Designated ATV areas could curtail vengeful acts

Amanda Pinto

When 13-year-old Nicholas Parisot died aboard his off-road motorbike in June, ATV enthusiast Dan Salomone was sickened and saddened, but not shocked.

Nicholas, of Wilton, was killed when he struck a rope tied between trees across a private trail where he was riding, Wilton Police Capt. Michael Lombardo said. Nicholas died of neck injuries.

More than 15 years ago, Salomone, of Haddam, hit a wire tied at neck height across a private trail where he was riding illegally. He jumped up in time to avoid being hit in the neck, and the wire hit him in his chest, taking him off his bike, which crashed, he said.

Police are “looking at some people of interest” in the Parisot case, Lombardo said, and did not elaborate on who may have tied the rope or why. He also did not say whether Parisot had permission to be in the area where he was riding.

Many ATV riders like Salomone, though, said they see Nicholas’ death as an example of what can happen when tensions between riders and property owners escalate.
Some riders elect to ride illegally — causing damage to trails and headaches for environmentalists who want to protect nature and private property owners who want illegal riders off their land.

The Internet has become a gathering place for people to share ideas about how to keep riders off their property, said Allen Gerard, an ATV rider.

“You see stuff on these blog sites that tells people how to do it, (put down) boards with spikes on them and cover them over — broken glass, it’s nasty violent stuff,” he said.

The vehicles, which are harmful to nature, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection, aren’t permitted on state land, or on most municipal land — restricting riders to their own backyards, or to courses on private property scattered throughout the state.

A bill that would require state land be made available for ATVs died without a vote in the finance committee this legislative session.

Dennis Schain, spokesman for the DEP, said a process is in place to consider requests to designate state lands for ATV use — but the state hasn’t received any requests from ATV users.

People on both sides of the ATV issue say they’re frustrated. That frustration can at times turn dangerous, some riders said.

Gerard, a police officer in Madison, found one Internet posting so threatening that he said he filed a complaint with the state police Computer Crimes Unit.

The message, posted by “Bucky Beaver” in the user comments section of a Hartford Courant article about ATVs, read in part “We should start shooting a few of you yahoos off your enviro-death machines — buy a gun you **** and chase these idiots out of the woods.”

The status of Gerard’s complaint was not immediately available.

“It’s extremely worrisome,” state Rep. Pam Sawyer, R-Bolton, an advocate for the ATV bill, said of the potential for violent acts against ATV users.

She also said that she understands property owners need to protect their land. “They should take legal action and not vigilante action against illegal riders,” Sawyer said.

Teresa Gallagher, conservation agent in Shelton, said she discourages people from using potentially dangerous means of protecting their property.

She gets constant complaints about ATVs making noise on neighboring properties, riding on and damaging both state and private land, she said.

Stacey Velardi, manager of The Only Game in Town in North Haven, had a serious problem with ATV riders trespassing on the property before North Haven police intervened and began ticketing riders and impounding their vehicles, she said.

“The problem is, they would come down the road and tear up the driving range, which costs so much money or they would tear through the parking lot with no regard for the little kids who are there,” Velardi said.

Staff also put trees across trails to block them off, an easily visible blockade that deterred riders, she said.

Gallagher said something must be done to help protect property owners against ATV users who ride illegally.

“If you sign (the trail), they cut the signs down, if you call the police, in some communities, they don’t do anything. They say, ‘Well, we can’t chase them,’” Gallagher said. “It’s against the law, but we can’t do anything about it.”

Gerard agreed that action must be taken, both to encourage legal ATV use and diffuse tensions between ATV riders and “environmental extremists.”

“It was inevitable (an incident like Parisot’s) was going to happen, and I anticipated there would be an issue of either ambush or booby-trap,” Gerard said.

Salomone, founder of Connecticut Trail Users, also said establishing legal trails would help “diffuse tensions” between riders and property owners.

State Rep. Richard Roy, D-Milford, House chairman of the Environment Committee and a supporter of the ATV bill, said if it was passed it would not only benefit riders, but private property owners and environmentalists.

“(The) main intent is to keep riders in certain areas so they’re not trashing woodlands all over the state and causing problems all over the state,” Roy said.

Gallagher said the problems ATV riders have already caused may make it difficult for them to further their cause.

“(That you have) a certain set of ATV riders that are not responsible actually makes it less likely, I think, that they’ll get a place to ride,” she said.

Malissa Gilson, 14, of Madison, is tired of riding her motorized dirt bike in her yard, where it creates noise that sometimes angers neighbors.

If trails were available, Malissa said, she wouldn’t do her riding at home.

“I mean my yard’s not that big,” she said. “If we had trails that we could use we would definitely use them.”

Source: http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2008/07/14/today's_stories/19848913.txt

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