Minnesota

David Chanen

Grant Yonke's back yard borders pristine Sandhill Crane Natural Area in East Bethel, filled with hundred-year-old trees, nesting cranes, rare turtles and wildflowers. The 533 acres that make up this preserve have escaped any real drastic disturbance in 150 years. Until, authorities say, Yonke decided he wanted to build an ATV track the size of a football field near his property.

Yonke, 27, appeared in Anoka County court last week after being charged in March with felony first-degree property damage, an offense usually associated with smashed-in car windows or spray-painted graffiti on a building. He declined to comment after the brief hearing in the case, which dates to last summer.

The Clay County Sheriff's Office is investigating an A-T-V accident near Hawley that resulted in the driver being charged with DUI. 44-year old John Bergseid was LifeFlighted to MeritCare with broken bones.

Clay County Sheriff Bill Bergquist says with summer here and more people buying and driving A-T-V's. It is important for them to know the rules.

Renee Richardson

Residents opposed to the proposed all-terrain vehicle trail brought new signs and repeated their sentiment before the Crow Wing Count Board Tuesday.

"Don't tread on me" - the slogan used during the Revolutionary War - was reprinted on sheets of yellow paper. The signs greeted people as they arrived for the board meeting. Residents used the open forum to express their views to commissioners.

Renee Richardson

The topic of a proposed an all-terrain vehicle trail led to a lively interaction between county officials and township officers Monday.

The agenda for the annual meeting of the Crow Wing County Association of Township Officers had a mixed list of topics, but the one involving all-terrain vehicles and a proposed trail in the southern part of the county may have been the most anticipated.

Renee Richardson

Residents got their message across to Crow Wing County commissioners Tuesday without ever raising their voices.

Yellow "Vote No ATV Trail" signs lined the gallery. Jared Feierabend and Amanda Loss, St. Mathias Township residents, stood quietly with the signs in hand as they stood outside the board room doors.

Mike Rose

Police chased, and later apprehended, an Austin man fleeing in a vehicle Monday night — all while not topping 40 mph.

The 41-year-old man, who is likely to be charged formally Tuesday, led police through northeast Austin on an all-terrain vehicle, eventually stopping in the 700 block of 19th Street Northeast. After exiting the vehicle, the man tried to resist arrest but police used a Taser and handcuffed him. The man appeared drunk at the time of his arrest, according to a police report.

Caleb Regan

My most vivid memories from childhood days spent roaming the farm involve both horses and horsepower. My two older brothers and I had horses to call our own, and a Suzuki Quad-Runner 50 that we shared – oftentimes with two of us perched at the picnic table with a stopwatch, one of Mom’s safety and sanity mechanisms. Those days were the best, and God-willing, one day when I have a family and my own corner of land, my kids will get the chance to enjoy something as much as my brothers and I enjoyed our quad-running ways.

In the fall of 2008, the Chippewa National Forest closed the Woodtick Trail and hundreds of miles of low-traveled roads to ATVs and other off-highway vehicles. Public hearings were held, but there was no publicity of the road closings in local media. The "NO OHV" signs went up and that was that (with fines totaling $175).

Last summer, the Woodtick Wheelers ATV/OHM Club was formed in response to those road closings. The club quickly grew to over 150 members, showing the impact the road closings had on residents and cabin owners, many who now have no access to a public forest they and their families had enjoyed for decades.

Jorge Sosa

The McLeod County Sheriff’s Office has received frequent complaints of trespassing by snowmobile and all-terrain vehicle riders.

Sheriff Scott Rehmann, in a news release issued Friday, advised residents not to venture on others’ property — including agricultural land — without written or oral permission from the landowner or resident. Snowmobilers may ride on private land if a sign is posted indicating snowmobiling is allowed.