Posted on   February 26, 2013 at 5:51 pm  by  Rick Karlin, Capitol bureau – Times Union

A state Supreme Court judge has ruled on behalf of a newspaper editor/outdoor enthusiast and guide who purposely paddled down a supposed private waterway in order to test the laws about the use of public waters.

The on-line Adirondack Almanack is reporting that Phil Brown, editor of the Almanack’s parent publication the Adirondack Explorer was not trespassing in 2009 when he paddled his small boat across private land since the waterway was navigable and therefore open to the public.

Landowners along Single Shanty Brook and nearby ponds in the Adirondacks had posted the land and they charged Brown with trespassing. Brown, a former Times Union reporter and editors, was paddling from Little Tupper Lake to Lake Lila.