Pennsylvania

Peter Becker

Stourbridge Railroad Company, while it continues its plans to revitalize local railroading, also has to deal with misuse of its rails. Al Siebold, Managing Director for the Stourbridge Railroad Company, said that two ATV operators were stopped on Tuesday for riding on the rail bed in Pike County.

Stourbridge Railroad Company is a division of the Morristown & Erie Railroad, in Morristown, NJ.
He said that Morristown & Erie has its own commissioned police force, which patrols the rail line on a special truck. They happened upon two adult males who were using the all-terrain vehicles on the rail bed in the Lackawaxen area. They had disturbed the stone ballast that supports the rails. This action, Siebold warned, could potentially cause a train to derail, and even break a circuit that operates a railroad crossing.

Rory Sweeney

Over the weekend, vandals created the worst damage that has ever occurred at an Earth Conservancy reclamation project, setting the site straddling Hanover Township and Nanticoke back perhaps a month and costing thousands of dollars to repair.

People riding on all-terrain vehicles broke into what is called the silt-pond reclamation site off Middle Road on the edge of Nanticoke by cutting through a chain-link fence, said Jacqueline Dickman, the conservancy’s director of public affairs and development.

PHILIPSBUG – The Philipsburg-based State Police reported that an all terrain vehicle rider caused an estimated $1,500 in damages to the golf course at the B.P.O.E/Philipsburg Country Club between 9 p.m. Monday and 6:30 a.m. Tuesday.

According to the police report, someone rode an ATV on the greens. Police indicated that two holes, which measured approximately four inches deep, were bored into the first green with the vehicle’s rear tires. They said that the rider tore up the green with the tires and removed the flag from the first hole. They said the greens were also torn up on the eighth hole.

Editorial

Last Friday night outside Williamsport, two 18-year-olds driving two all-terrain vehicles crashed head-on in a field. The boys, 2009 graduates of Jersey Shore High School, died of their injuries. A 14-year-old passenger was critically injured. Not one was wearing a helmet.

Their story is another in a long series of tragic mishaps on ATVs, which don't require a driver's license and which by their very nature invite risk-taking. According to police investigators, family members and friends witnessed the accident from the porch of one of the victims.

Judy Kroeger

As happens every summer, ATV riders have come to Dawson.

Mayor Barbara Wilhelm said the problem is compounded by two factors: state police are based in Belle Vernon and take a while to reach the borough and some residents are too afraid of repercussions from the riders to testify against them.

Sarah Buynovsky

State police are searching for vandals in Luzerne County. They said at least two all terrain vehicle riders destroyed 20 yards in the Sweet Valley area.

State police said the ATV joyride was really a nightmare for dozens of people left to clean up the mess vandals left behind.

Megan Blank

The public hearing period has been extended for the proposed ATV ordinance in East Rockhill Township.

The supervisors have agreed to reconsider the proposed time restrictions, as well as the restrictions on operating the vehicle near livestock.

The ordinance currently states the ATVs may be ridden between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m., and that the vehicles must maintain a distance of 500 feet from any type of livestock.

Annie Tasker

Proposed new rules are aimed at minimizing ATV-related noise complaints. But some supervisors think the policies are too restrictive.

Warrington officials are considering limiting ATV use to private properties two acres or larger.

Wallace McKelvey

Dennis Farmer fears he will never share the thrill of riding ATVs with his 6-year-old son.

Fred Akers worries about the survival of the Pine Barrens tree frog.