PETERSBURG – During its Feb. 12 meeting, Upper Township Committee learned from Engineer Paul Dietrich that the municipality’s efforts to stymy illegal off-road vehicle use are paying off.
“After the last big snowstorm this month, we received a complaint from a neighbor that off-road vehicles had yet again found or created an access point in the chain link fence between the Harms mining pit site and Amanda’s Field.
“This time, however, the state police were able to identify and issue summons to three four-wheel-drive operators and one ATV operator. These were local people, one was an adult of about 30 years, and the others were three young adults. There were no juveniles involved,” explained Dietrich.
“In talks with the municipal Prosecutor Patrick Martin, the defendants eventually pled guilty to the misdemeanor of loitering instead of the criminal offense of trespassing.
“They were fined $1,000 each for the loitering offense. If they come back, I suspect the charge will be trespassing with no leniency, and if convicted that criminal charge will follow them the rest of their lives, and affect their current employment and potential school and job applications, security clearances, and credit ratings. Not to mention possible jail time would be involved.
“With these fines and possible future criminal proceedings, Upper is demonstrating that we are very serious about prosecuting this type of behavior. It is very dangerous to be riding in these off-road areas, especially the mining pits.
“I know residents sometimes have been frustrated because of this problem and we are continuously at work exerting great efforts to make sure these incidents do not occur in the future,” said Dietrich.
According to Lt. Theodore Schafer, assistant bureau chief, Public Information Bureau, New Jersey State Police, Trenton, “Our latest figures show there have been a total of 60 ATV incidents in State Police patrolled areas in Cape May County. The breakdown is 11 in Dennis Township, 25 in Upper Township, and 24 in Woodbine Borough.”
“For two of the incidents, a verbal warning was issued. One incident in Upper Township resulted in a CDS (marijuana) arrest.
“All others were ‘gone on arrival.’ Since most of the complaints in Dennis and Upper townships occurred on private property, it is the property owner’s responsibility to follow up with complaints.
“Most of the callers were not the property owners. For most complaints, the caller requested to remain anonymous,” he said.
To contact Camille Sailer, email csailer@cmcherald.com.
Cape May – Governor Murphy says he doesn't know anything about the drones and doesn't know what they are doing but he does know that they are not dangerous. Does anyone feel better now?
