By MIKE CORN

Hays Daily News

Under a veil of secrecy, it appears a settlement in the very public Logan County lawsuit over prairie dogs is in the offing.

But because the negotiations are taking place in private, few details have emerged.

As a result, Tuesday's trial still officially is on the docket.

What is known is that defendants in the lawsuit -- ranchers who favor keeping prairie dogs so federal wildlife officials can reintroduce the black-footed ferret, the nation's most endangered mammal -- will make some small concessions.

"We're going to agree to a couple things," said Larry Haverfield, one of the defendants in the lawsuit. "And they're going to drop the case."

The defendants in the case will admit they were notified by the Logan County Commission that the prairie dogs have been a nuisance. They also will have to admit they didn't object to the notice.

In return, Logan County, which filed the lawsuit, will give at least two days notice in the event the county decides to enter on the land and begin the poisoning process.

That presumably would then give the landowners time to go to court and obtain a restraining order to stop the poisoning.

"It's like nothing happened," Haverfield said of the settlement agreement, which was a telephone conference call limited to attorneys in the case and Senior Judge Jack Lively, Coffeyville.

Requests by The Hays Daily News to sit in on the conference call essentially were ignored. The call was initiated by Hays attorney Don Hoffman, who was representing the county. He failed to return repeated calls.

Lively sidestepped the request, initially saying he would return a call to detail what happened, but ultimately deferring questions to the clerk of the district court, who was not involved in the call.

Contacted this morning, Clerk Nancy Gladin said she had been told to only say she would fax out an order in the case as soon as one is filed.

Randy Rathbun, the Wichita attorney representing some of the defendants in the case, this morning declined comment.

"It's still on for trial," he said, "but at this point, I can't talk about it."

Defendant Lillian Becker, Russell Springs, said she had been told next week's hearing had been called off. Defendant Dixie Surratt could not be contacted.

"I don't want to say anything while it's going on," said Gordon Barnhardt, another defendant. "There's something in the mill. We'll see how it plays out."

Barnhardt and Haverfield are at the heart of the ferret reintroduction project. Together, they have reached agreement with the U.S. Fish And Wildlife Service for the release of the endangered animals on their land. Barnhardt owns the land where commissioners first tried to poison prairie dogs, a process that backfired when the company hired failed to apply the poison properly. Barnhardt, however, was sent a bill for the aborted effort. He since has asked the county to absolve him of liability of the almost $600, a request that has been ignored, he said.

Wednesday evening, all three Logan County commissioners had few details concerning the afternoon hearing.

Only Commissioner Carl Uhrich had been contacted by Hoffman.

"We don't know yet," he said Wednesday evening. "They're going to talk again tomorrow."

He did not say who was going to talk, but he did say the lawsuit had not been dismissed.

Commissioner Doug Mackley said he was unaware of what had taken place.

He remained convinced Logan County was not going to dismiss the lawsuit.

That's the same view had by Commissioner Nick Scott.

He said the case was to be dismissed by a judge.

"They don't have a case," he said. "They didn't counterfile."

That's in step with Hoffman's comments Tuesday concerning a time limit to protest action by commissioners. That also would fit within the terms of the settlement.

Dismissal of the case by a judge, however, is simply a technicality that will follow a settlement agreement.

"It won't be because of us," Scott said of the dismissal. "It will be because of the judge. We're representing the people, and the people say, 'Let's go.' "

Even if the case is dismissed, it likely will not mean a cease-fire in the county's fight against prairie dogs.

Scott said the county still must poison. Most likely it would be with Rozol, but he did not dismiss the possibility of using other poisons.

While Haverfield said the barriers he has in place around his ranch appear to be working, Scott said it's not enough.

"He's got too many," he said. "I think it would be all right if a guy got out there and treated 'em one time."

Haverfield on Monday said his grass barriers -- fenced off to let the grass grow tall -- have been working. He also thinks the presence of purple three-awn, a grass prairie dogs apparently abhor, has reduced numbers.

"They have a tough time living in the purple three-awn," he said. "They don't clip it."

Prairie dogs avoid areas with tall grass because they are unable to watch for predators.

With a settlement pending, Haverfield said he plans to call Denny Mackley, the county's prairie dog man.

"Probably what I'm going to do is hire them to poison our barriers," he said of the county. "I would think that would be enough to satisfy them for a while."

Special projects coordinator Mike Corn can be reached at (785) 628-1081, Ext. 129, or by e-mail at mcorn@dailynews.net.