SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Off-Road Riders Fined while Riding on their Own Property:
Four teens in Hampden, Massachusetts, were fined $750 each by the Massachusetts Environmental Police while riding on their own property. The teens were riding on land owned by the parents of one of the boys, with the parents' permission, when the environmental police arrived and questioned them for two and a half hours. In the end, each teen received a $250 fine for operating an unregistered recreational vehicle, and a $500 fine for the operation of a recreational vehicle without a safety certification.
Speaking to 22News, Melanie Beck said her son and three friends were riding around her wooded yard, with her permission, when Massachusetts Environmental Police arrived and questioned the boys before handing out the fines. Beck wondered why the boys were not given a warning instead of a fine, considering the laws that they broke are apparently not well known in the area. She says other parents in the area have taken to social media to express their displeasure with the fines.
One of the teens told 22News that they were just trying to have fun, in contrast to other teens "doing drugs and vaping" instead of participating in outdoor activities.
A spokesperson for the Massachusetts Environmental Police, Craig Gilvarg, told 22News that safety education requirements for young riders have been in place since 2010. Additionally, the state of Massachusetts requires all recreational vehicles operated on public and private lands to be registered through the Massachusetts Environmental Police.
Earlier in February, 22News reported that ATV and dirt bike riders riding on city streets have been an ongoing issue in nearby Springfield, Massachusetts, saying that they had received multiple viewer complaints about the illegal activity. Police there have used undercover cars, motorcycles, and cameras to attempt to stop the problem, and have asked the public to keep an eye out for where the riders might be storing their vehicles.
See also: Four teens fined $750 for violating dirt bike laws in Hampden; What are the rules?
Environmental police? Huh? They're just jealous because they can't get it up, let alone up on two!
(Score: 5, Insightful) by fustakrakich on Monday March 23 2020, @06:31PM (39 children)
But why were the cops on the property?
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2020, @06:47PM (1 child)
How can you ask questions like this in a time of national emergency?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 24 2020, @08:36AM
"Get off my property"
(Score: 5, Interesting) by canopic jug on Monday March 23 2020, @06:53PM (28 children)
The cops probably turned up because of the noise pollution heard over the adjacent 1km to 5km depending on the shape of the terrain they were on and near. Even on "private" property the noise can spread over great distances.
There is also the matter of the permanent damage to the terrain, including erosion and run off. The destruction are permanent and those assholes are only on that land temporarily and so do not have the right to remove it from future generations, assuming there will be any.
Further, there is the matter of the petrochemicals used to fuel those things. The supply chain for those petrochemicals is not exactly a source of peace, love, and happiness for any part of the world, let alone those countries with the misfortune to have productive wells. If the kids needs something to do instead of drugs, just pack them off to the army to get more petrochemicals. There will be plenty of activity in that regard for the foreseeable future.
However, at the end of the day, all that is moot: They were flagrantly breaking state law and have no standing to whine about it.
Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Monday March 23 2020, @07:09PM (6 children)
The nanny state knows best! Live free or die - as long as Nanny says it's alright? Yeah, I know, that motto came from a close neighbor, not Mass.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Ethanol-fueled on Monday March 23 2020, @07:50PM
I don't have the least bit of sympathy for these faggots. Their parents are more likely than not Hillary voters and if they were conservative or libertarian they wouldn't be living in that fucking state. Massachusetts is not like California where you have a lot of boonies where you can be safely conservative or libertarian and ride on your own land or even in town without being fucked-with by the law.
Hell, in El Centro, California I rode down city streets on a quad and anybody can do that as long as they're not riding in front of the cop shop on Main street.
(Score: 2) by Rich26189 on Monday March 23 2020, @07:55PM (4 children)
That's New Hampshire's state motto, at least that's what they put on their license plates.
I think Mass's motto is "Capitulate"
(Score: -1, Troll) by Ethanol-fueled on Monday March 23 2020, @08:09PM (3 children)
There's no excuse for New England to be a hotbed of anti-American faggotry. The Jews did this.
(Score: 2, Troll) by Runaway1956 on Monday March 23 2020, @08:17PM (2 children)
No, I think just good ole American faggots did that faggotry.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2020, @10:40PM (1 child)
I don't see what sexual preference has to do with this topic.
Oh wait. A runaway post. Gotta use that homophobia for something huh?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 24 2020, @01:54AM
And the Philohoplia. He's one sick, fat, bastard!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2020, @07:12PM (2 children)
You seem to have confused "private" land with "public" land.
The owners have the legal right to do all kinds of "permanent damage" to "their" terrain. So check your outrage at the door lest they change the deal.
(Score: 5, Touché) by DeathMonkey on Monday March 23 2020, @09:25PM (1 child)
Who owns the polluted air over your private land?
Who owns the polluted air that is now over my private land, too?
(Score: 2) by Spamalope on Tuesday March 24 2020, @04:25AM
Except the issue is landscaping damage, not pollution that runs off.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2020, @07:16PM (1 child)
So now the family registers the vehicles and get the boys certified. They'll be free to burn gas and rip up the terrain 24-7 until the end of time. All the while fragrantly obeying the state law.
Stop tilting at windmills and put this situation in perspective.
(Score: 2) by canopic jug on Monday March 23 2020, @08:18PM
Wrong again. Once licensed they be able to burn gas, spew exhaust, and rip up the terrain 24-7 until they turn 17 or 18 and ideally because their parents signed an age waiver to pack their sorry asses off to the Middle East for a fillup. The damage they leave on the land will last for centuries, and the damage they leave on society will last for decades.
Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by khallow on Monday March 23 2020, @08:11PM (11 children)
As the AC noted, they do have the right to do permanent damage to terrain they own. And like most jack-booted authoritarians, you haven't thought through what that means. If we can sacrifice something they own for nebulous future generations, an easy to game criteria, then we can sacrifice something you own for the same nebulous causes. After all, that motorway for future generations has to be run through your property, seized without compensation for those future generations. And since you're there, your free labor will be used to help build it - for those future generations. Any obscene profits I happen to make off this exercise are my sacrifice for those future generations too!
(Score: 5, Touché) by DeathMonkey on Monday March 23 2020, @09:33PM (8 children)
The runoff mentioned above is a pretty good example, let's think that through...
When you turn your whole lot into dust, and the rain flushes all that turbidity into the river, and that turbidity kills all the fish that Buzzard was trying to catch, what happens then?
(Score: 2) by https on Monday March 23 2020, @10:03PM (1 child)
Then hopefully, Buzz has the time to figure out a way to shadowban Nazi recruitment efforts.
Offended and laughing about it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 24 2020, @01:28AM
Step 1: ban Ethanol-Fueled's account
Step 2: .....
Step 3: Get on with life
(Score: 3, Insightful) by khallow on Monday March 23 2020, @11:28PM (5 children)
At that point, you're damaging other peoples' property in the now. There's clearly identifiable people who are harmed.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday March 24 2020, @02:34PM (3 children)
Runaway doesn't own the rivers he fishes on, the public does.
What happens now?
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday March 24 2020, @02:37PM
Haha! Oops, wrong conservative!
But hey, it's a public river, Runaway can fish there too.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday March 24 2020, @04:11PM (1 child)
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday March 24 2020, @04:37PM
Rivers are not private property in the US. That's what allows any rando with a boat to use them.
So Buzzard can fish in them and they can be used for shipping and whatnot.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 25 2020, @12:06PM
Wrong. Clearly they stole all that dust from your property and tried to hide it in their stream, so you press changes againt them to get your dirt back.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 24 2020, @01:58AM (1 child)
No, they do not. It is not their private property, it is real estate, and they are merely temporary stewards of the land. It is this stupid motherfucking (she's my mom! I can do what I like with her!) libertarian bullshit that is going to cause all Mega Church members to die of Covid-29!! It's all your fault, khallow, you callow and indifferent knave!
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday March 24 2020, @09:38AM
What is "real estate" here? What rights does a "steward" have, if any?
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Monday March 23 2020, @08:17PM (1 child)
Man, I sure hope you're not an American with voting rights.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2020, @09:33PM
Well I sure hope you're just a slug crawling across someone's keyboard. Would you like a little pepper and salt before you toss the salad?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by sjames on Monday March 23 2020, @10:24PM
Not so flagrantly since according to TFA few know of that law. IMHO, the old saw "ignorance of the law is no excuse" went out the window somewhere before the point that laws multiplied enough that even a lawyer working within his own sub-specialty had to start looking them up.
I agree with the people in TFA saying it should have been a warning rather than a fine given it's the first offense against a little known law. This is particularly true since the law in question runs against the common understanding that the various laws about motor vehicles only apply to vehicles operated on public property.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 24 2020, @07:28PM
fuck you bitch. enviro-pigs come on my property and that's what the ak is for.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Monday March 23 2020, @07:40PM (3 children)
Neighbors heard the noise and called 'em, probably directly.
We had a "helpful neighbor" who would call the local DEP anytime she heard a chainsaw, and the DEP is obligated to investigate. I cleared some scrub from the back of our property to put in a swingset, out of sight of the road so as not to piss off the HOA, but, instead, "helpful neighbor" called the DEP on me who - grudgingly - came out, observed what I had done, and wrote me a formal letter requiring me to "remediate" my property back to the wild state (meaning, 30 years of untended growth after having been cleared when the home was constructed) it was in before I installed the swingset - as they are required to do by the statutes that they are employed to enforce. The DEP agent also informed me that "helpful neighbor" is usually out of town on weekends, so if I have any chain-sawing that I want to do I can do it then and they won't get called out on me.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2020, @08:50PM
remember sendpoop is a thing.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2020, @09:36PM
I'd have a recording of a chainsaw running every 40 minutes of every hour all weekdays.
(Score: 0, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 24 2020, @12:56AM
HOAs, HMOs, what a country!
Remember when the cops used to give a warning shot?
Old black guy has this antique car with one of those old horns you squeeze the bulb, and it would go, "Honk-KEE, Honk-KEE"
So his white neighbor fires up the chain saw, "RRUNNNN niggerniggerniggernigger
Dress up as Leatherface next Halloween.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2020, @07:42PM (2 children)
Here's a GIS presentation of various State rules for ATVs (4-wheelers). I'm guessing (but didn't look) that similar applies to off-road motorcycles and snowmobiles too.
It's not like when I was a kid--had a go-kart in the early 1960s at age 6 or 7, operated in the side yard of our far-suburban house, no hint of regulation (except to stay off the street).
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2020, @07:42PM
Duh, here's the link: https://www.edgarsnyder.com/atv/atv-laws-by-state/ [edgarsnyder.com]
From an ambulance chaser(?)
(Score: 2) by sjames on Monday March 23 2020, @11:15PM
In some states, that's still the case. I don't know about now, but back in the '70s when I was growing up, nobody cared if kids drove go-karts or minibikes on streets in the subdivision either as long as they weren't jackasses about it.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by DannyB on Monday March 23 2020, @07:55PM
To ensure compliance with the law!
If some state were to, hypothetically [snopes.com] have a law limiting the number of dildos per household to two, wouldn't you want police to ensure universal compliance with such an important law meant to protect us all?
And what if a state were to mandate that Pi be set equal to three? Ensuring compliance would be very important.
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.