Dirt bikers disrupt peaceful Amy Hart Path

Tom Killin Dalglish

LITTLE COMPTON — Dirt bikers come in from the woods. They arrive by Old Stone Church and Colebrook roads. Some come by pickup truck from Westport and beyond to do “the path.”

Their destination is Amy Hart Path, a private Little Compton road on which about 10 families live with their small children and family pets. Among them are Michelle Humphrey, her husband, and their three small children.

“I’ll tell you this is a nightmare up here,” Ms. Humphrey said about the bikers, mostly teenagers, who regularly invade their quiet country road. “They come through the woods from Two Rod Way that leads into Tiverton,” she said.

On their dirt bikes and at least one ATV (all-terrain-vehicle), after school and on the weekends, in good weather and bad, they swarm up and down the road “sometimes 25 to 30 times in a row, and I’m not exaggerating,” said Ms. Humphrey. Many have taken the mufflers off their bikes, she said.

Ms. Humphrey said her own children can’t ride their bicycles on the road.

Road a biker obstacle course

The nightmare she’s talking about refers not just to bikers but to the condition of the narrow, rutted road. It has been eroded by brooks that run underground and along and across it, is riven with potholes, has blind curves and in places is nearly impassable. Axles have been broken. Delivery trucks won’t go there. Residents recently spent $400 to fill a pothole with stones.

All that has made it a magnet, an enticing off-road recreation area for dirt bikers and ATV operators. There’s even a facebook page that touts 14 of the youths who regularly ride Two Rod Way, said Ms. Humphrey.

The destination is all the more attractive because the path is private. Motor vehicle laws, and licensing and registration requirements aren’t enforced.

Residents are worried. “They speed down the road. We’ve had near misses several times. Every person who drives down here has had a near miss at one time or another,” said Kelly Owen, whose family lives at the end of the road.

“If I take my three kids and three dogs out for a walk and they come along, I have to grab my kids and dogs and get out of the way,” she said. “The things I used to do and enjoy doing aren’t fun anymore.”

Amy Hart Path runs roughly north and south and is about a mile long. It intersects with Colebrook Road, from which a short stretch extends south to the town landfill. The longer stretch, where most of the families live, goes north.

Residents say there are two families whose teenage sons are among the riders on the road.

“We’ve tried to talk with one family” whose son is a rider on the road, said Kathy O’Neill, who’s lived on the road for 10 years. “It hasn’t gone very well.”

Ms. O’Neill said her mother comes down the road often and has seen grown men riding dirt bikes and ATVs on the road.

“There’s been instances where riders have slid and gone by the car,” she said.

“It’s become very adversarial,” she said. “They’ll come up right on your tail. They know we’re frustrated and have contacted the police, and it’s become a game with them.”

Talks with police

Last May a number of families met with Little Compton Police Chief Sidney Wordell to voice their concerns. The public versus private status of the road was identified as an issue, and the families received assurances from the chief that the matter would be investigated with the help of the Attorney General’s office.

But on June 30, after the situation had “increased five-fold” during the summer, and become a seven-day per week occurrence, five families wrote the chief asking for a resolution, sending a copy to Robert Mushen, town council president.

“[N]ot only is this becoming an increasing safety risk” to registered and unregistered vehicle users, they wrote, but it’s a danger to residents walking on the road, their children, young bicyclists and pets. “Lastly, but not least, it is truly a public nuisance.”

Finally, on Jan. 23, 2009 Special Assistant Attorney General Kelly A. McElroy wrote an opinion letter to Chief Wordell, concluding that the road is “public” only for purposes of stringing utility lines in to a property owner living there, and not for other purposes. The letter said it relied on a 1996 Superior Court decision to that effect.

Trespass only remedy

In her letter, Ms. McElroy stated that it was her understanding “that as of the date of this letter the town council in Little Compton has not declared any portion of Amy Hart Path to be a public highway,” and that therefore “complaints by landowners along the Path for misuse or uninvited entry onto their property should be handled as matters of trespass.”

On instructions from the town council, her letter was sent to the five families on March 2 by Mr. Mushen, who reiterated that local police should handle their complaints as matters of trespass.

The practical effect of all this, said Chief Wordell, is that vehicle registration and licensing requirements, and other rules of the road, will not be enforced against the bikers and four-wheelers as long as they operate on Amy Hart Path.

“Amy Hart Pathway is not a pathway we will be patrolling,” he said. In addition, the letter is “advisory” only, said Chief Wordell. Only a court can enforce a civil trespass action.

“The million dollar question,” said Chief Wordell, has to do with the ownership of the road. Only a property owner can bring a trespass complaint. On Amy Hart Path “there’s a mixture of ownership patterns,” he said.

In many places, he said, it’s not clear who owns the road; in some places a property owner on one side owns to the mid-point, and in other places owns to the near, or to the opposite side. “Over a large majority of the road you can’t determine the boundaries. Our hope is that some day there could be a survey,” he said.

Bikers not the only problem

Residents along the road also worry that the condition of the road will deter fire and safety vehicles that might need access. Little Compton Fire Chief Robert Wimer concedes that “it looks as though there’s been some degradation,” but said “I know we could get out there.”

Residents, however, say that UPS, FED Ex, milk trucks, and other delivery vehicles refuse to go down the road. A septic truck got stuck, said Ms. O’Neill, and Ms. Humphrey said she’s cracked the axle twice on her car. Ms. Owen said residents on the road pay more for fire insurance.

Source: http://www.eastbayri.com/detail/126946.html

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