YellowSub1962
01-11-2002, 12:53 PM
Four-wheelers facing heat<
<
Crackdown<
is upsetting<
to mudders<
<
By Scott Mobley<
Record Searchlight<
Shasta County's four-wheelers and mudders are used to getting stuck _ and getting unstuck.
But some are feeling trapped by a crackdown on their pastime.
Responding to a deluge of complaints about off-roaders kicking up dust and trashing property, Redding police have started enforcing the city's ban against four-wheeling on private land in the city.
Police in December slapped Tom Hanes with a $135 fine for off-roading on private property in a wooded pocket near Churn Creek Road and Highway 299.
Hanes said he never got a warning. He did not see any signs on the property forbidding off-roading. He plans to fight the ticket in court.
``They want to turn this place into a retirement community,'' said Hanes, 43 and a lifelong Mountain Gate resident.
``People look at dirt bikes as noisy and offensive, but their lifestyle is boring,'' he said. ``There needs to be a balance.''
Robert Ferguson is a 63-year-old Shasta Lake planning commissioner who would also like to see officials cut off-roaders some slack.
``There has to be some place where people can do this without getting on people's nerves,'' he said.
As part of its crackdown on four-wheeling, Redding police have encouraged enthusiasts to use the Chappie-Shasta Off-Highway Vehicle Area near Shasta Dam.
But armed guards have kept visitors away from the dam since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Off-roaders who want to use the trails must take Copley Mountain Road off Iron Mountain Road or detour 20 miles through French Gulch. A guard at the dam estimated he turns away 20 to 25 off-roaders each day.
The dam won't be off-limits much longer.
Debbie Miller, a Bureau of Reclamation administrative officer at the dam, said crews refurbishing the spillway drum gates should finish by mid-February. After that, she said, four-wheelers may cross the dam to get to the trails.
But guards will search motorists before letting them through, Miller said.
Also by February, off-roaders could be using the paved county road linking the trail system parking area to the trails instead of the tricky expert-grade Lemurian Chute.
The county limits the road to street-legal vehicles. But at the request of the U.S. Forest Service and Redding police, county engineers have asked the California Highway Patrol for permission to lift that restriction.<
:usa:
<
Crackdown<
is upsetting<
to mudders<
<
By Scott Mobley<
Record Searchlight<
Shasta County's four-wheelers and mudders are used to getting stuck _ and getting unstuck.
But some are feeling trapped by a crackdown on their pastime.
Responding to a deluge of complaints about off-roaders kicking up dust and trashing property, Redding police have started enforcing the city's ban against four-wheeling on private land in the city.
Police in December slapped Tom Hanes with a $135 fine for off-roading on private property in a wooded pocket near Churn Creek Road and Highway 299.
Hanes said he never got a warning. He did not see any signs on the property forbidding off-roading. He plans to fight the ticket in court.
``They want to turn this place into a retirement community,'' said Hanes, 43 and a lifelong Mountain Gate resident.
``People look at dirt bikes as noisy and offensive, but their lifestyle is boring,'' he said. ``There needs to be a balance.''
Robert Ferguson is a 63-year-old Shasta Lake planning commissioner who would also like to see officials cut off-roaders some slack.
``There has to be some place where people can do this without getting on people's nerves,'' he said.
As part of its crackdown on four-wheeling, Redding police have encouraged enthusiasts to use the Chappie-Shasta Off-Highway Vehicle Area near Shasta Dam.
But armed guards have kept visitors away from the dam since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Off-roaders who want to use the trails must take Copley Mountain Road off Iron Mountain Road or detour 20 miles through French Gulch. A guard at the dam estimated he turns away 20 to 25 off-roaders each day.
The dam won't be off-limits much longer.
Debbie Miller, a Bureau of Reclamation administrative officer at the dam, said crews refurbishing the spillway drum gates should finish by mid-February. After that, she said, four-wheelers may cross the dam to get to the trails.
But guards will search motorists before letting them through, Miller said.
Also by February, off-roaders could be using the paved county road linking the trail system parking area to the trails instead of the tricky expert-grade Lemurian Chute.
The county limits the road to street-legal vehicles. But at the request of the U.S. Forest Service and Redding police, county engineers have asked the California Highway Patrol for permission to lift that restriction.<
:usa: