North Carolina

Will Carr

Trespassing leads to a fatal shooting which then leads to a house fire - it all happened in Murphy, North Carolina recently and now investigators are trying to put all the pieces together.

So far no one has been arrested but one man has been killed, one house has been burned to the ground, and one town has more questions than answers.

A to the U.S. Forest Service decision to permanently close the Upper Tellico off-road vehicle (ORV) trail system to stem erosion problems in the Upper Tellico River watershed in Cherokee County. Marisue Hilliard, North Carolina national forests supervisor, said that two years of study showed serious erosion problems leading to water quality deterioration.

"The Forest Service is in violation of its own standards and North Carolina state water quality standards because visible sediment from the ORV trails is reaching the Tellico River and its tributaries in hundreds of locations,” Hilliard said. Lawsuits from ORV groups are expected.

Dwight Otwell

Tellico – The U.S. Forest Service announced Oct. 14 that it is permanently closing the Upper Tellico ORV trail system to protect against serious erosion problems in the Upper Tellico River watershed in Cherokee County.

Representatives of area off-road vehicle organizations say they will sue the Forest Service to reopen at least some of the 39 miles of trails that catered to off-road enthusiasts from around the South, and some local business owners say the Forest Service’s decision is drastically harming the local economy.

The U.S. Forest Service announced today that it is permanently closing the Upper Tellico Off-Highway Vehicle trail system to correct serious erosion problems in the Upper Tellico River watershed.

The agency announced its decision after two years of analysis of the 39-mile trail system about 11 miles west of Murphy in the Nantahala National Forest.

A Florida man was killed Sunday after his ATV slid off an embankment in a remote section of the Pisgah National Forest in Haywood County, according to Haywood County Sheriff's Department.

The victim was identified as Patrick Edward Harrell, 29, of Orange park, Fla.
Harrell was helping relatives repair the brakes on an ATV and took the vehicle out for a test drive on the gravel roads, said Detective Anthony Justice.

Sami Grover

I've never really understood the attraction of "off roading" - in fact, until I started brewing biodiesel with some Off Road Vehicle (ORV) enthusiasts, I didn't even really know what it was. I am, for the most part, a believer in personal freedom but, like Lloyd's take on ATV's and the environment, I find it hard to see how off roading can be done without significant ecological damage (I'm sure my biodiesel buddies will disagree!). Whether or not "sustainable off roading" is even possible, it seems obvious that off roading in ecologically sensitive areas should be a no-no. The trouble is, nobody seems to have explained this to North Carolina legislators.

I guess part of the problem is that, as Jeremy Clarkson's trashing of salt pans in Botswana shows, off roaders like prestine wilderness. The whole point is to pit man and machine against rough terrain - and the rougher the terrain, the more likely it is to be untouched. After all, off roading needs to go off road.

Park rangers closed a part of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore near Salvo Friday after four recent acts of vandalism.

Signs at Ramp 23 said it was closed to off-road vehicles, pets and pedestrians in order to protect breeding birds.

Shavonne Potts

LANDIS — The Board of Aldermen unanimously approved an all-terrain vehicle and dirt-bike ordinance Monday that will restrict when and where people can ride.

A few people spoke during the public hearing, two in opposition and one in favor.

Mike Leonard, of Landis, said his property is situated near the Garden Street area that has been the subject of complaints, and he did not see why the town wanted to stop the children from riding there.

LANDIS — If you ride a dirt bike or all-terrain vehicle in an unauthorized location, the town of Landis is proposing an ordinance that may have your wheels spinning.

Alderman James Furr, who put forth the proposed ordinance at the Monday meeting, said he was not aware of this issue until a complaint from a resident.

At the May meeting, Landis resident Dale Hartsell, asked the board to address problems that have arisen from bikers and ATVs using the roadway and some property near his home.