Howard and Lisa Gray are scheduled to return to court on Dec. 21 to show why they shouldn’t be held in contempt of court for failing to comply with orders preventing them from using their driveway in Warren County to access their commercial property in neighboring Montgomery County.

“We may have favor if we go back to court. There’s been so much publicity, something’s going to have to happen,” Howard Gray said Tuesday.

The Grays’ plight has attracted nationwide attention, from reports in the Dayton Daily News and local TV stations to links from on-line news aggregation sites.

In 2004, the Grays obtained permission from Clearcreek Twp. to use their residential driveway to get to buildings housing storage and landscaping businesses across the county line.

But following complaints from neighbors, Clearcreek Twp. ordered the couple to stop using the driveway to access their commercial area. Judge James Flannery subsequently issued an order to that effect in Warren County Common Pleas Court.

On Nov. 26, the township’s lawyer filed a motion urging Flannery to call the Grays to court back into to face up to $97,000 in fines for failure to follow the steps required to close access to the commercial area designated by the judge.

“We realize that, several years ago, (the Grays) were given bad advice. That in no way excuses their current behavior, which is to continuously ignore and, in fact, thumb their noses at the court’s orders,” lawyer Jill May said in her motion.

The Grays and their lawyer want compensation.

“All of this stems from a government mistake. It’s up to the government to fix that,” lawyer Andrew George said.

With reservations, Flannery ruled the Grays weren’t entitled to compensation.

“If the court had equitable power to grant the relief sought by the Grays, it would do so. However, the court has taken an oath to enforce the law as written and not to legislate different results based solely on sympathy towards the affected parties,” Flannery wrote in a March 2011 ruling.

A hearing has been scheduled at 1:30 p.m., Dec. 21, in Flannery’s court in Lebanon.