Crop Damaged by ATVs

I've known people to mis-use firearms. Should those be banned, as well?

I'm afraid the last post about the concrete block will cause this thread to follow the pattern of past threads, and devolve into extended revenge fantasies.

I think that most recreational riders know each other and they know which ones are renegades. They need to self police instead of just talking about it unless they want to see 4 wheelers go the way of the 3 wheeler. It's happened before and it CAN happen again.

__________________
"Do you believe in the devil? You know, a supreme evil being dedicated to the temptation, corruption, and destruction of man?" Hobbs
"I'm not sure that man needs the help." Calvin

But it's not revenge if it's YOUR field and you just wanna plant some concrete blocks. Who knows what you could harvest....

__________________
" It's better to ride even if you get thrown, than to wind up just wishin' ya had."

Chris Ledoux

First of all. I am so sorry that this was done to your property. Yes who ever did it needs to PAY for the damages. But everyone was assuming that it was a ATV and it sounds like most of you are saying kids. I know plenty of very immature adults, that I know they would think that would be fun. It is not always kids. Also. can you tell for sure that it was a ATV? What about a truck or something like that.
Why should ATV be band just because of a few really dumb people (not always kids). I do not have one but I would really love to.
Sorry. I just get so mad when everyone always assumes that kids are always the bad seed.

__________________
Raising Beautiful Cashmere goats, to produce the best quality cashmere.
www.freewebs.com/sweetgoats
Lori

My retired neighbors tell me about riding their ATVs in wetlands so it isn't just kids. I don't believe they would ever damage another persons property like this but there doesn't seem to be the same concern for OUR property.

__________________
"Do you believe in the devil? You know, a supreme evil being dedicated to the temptation, corruption, and destruction of man?" Hobbs
"I'm not sure that man needs the help." Calvin

Have you considered getting your local TV news to cover the incident and the destruction? You contacting Duke won't have any impact; a call from a reporter asking them about their disregard for farmer's property by leaving gates unlocked, and the public embarassment thereby, might get them to caputulate for some damages via 'contributory negligence'.

You'd have to ask Duke for damages before the reporter calls, though.

ATV's are great tools when used for that. There is a lot of farmers around here that use them and it is legal to ride on some roads. It is illegal to ride on roads marked with center lines but this law doesn't apply to ATV owners as they are all over the roads. Hate to say but I think WV still leads the nation on ATV injuries and it isn't just kids. WE live on a road that is marked and is a state road and almost every weekend it is used as a race track for them and dirt bikes. They don't come on our property as they have been told if caught they would park it and walk home and lose their little toy. Anyways sorry to hear about your problems and hope it doesn't happen again. Sam

See this all the time.Lost a Good fishing Hole because bunch of idiots decided to run all over a Guys Beans.

Then one night I was fishing miles from phone.Bunch of kids stole a Tractor,run it all over the Bottoms through the Corn fields.I reported it soon as I could,but didn't do much good.

Then I had a guy riding a ATV on my place,I caught him and he still tried to say he wasn't doing it

big rockpile

__________________
I love being married.Its so great to find that one person you want to annoy for the rest of your life.



If I need a Shelter
If I need a Friend
I go to the Rock!

2 years after Kalifornikators bought empty 80 acres beside me, they came visiting their in their motorhome. They asked why there were "private property keep out" signs all over the parcel on the other side of them. I told them it was because someone on the NEXt parcel over came one weekend and let their grandkids ride atv's all over that neighbors parcel, creating ruts etc, and the people didn't like it one bit, neither did we.

The next thing I know, these Kalifornikators are riding THEIR atv's right across OUR property! Right in plain sight, never even asked permission, and we had just been talking to them an hour before about atv's and trespassing!!! GALL!!
WE haven't seen them since (another 2 years), I hope they are caught in the Kalifornicating property losses and have to sell out here...

__________________
You can't ride, til you get on....

There are many areas you can take your atv to ride that are intended for atv's. Many ppl take their atv's off property to these designated areas. It would be impossible to regulate sales based on what you are saying.

My son owns 1 and my nephews who live farther down the driveway. We have trails for them throughout our woods. They also know they are only allowed to ride in the yard if it is dry. Course it is much easier to regulate family.

What they did to those feilds is unforgivable. I would keep a close watch on the property from now on

__________________
Simple Rural Living
For those who enjoy rural living and the simple things in life
http://www.simpleruralliving.com/phpBB3/index.php

I suppose that if you have a munition similar to the one that your user ID names, you're all set!

__________________
When faced with issues in life, where do you look for the problem; out the window, or in the mirror?

Durandal,

By leaving the gate open, Duke Power's negligence contributed to the crime occurring. Kind of like a parent leaving an unlocked, loaded weapon in the reach of children. I wouldn't be so quick to let them off the hook, their employee or agent was negligent.

They have a responsibility to secure the premises when they leave, if possible. If not possible, then they have the responsibility to inform the land owner that the property is not secure.

You may wish to look into a digital game camera trained on the gate to record who comes and goes. These are motion activated and some are able to record without a flash. You can also record the Dufus from Duke who is too lazy to latch a gate.

Good Luck and God Bless.

__________________
Share the Love,

Diamondtim

You can tell what someone thinks by reading the bumper stickers on their car. You can also tell if they think at all.

You have crop insurance don't you? It doesn't look like you'll be out more than a hundred bushels or so.

I second Suburanite's idea to contact the local media (I have no idea how to pick up quotes from another post, or I'd do that ...). As a former daily newspaper investigative reporter and editor, and later the general manager of a weekly newspaper, I strongly suggest you contact the local newspaper in your area and ask for coverage. Duke won't enjoy the exposure, trust me. You might not gain anything in the end but satisfaction, but that's something, at least. I have no background in TV so I'm hesitate to offer advice there, so I won't.
A tip: The smaller the newspaper, the better chance of coverage you'll get, unless you can spin this into a larger topic that might interest a daily such as: ATV misuse (I'm an ATV owner myself, not all are such jerks, but that's an aside); the plight of the farmer; big, bad Duke (my power company, too, until I figure out how to tap the creek for hydropower); or something along those lines.
A second tip: If you call a daily newspaper that is mid-sized or better, ask for the environmental reporter or farm reporter. If there isn't an environmental or farm reporter I'd ask for the business desk (because of the Duke aspect). If you call a small one, a weekly or bi-weekly, for instance, ask directly for the editor. There is likely to only be one overseeing the whole show. In my experience, half the battle with garnering newspaper coverage is just figuring out who in the heck to call.
Good luck!

Is that the kind of logic they're teaching in school today? You won't mind if I throw a brick through your front window will you? You have home insurance don't you?

So why cant they but an ID in the tred? whys that suh a non idea?

Too easy to change tires.

The reason that isn't done is because it would make it easier to catch the renegades. Our "responsible" state ATV organization opposed larger license plates and plates on the front on the grounds that it would be too difficult to install. They talk the talk but rarely support anything that would rein in the renegades. Probably because so many of them are renegades. A few years ago it was possible to find lots of websites showing club rides with photos of riders illegally trashing wetlands. When those photos hit the state Capitol the sites closed.

Here's a few Youtubes of renegade riders in action. This is YOUR land and water they are trashing.

__________________
"Do you believe in the devil? You know, a supreme evil being dedicated to the temptation, corruption, and destruction of man?" Hobbs
"I'm not sure that man needs the help." Calvin

I say you first contact Duke's legal department, explain the situation and show them proof of the damage advise them that if you can't reach an agreement (settlement) you have no other choice but to have your attorney handle the situation meanwhile you will be contacting local media outlets (bad PR for duke, companies dont like bad PR) Give them a limited amount of time to respond to the situation say maybe 3 business days.

If they had representatives of their company conducting work on property that you own and they are allowed access to in order to maintain their equipment they have a responsibility to protect your property which means making sure it is secure once they are through working. thats a clear case of negligence on their part and I dont think you would have much trouble proving that in court. is there any other way an ATV or truck can access that area that wouldn't be noticed?

As far as banning ATV's , I would expect more from people who have a homesteading mindset, people who don't want government interference in their personal lives. Banning something you dont like? thats the complete opposite and thats giving big brother more control on peoples personal freedoms. There are morons driving cars, doing stupid stuff...do we ban all cars? same with guns...do we ban all guns? maybe we should just ban everything and just let the government tell us what we should do
we can be just like north korea wouldn't that be fun?

most likely it was a couple kids on a 4 wheeler goofin off and not thinking about how much damage they really caused. I used to own motocross bikes when i was a kid, my friends and I tore up the place on em all the time, did I stop to think about "hey maybe I shouldn't run through this guys field" nope, never thought about it , I knew that it looked like a whole lot of fun to barrel through a big field of cornstalks and watch em fall. Would I do something like that now? not likely but when your a kid you don't think.

Instead of trying to ban ATV's maybe people should try and lobby the local government to set aside areas for them to ride and goof off so they dont get bored and do stuff like flatten a field of corn.

just my .02 , flame away

The banning and regulating is silly nonsense. What needs done is severe punishment for trespassing. No more handslaps but big fines and jail time for repeat offenders. Those who trespass with ATVs and ride where they should not should be subject to large fines and seizure of the machine with forfeiture to the landowner.

When you start slapping first offenders with 2 thousand dollar fines and second offenders with 4 and 5 grand and repeat offenders with time in the county lockup it would stop. When the playtoy mommy and daddy bought their little hellspawn (with nowhere to ride it) get seized and they end up paying several thousand in fines it becomes less attractive as a babysitting device. Many people in suburbia buy them for their kids when there are no legal trails to ride and on smaller suburban and semirural lots there isn't enough lot size to be able to ride (especially noisy sport quads) without annoying neighbors.

I'm a landowner, ATV owner and recreational rider and I myself have had trouble with trespassing ATVs. The problem is with the operator and not the machine. Now that said there are some serious problems in the ATV community that need addressing. There are far too many idiots running around and some of that could be curtailed on state owned trails if (which there should be more of) they made more of an effort to enforce noise restrictions. Too many idiots think ripping out the exhaust and making their machine loud and obnoxious is great and louder = faster. Enforcing a noise restriction limit would be an immense help to cleaning things up. Another would be to clamp down on drinking. Far too many people seem to get tanked up and ride. Such things specifically target the type of rider that causes problems.

Again, these sorts of things like crop damage, which I've had happen to me, can be drastically reduced if there were better teeth in ALL trespassing and vandalism laws. This goes for to legged walking trespassers during hunting season too.

__________________
Respect The Cactus!