Illegal ATV riders could get $1,000 fine

Written by The Atlanta Journal-Constitutn

Thursday, September 04, 2008

Nancy Badertscher

Cherokee County officials are giving the drivers of all-terrain vehicles an incentive to stay off public land and roads: a potential $1,000 fine.

The Cherokee County Commission this week passed an ordinance, establishing new ground rules for all-terrain vehicles and creating a maximum $1,000 fine for violators.

The ordinance initially was requested by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said County Clerk Sheila Corbin.

The Corps operates Lake Allatoona and has had problems with all-terrain vehicles around the lake, Corbin said.

Nearby homeowners also have been upset. One man complained that as many as 50 all-terrain vehicles would travel together on trails to a waterfall and leave trash scattered all along the way, Corbin said.

State law already prohibits all-terrain vehicles on state right of way, Corbin said. The local ordinance is meant to reenforce the state law and give the drivers of all-terrain vehicles added incentive to keep the vehicles on private land, she said.

Source: http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/cherokee/stories/2008/09/04/cherokee_atv_fine.html

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Community Voices

“During the past decade, I have personally had six out of seven elk hunts ruined by the careless intrusions of ATV operators. This epidemic has forced me to abandon one prime hunting area after another, only to encounter the same situation elsewhere. The shameful part of this picture is that the overwhelming majority of these ATV’ers are young and healthy, not decrepit or physically challenged. Maybe these riders would be more respectful of other people's outdoor experience if they knew we could ID them."

- Bill Sustrich, Colorado Backcountry Hunters and Anglers