BEDFORD - Jim Miller and his two adult sons had been inching their way toward the Bedford County Assessment Office for more than five hours and still had a handful of people in front of them at lunchtime Monday.

Sandwiched between his children in a row of chairs along the first-floor hallway of the county courthouse, Miller was there more for moral support than anything else.

"My two sons have issues with their properties," the Pleasantville man said.

Pointing toward the hundreds of people waiting to voice their concerns or make changes to their newly-assessed property values, Miller voiced his disgust with the county's first reassessment in more than 50 years.

"It's been handled wrong from the beginning," he said.

Miller has already scheduled a formal appeal. The formal hearings begin Wednesday and will take place through October. The deadline to file an appeal is Sept. 1.

"I just think my property's appraised higher than what it would sell for," Kimmel Miller said, adding that he was staying positive about the outcome after his father's experience with the office personnel. "It sounds like they were pretty fair with dad's."

Chief Assessor Melissa Stultz came out of the busy office every now and then, updating people on the status of the wait and telling new guests what the process was.

"We're working as hard as we can to get these property record cards out to you," Stultz said about 11:30 a.m., adding that the office was trying to get extra people to help handle the traffic.

People of all ages waited, standing for the first part of the hallway, and then going from chair to neighboring chair as the line crawled forward. Some of them had small children balanced on their laps. Others read books or did crossword puzzles.

Vanira Wilkins of Manns Choice arrived at the courthouse about 6:45 a.m. with her daughter-in-law LaTisha. Vanira said her dairy farm and her son's adjoining property were overpriced.

"We want to try and get it down a little bit," she said.

An earlier stop at the assessment office to get information on her property went smoothly, and because of that, she was willing to wait in line to get things straightened out, Vanira said.

"Everyone in the office is very courteous," she said. "I don't have any problems with any of them."

The two women said they would decide whether to appeal based on their meeting with assessors Monday.

Vanira said she may have to join the Clean and Green program because of the higher values and increased milk prices.

"That might make it necessary," she said.

The first in line arrived about 4 a.m. Monday and sat in lawn chairs until the office opened, those in line said.

Some people were upset, but everyone was on good behavior, sheriff's deputies patrolling the hallway said.

About two blocks away, concerned residents were filing in the Bedford County Taxpayers' Association at 309 S. Richard St. Executive Vice President Terry Chalfant was trying to answer questions, many from elderly residents who were confused by the process.

"Why would you put all these people through this?" Chalfant asked. "It's just so messed up."

The organization ordered about 150 sandwiches Monday and brought them to those waiting in line at the courthouse at lunchtime.

"We've got to help as many people as we can," Chalfant said. "That's all we can do."