Swirling sands luring lawless road warriors Tens of thousands descend on dunes east [Archive]

YellowSub1962

01-02-2002, 09:29 PM

Swirling sands luring lawless road warriors
Tens of thousands descend on dunes east of San Diego

Nick Madigan, New York Times (chronfeedback@sfchronicle.com)

Glamis, Imperial County -- As midnight approached on New Year's Eve, things began to get seriously out of hand. With dozens of crackling bonfires and zipping fireworks as backdrop, a pickup went up in flames, a mob cheering its destruction, and a young woman was run over by a careening dune buggy.

From a road overlooking the scene Monday night in the remote Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area, 150 miles east of San Diego, officers from eight federal and state agencies -- brought together this weekend as a task force to quell the increasingly frequent disturbances here -- restrained themselves from going in, fearful that they would be pelted with stones and beer cans, as they have been before.

'It's a real mess down there,' a Forest Service ranger said. 'We don't want to send any officers down there because we can't be sure they'd be safe.'

In a swirling sea of sand, flying dune buggies and deafening noise, an estimated 90,000 adherents of off-road recreation finished their long weekend of racing and partying yesterday in the sand hills of southeastern California.

Since the late 1950s, off-road enthusiasts have enjoyed riding the 150,000- acre Imperial dunes. But in recent years, holiday weekends have drawn an increasingly rowdy bunch of hangers-on, some from nearby towns with little other entertainment. Over the Thanksgiving Day weekend, a 66-year-old man was shot to death and two people died in accidents. The crowd that weekend was estimated at 100,000 to 200,000.

In response, the Bureau of Land Management asked eight federal and state agencies to form a group to calm the situation. The officers did their best against overwhelming numbers, keeping out the obvious troublemakers and drunks.

Several undercover agents made arrests in the thick of the mayhem, a square- mile valley at the foot of Competition Hill known as the pit.

'This is the most illegal place in the world, man,' Clay Buttle, 21, an agricultural worker from Arizona, said as he watched the sand drags, a regular midafternoon event on holiday weekends in which wildly mismatched vehicles streak over the bumpy terrain, sometimes perilously close to the throngs who are urging them on. 'All kinds of stuff goes on here -- drinking, women, drugs. '

In the space of 10 minutes, two pickups flipped over, one after almost backing into a group of people who scattered in all directions. A 17-year-old was slightly hurt when she was thrown from the truck. As officers led away the driver, a crowd gathered around the upended truck.

'If we hadn't gotten there, they'd have torched it,' said Reid Hopkins, a ranger with the Bureau of Land Management, which controls the area, as well as the North Algodones Dunes Wilderness to the north, where no vehicles are permitted.

Under the watchful eyes of 20 law officers, some riding buggies painted in police colors and with flashing lights atop, the crowd flipped both trucks back onto their wheels.

Over the weekend, officers issued 350 citations and made 35 arrests, mostly for underage drinking and driving while intoxicated.

Gee I wonder why the world see's us as a bunch of beer swillin' rednecks out to trash the place... :mad3::mad3::mad3:

I included a link to the author at the top... everyone need to send him a note demanding a written retraction or a reprinted article including all the "facts" be put in perspective...(like they're are more arrests at an average pro sports game than there are in an entire weekend at Glamis - and that a small rebel group does not represent the 90,000 Responsible OHVers in the same area... and the fact that we lost many square miles of land that these same people would have been spread out across, instead of being forced together...Have him print all the facts, not just misconstrue the ones the liberal media wants people to read....

:usa:

:mad3::mad3::mad3:


Pirate4x4.Com > Land Use and Trails > Land Use Issues > Swirling sands luring lawless road warriors Tens of thousands descend on dunes east PDA : Swirling sands luring lawless road warriors Tens of thousands descend on dunes east tdavis 01-02-2002, 01:54 PM Glamis made the SFGATE/NewYorkTimes/CNN http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2002/01/02/MN197990.DTL I also saw this article on cnn.com.. YellowSub1962 01-02-2002, 09:29 PM Swirling sands luring lawless road warriors Tens of thousands descend on dunes east of San Diego Nick Madigan, New York Times (chronfeedback@sfchronicle.com) Glamis, Imperial County -- As midnight approached on New Year's Eve, things began to get seriously out of hand. With dozens of crackling bonfires and zipping fireworks as backdrop, a pickup went up in flames, a mob cheering its destruction, and a young woman was run over by a careening dune buggy. From a road overlooking the scene Monday night in the remote Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area, 150 miles east of San Diego, officers from eight federal and state agencies -- brought together this weekend as a task force to quell the increasingly frequent disturbances here -- restrained themselves from going in, fearful that they would be pelted with stones and beer cans, as they have been before. 'It's a real mess down there,' a Forest Service ranger said. 'We don't want to send any officers down there because we can't be sure they'd be safe.' In a swirling sea of sand, flying dune buggies and deafening noise, an estimated 90,000 adherents of off-road recreation finished their long weekend of racing and partying yesterday in the sand hills of southeastern California. Since the late 1950s, off-road enthusiasts have enjoyed riding the 150,000- acre Imperial dunes. But in recent years, holiday weekends have drawn an increasingly rowdy bunch of hangers-on, some from nearby towns with little other entertainment. Over the Thanksgiving Day weekend, a 66-year-old man was shot to death and two people died in accidents. The crowd that weekend was estimated at 100,000 to 200,000. In response, the Bureau of Land Management asked eight federal and state agencies to form a group to calm the situation. The officers did their best against overwhelming numbers, keeping out the obvious troublemakers and drunks. Several undercover agents made arrests in the thick of the mayhem, a square- mile valley at the foot of Competition Hill known as the pit. 'This is the most illegal place in the world, man,' Clay Buttle, 21, an agricultural worker from Arizona, said as he watched the sand drags, a regular midafternoon event on holiday weekends in which wildly mismatched vehicles streak over the bumpy terrain, sometimes perilously close to the throngs who are urging them on. 'All kinds of stuff goes on here -- drinking, women, drugs. ' In the space of 10 minutes, two pickups flipped over, one after almost backing into a group of people who scattered in all directions. A 17-year-old was slightly hurt when she was thrown from the truck. As officers led away the driver, a crowd gathered around the upended truck. 'If we hadn't gotten there, they'd have torched it,' said Reid Hopkins, a ranger with the Bureau of Land Management, which controls the area, as well as the North Algodones Dunes Wilderness to the north, where no vehicles are permitted. Under the watchful eyes of 20 law officers, some riding buggies painted in police colors and with flashing lights atop, the crowd flipped both trucks back onto their wheels. Over the weekend, officers issued 350 citations and made 35 arrests, mostly for underage drinking and driving while intoxicated. Gee I wonder why the world see's us as a bunch of beer swillin' rednecks out to trash the place... :mad3::mad3::mad3: I included a link to the author at the top... everyone need to send him a note demanding a written retraction or a reprinted article including all the "facts" be put in perspective...(like they're are more arrests at an average pro sports game than there are in an entire weekend at Glamis - and that a small rebel group does not represent the 90,000 Responsible OHVers in the same area... and the fact that we lost many square miles of land that these same people would have been spread out across, instead of being forced together...Have him print all the facts, not just misconstrue the ones the liberal media wants people to read.... :usa: :mad3::mad3::mad3: