Crowdog
12-02-2002, 09:21 PM
http://www.bakersfield.com/local/story/2254732p-2320071c.html
Restoring off-road order
By CHRIS PAGE, Californian staff writer
e-mail: cpage@bakersfield.com
Sunday December 01, 2002, 10:38:33 PM
Imagine the Wild West.
Imagine bands of lawless cowboys running rampant through the wide-open plains, stopping only to cause grief among the townsfolk as the noisy horses fill up the streets outside the saloon where their masters are taking off their hats and getting rowdy.
Some say that visual isn't very far from what happens in and around Red Rock Canyon State Park, the scenic desert rockscape 25 miles northeast of Mojave. But these modern-day cowboys sport helmets and high-impact plastic chest guards, riding noisy dirt bikes and four-wheeled all-terrain vehicles instead of neighing steeds.
Though the Bureau of Land Management keeps an eye over the hundreds of thousands of acres that span the area, the federal department didn't have the manpower needed to keep Red Rock from becoming the kind of place where off-road riders could rocket up and around the dirt hills with beers in
hand, stir up campsite brawls and race recklessly. Things got especially bad during busy weekends, like Thanksgiving, when as many as 30,000 people can flock to Red Rock.
Like all good Western movies, it took a law enforcer -- Sgt. Jeff Niccoli of the Kern County Sheriff's Department -- and a posse of law-minded deputies to bring order to the range.
"This place looked like (the movie) 'Mad Max' when I first came out here," Niccoli said, scanning Jaw Bone Canyon as dozens of dirt bikes swarmed around motor homes and campsites Saturday morning.
Only Niccoli and his Off Highway Vehicle unit haven't had to get too tough on visitors since the state-funded program started two years ago and decided this year to focus on Red Rock. For the most part, his cadre spend weekends patrolling on four-wheelers and four-wheel-drive Ford SUVs, issuing citations for unregistered vehicles and reminding riders to keep it safe.
"People were surprised to see us out here," Niccoli said. "But we were well-received by the public. ... A lot of that is because we didn't come in here and start hammering people (with tickets)."
Indeed, Niccoli and the 13 deputies stationed at the Red Cliffs Campground Saturday kept bright faces during their patrols. Riders passing by waved cordially.
Not quite your regular patrol
The deputies -- both regular employees earning supplemental overtime pay (though the program is funded exclusively through grants, not Sheriff's Department payroll) and volunteer reserve deputies -- took turns between the four Yamaha four-wheelers and three Ford SUVs to patrol the twisting trails and roads in and around Red Rock.
Drizzles of rain had thinned out the campers and riders to about 10,000, which meant Red Rock wasn't crammed wall-to-wall with recreational vehicles. And those riders being stopped by deputies at midday to check for registration didn't seem bothered. In fact, they seemed downright cheery.
"With us bringing our kids out, we want this to be a safe place," Mike Doiron, 37, said as he reached into a backpack to show registration papers for the small dirt bike being used by his daughter Melissa, 12. "We don't want a bunch of drunks running around."
Most citations are issued for non-registration. Some go to rowdy riders. Most riders who stray from designated paths are given a warning, unless it's an egregious violation like riding alongside or on the heavily trafficked roads around the park. Warnings go to those who don't follow the California law that says only one person at a time can ride on a four-wheeler.
"It's a lot different than regular patrol," said Ed Tucker, a regular deputy in Kern County. "On regular patrol, you go out to crimes where people have been victims of something. Ninety-nine percent of the people I see out here are families just out having fun."
Sheriff's deputies don't usually give many tickets during regular patrol. Niccoli gave 30 tickets last year with his off-road team. It was the most he'd ever issued.
"It's kind of refreshing," Niccoli said, "to be in a place where people are glad to have you there."
And those they stopped for not displaying registration stickers for their vehicles were given "fix it" tickets to the tune of $22.50 for the biannual registration and a $10 processing fee. It's a far cry from the $300 fine they might get if "fix" weren't marked on the tickets.
"That has somewhat of a calming effect on people," Niccoli said, laughing.
Even those who were ticketed didn't hold a grudge against the team.
"It's good to have them (deputies) when you need them," said Philip Smith, 25, a Los Angeles-area native who said he was ticketed for riding in the back of a pickup the prior evening. "It's just a bummer when you get a ticket."
'We have a positive impact'
Niccoli, 43, started the Off Highway Vehicle unit in 2000 with grants from state agencies. It was the first time the 20-year Sheriff's Department veteran had built such a program from scratch. In the first year he raised $110,000 from grants to purchase the initial vehicles (All-terrain vehicles can cost about $6,000 apiece, and the off-highway vehicles are decked out with flashing lights and sirens), a trailer to transport them, and to pay his deputies to work two weekends a month during non-summer months, when the area is most popular for riders. He raised an additional $65,000 for last year's operations. Another $75,000 in grants is before the state to fund next year and help purchase more vehicles.
Though Niccoli would like to expand his program -- and he might have to, if the Bureau of Land Management reopens the 29,000 acres of land it closed to motorized vehicles in March -- the sergeant is proud of what his team has done so far.
"Realistically speaking, I think we're accomplishing what we need to do out here," he said. "I think we have a positive impact."
Niccoli's Off Highway Vehicle unit has managed to win favor from such disparate organizations as the Sierra Club and the California Off Road Vehicle Association. Niccoli did that by appealing to common ground.
"We're basically trying to keep this area open," Niccoli said.
Added Tucker, "We're trying to keep politicians and environmentalists from having an excuse to close this down."
About noon on weekends, hundreds of riders around Red Rock head east to Randsburg, where the lunch counters fill hungry bellies. The most popular spot is the White House Saloon, which spills over with riders in dirt bike outfits, carrying helmets and talking boisterously. It's here where the cowboy imagery is at its most prevalent.
On Saturday, some standing outside chatted idly with Niccoli. Others saw the sheriff's uniform and jumped off their bikes -- which they're legally not supposed to ride into town on anyway.
At the nearby General Store, California Off Road Vehicle Association President Edward Waldheim ran into Niccoli and introduced him to the dirt bikers eating at a nearby table.
"Law enforcement are just jerks," Waldheim said, grinning. "But when he came in, he changed my mind on that. This guy, he works with the off-roaders. He works with us."
Niccoli smiled and went outside, where a passing rider approached him.
"Are you giving out tickets?" she asked.
"I don't know. Do you want one?" Niccoli grinned.
It's that way with the unit. Deputies and reserve deputies flock to classes on off-road enforcement, and there are often waiting lists to try out for the unit. Though Reserve Deputy Gina Light spent Saturday learning the basics of working in Red Rock, she was already hooked.
"I love it," she said.
Of course, it's a job working on OHV, not a weekend way of riding on the state's dime.
"If I find them having too much fun, they're out," Niccoli said, joking. "They can't have any fun."
With the off-roading cowboys of Red Rock thoroughly in check by the Off Highway Vehicle unit Saturday, Niccoli said the deputies would wait until dark, then hunker down in their camp. They would gather to light a campfire that night and take part in the most Western of traditions:
"We'll tell stories about how many people we caught," Niccoli said. "We'll mostly tell lies."
Restoring off-road order
By CHRIS PAGE, Californian staff writer
e-mail: cpage@bakersfield.com
Sunday December 01, 2002, 10:38:33 PM
Imagine the Wild West.
Imagine bands of lawless cowboys running rampant through the wide-open plains, stopping only to cause grief among the townsfolk as the noisy horses fill up the streets outside the saloon where their masters are taking off their hats and getting rowdy.
Some say that visual isn't very far from what happens in and around Red Rock Canyon State Park, the scenic desert rockscape 25 miles northeast of Mojave. But these modern-day cowboys sport helmets and high-impact plastic chest guards, riding noisy dirt bikes and four-wheeled all-terrain vehicles instead of neighing steeds.
Though the Bureau of Land Management keeps an eye over the hundreds of thousands of acres that span the area, the federal department didn't have the manpower needed to keep Red Rock from becoming the kind of place where off-road riders could rocket up and around the dirt hills with beers in
hand, stir up campsite brawls and race recklessly. Things got especially bad during busy weekends, like Thanksgiving, when as many as 30,000 people can flock to Red Rock.
Like all good Western movies, it took a law enforcer -- Sgt. Jeff Niccoli of the Kern County Sheriff's Department -- and a posse of law-minded deputies to bring order to the range.
"This place looked like (the movie) 'Mad Max' when I first came out here," Niccoli said, scanning Jaw Bone Canyon as dozens of dirt bikes swarmed around motor homes and campsites Saturday morning.
Only Niccoli and his Off Highway Vehicle unit haven't had to get too tough on visitors since the state-funded program started two years ago and decided this year to focus on Red Rock. For the most part, his cadre spend weekends patrolling on four-wheelers and four-wheel-drive Ford SUVs, issuing citations for unregistered vehicles and reminding riders to keep it safe.
"People were surprised to see us out here," Niccoli said. "But we were well-received by the public. ... A lot of that is because we didn't come in here and start hammering people (with tickets)."
Indeed, Niccoli and the 13 deputies stationed at the Red Cliffs Campground Saturday kept bright faces during their patrols. Riders passing by waved cordially.
Not quite your regular patrol
The deputies -- both regular employees earning supplemental overtime pay (though the program is funded exclusively through grants, not Sheriff's Department payroll) and volunteer reserve deputies -- took turns between the four Yamaha four-wheelers and three Ford SUVs to patrol the twisting trails and roads in and around Red Rock.
Drizzles of rain had thinned out the campers and riders to about 10,000, which meant Red Rock wasn't crammed wall-to-wall with recreational vehicles. And those riders being stopped by deputies at midday to check for registration didn't seem bothered. In fact, they seemed downright cheery.
"With us bringing our kids out, we want this to be a safe place," Mike Doiron, 37, said as he reached into a backpack to show registration papers for the small dirt bike being used by his daughter Melissa, 12. "We don't want a bunch of drunks running around."
Most citations are issued for non-registration. Some go to rowdy riders. Most riders who stray from designated paths are given a warning, unless it's an egregious violation like riding alongside or on the heavily trafficked roads around the park. Warnings go to those who don't follow the California law that says only one person at a time can ride on a four-wheeler.
"It's a lot different than regular patrol," said Ed Tucker, a regular deputy in Kern County. "On regular patrol, you go out to crimes where people have been victims of something. Ninety-nine percent of the people I see out here are families just out having fun."
Sheriff's deputies don't usually give many tickets during regular patrol. Niccoli gave 30 tickets last year with his off-road team. It was the most he'd ever issued.
"It's kind of refreshing," Niccoli said, "to be in a place where people are glad to have you there."
And those they stopped for not displaying registration stickers for their vehicles were given "fix it" tickets to the tune of $22.50 for the biannual registration and a $10 processing fee. It's a far cry from the $300 fine they might get if "fix" weren't marked on the tickets.
"That has somewhat of a calming effect on people," Niccoli said, laughing.
Even those who were ticketed didn't hold a grudge against the team.
"It's good to have them (deputies) when you need them," said Philip Smith, 25, a Los Angeles-area native who said he was ticketed for riding in the back of a pickup the prior evening. "It's just a bummer when you get a ticket."
'We have a positive impact'
Niccoli, 43, started the Off Highway Vehicle unit in 2000 with grants from state agencies. It was the first time the 20-year Sheriff's Department veteran had built such a program from scratch. In the first year he raised $110,000 from grants to purchase the initial vehicles (All-terrain vehicles can cost about $6,000 apiece, and the off-highway vehicles are decked out with flashing lights and sirens), a trailer to transport them, and to pay his deputies to work two weekends a month during non-summer months, when the area is most popular for riders. He raised an additional $65,000 for last year's operations. Another $75,000 in grants is before the state to fund next year and help purchase more vehicles.
Though Niccoli would like to expand his program -- and he might have to, if the Bureau of Land Management reopens the 29,000 acres of land it closed to motorized vehicles in March -- the sergeant is proud of what his team has done so far.
"Realistically speaking, I think we're accomplishing what we need to do out here," he said. "I think we have a positive impact."
Niccoli's Off Highway Vehicle unit has managed to win favor from such disparate organizations as the Sierra Club and the California Off Road Vehicle Association. Niccoli did that by appealing to common ground.
"We're basically trying to keep this area open," Niccoli said.
Added Tucker, "We're trying to keep politicians and environmentalists from having an excuse to close this down."
About noon on weekends, hundreds of riders around Red Rock head east to Randsburg, where the lunch counters fill hungry bellies. The most popular spot is the White House Saloon, which spills over with riders in dirt bike outfits, carrying helmets and talking boisterously. It's here where the cowboy imagery is at its most prevalent.
On Saturday, some standing outside chatted idly with Niccoli. Others saw the sheriff's uniform and jumped off their bikes -- which they're legally not supposed to ride into town on anyway.
At the nearby General Store, California Off Road Vehicle Association President Edward Waldheim ran into Niccoli and introduced him to the dirt bikers eating at a nearby table.
"Law enforcement are just jerks," Waldheim said, grinning. "But when he came in, he changed my mind on that. This guy, he works with the off-roaders. He works with us."
Niccoli smiled and went outside, where a passing rider approached him.
"Are you giving out tickets?" she asked.
"I don't know. Do you want one?" Niccoli grinned.
It's that way with the unit. Deputies and reserve deputies flock to classes on off-road enforcement, and there are often waiting lists to try out for the unit. Though Reserve Deputy Gina Light spent Saturday learning the basics of working in Red Rock, she was already hooked.
"I love it," she said.
Of course, it's a job working on OHV, not a weekend way of riding on the state's dime.
"If I find them having too much fun, they're out," Niccoli said, joking. "They can't have any fun."
With the off-roading cowboys of Red Rock thoroughly in check by the Off Highway Vehicle unit Saturday, Niccoli said the deputies would wait until dark, then hunker down in their camp. They would gather to light a campfire that night and take part in the most Western of traditions:
"We'll tell stories about how many people we caught," Niccoli said. "We'll mostly tell lies."