Pennsylvania

Since Saturday was National Trails Day, I thought it was a good time for an update on the long-running case of Lancaster County's own Enola Low-Grade rail line.

It's been more than 20 years since a group of Solanco dreamers dared envision that a soon-to-be abandoned freight line could become a jewel of a public recreation resource and a walk through history.

With summer approaching, the streets in Philadelphia and Camden will come alive with the reckless and illegal roar of all-terrain vehicles.

Despite a stated resolve by Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey to use "smarter and more creative tactics to capture these violators," ATV scofflaws often seem to have the upper hand.

Adam McNaughton

Residents of one West End community say they are plagued with a growing problem that is all too familiar to many homeowners across Monroe County: all-terrain vehicles zipping along roads near their homes.

As the weather warms each spring in the Poconos, some ATV riders take to the streets. Residents of the Birch Hollow Estates community say Watercrest Boulevard has become a raceway as ATVs speed up and down the roads. State police say the problem is widespread.

Myles Snyder

Lykens, Pa. - A state forest ranger who tried to stop a man from driving an ATV on a state roadway was intentionally struck by the driver of the off-road vehicle, who left the ranger lying in the roadway with a broken leg, according to state police in Lykens.

Police have arrested 20-year-old Michael Matter III, of Williamstown, in connection with the Thursday afternoon afternoon in the area of White Oak Road in the Weiser State Forest.

Northumberland County’s board of commissioners voted earlier this year to use a state grant to pay a landscape architect $240,000 to come up with a plan to develop a 6,000-acre off-roading park on abandoned coal land near Trevorton.

The conflict between off-roaders and in-towners described by Trevorton residents and property owners illustrates the merit of developing a formal ATV park that includes measures for regulating the behavior of recreational riders who seem only to attract notice when they crash or annoy the neighbors.

Tom Ragan

One man was charged and Pennsylvania State Police at Hazleton are seeking the names of seven other all-terrain vehicle operators involved in the damage of a Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) vehicle.

Weatherly police chief Brian Markovchick was not injured after crashing the police car into a pole while responding to the incident along South Stage Coach Road near Buck Mountain Road in Lausanne Township. The police car was demolished and the pole was almost snapped in half.

John J. Moser

Two teenage girls from New Jersey who police say were riding all-terrain vehicles illegally on a Monroe County road were injured when one rolled over while trying to make a U-turn and the other, following her, swerved and hit a telephone pole, police said Sunday.

Jamie R. Rodriguez, 16, of Avenel was driving an ATV on Flagstaff Lane near Coolbaugh Road in Middle Smithfield Township at 2:45 p.m. Wednesday when she tried to make a U-turn at a high speed and overturned, state police at Swiftwater said.

Margie Peterson

In response to protests by disgruntled ATV owners, Salisbury Township is considering revisions to its new all-terrain vehicle ordinance to make it less restrictive.

The ordinance adopted in December requires ATV riders to be at least 300 feet from neighboring property unless they get written permission from the neighbor.

Lot, landscaping damaged: The parking lot and landscaping at Washington Alliance Church on Sanitarium Road were damaged by two males riding all-terrain vehicles Friday. They were gone by the time police arrived.

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Source: http://www.observer-reporter.com/or/washcrime/03-16-2010-police-beat-w