New Jersey

Jean Jones

Is it OK to call police about illegal off-road vehicles riding on private property if it isn't your property?

State police say yes, if you know the owner doesn't want the riders on his property.

We've written quite a few editorials over the years condemning the destruction in the Pine Barrens and other natural areas caused by people riding all-terrain vehicles, dirt bikes and other off-road vehicles.

Yet the destruction caused by this illegal riding continues unabated.

Kevin Riordan

It's a trashed expanse of ruts and puddles, a disturbed - and disturbing - moonscape in the midst of Wharton State Forest.

Welcome to what some fans of four-wheeling call "The Quarter Mile" and what photographer Albert D. Horner and others call "The Scar."

On Tuesday at 6 p.m., Millville City Commission will introduce two ordinances concerning the New Jersey Motorsports Park.

The first will change the Motorsports Park's agreement imposing conditions related to the excessive noise that has been imposed on nearly every neighborhood in the city. In doing so, both the city and the racetrack are admitting that the noise is a problem and something must be done about it. That's a good thing.

Kristi Funderburk

VINELAND -- The city is getting stricter on its all-terrain vehicle law in an effort aimed to prevent injuries and deaths.

City Council voted 4-1 last Tuesday to amend the city's motor vehicle ordinance. Now, it better defines types of recreational motorized vehicles and clearly restricts the use of ATVs in public parks and recreational areas, City Solicitor Alfred Verderose said.

ATVs and dirt bikes in the streets are a danger to residents; confiscate them and punish riders.In Camden, crime runs the gamut, and police, as they must, focus on the serious stuff -- drugs, gangs, guns and violence.

But that cannot mean that other lawbreakers committing lesser crimes are let go. Toleration of any crime leads only to one thing: more of that crime.

Elisa Lala

Following their commitment to rid Camden streets of reckless and illegal all-terrain vehicles that are "terrorizing the city and destroying public spaces," police confiscated an additional 11 dirt bikes and ATVs Sunday, Police Chief John Thomson said.

That makes more than 75 vehicles this year.

The Camden Police Department, has confiscated 11 dirt bikes and all-terrain vehicles from city streets.

Units observed a parade of 4-6 ATVs in the area of 27th and Cramer streets driving recklessly. around 6 p.m. Sunday. Upon arrival by units, numerous ATVs and dirt bikes attempted to flee the area into a driveway on the 100 block of North 27th Street.

James Osborne

The roar of nearby ATVs washed over two teams of Little Leaguers at Camden's Von Nieda Park.

Pete Perez looked over from the baseball field to see three young men on four-wheelers ripping through the grass and onto a street, where one executed a tight turn that threatened to send the vehicle rolling.