of a conditional business license for the 2026 calendar year. The renewal is dependent on the final outcome of the city’s lawsuit to declare the girls’ residential behavioral health facility a public nuisance.
Both parties stipulate that Pathway may continue operations while the court determines if the facility must be permanently abated — effectively closed down — consistent with local business ordinances and public safety laws.
The matter is being heard in Madison County Circuit Court.
Pathway Challenges Nuisance Claims
In its answer and counterclaim filed on Jan. 20, Pathway and its owner, Richard White, denied that the facility constitutes a public nuisance. The defendants argue that the city’s legal action is a “pretextual” effort to shut down a state-licensed school and childcare center serving neglected and abused children in the State of Alabama’s protective custody…