Robert Speer

If you drive or bicycle the three-mile length of Chico’s Old Humboldt Road from Bruce Road to its juncture with Highway 32, you’ll notice that the rain-softened dirt on both sides of the country lane has been torn up in dozens of places. Ruts as deep as a foot or more are common, and there are tire tracks cleaving John Bidwell’s historic Humboldt Wagon Trail that runs alongside the paved road.

This is the work of thrill seekers, young men in jacked-up pickups and four-wheelers with oversized tires whose idea of fun is tearing through puddles, spinning donuts and throwing up mud. That they leave devastation in their wake doesn’t seem to concern them—but it angers Larry Chrisman, and he’s determined to do something about it.

Rod Rowe

NORTH WEBSTER, Ind. – A young man who fled from sheriff’s deputies drowned early Sunday at Irish Lake.

According to a report by the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department, a North Webster police officer was called to Lake Estates Mobile Home Park at 5:05 a.m. Sunday on a report of a suspicious person. Officers located an all-terrain vehicle in a roadway and a short time later a pickup truck with a trailer arrived.

BARRE, N.Y. - An upstate New York man has been charged with drunken driving after a slow-speed chase through three towns.

The incident started Saturday night when police were sent to the town of Murray for a report of a man lying on the ground next to an all-terrain vehicle. By the time they got there the man and the ATV were gone.

Bob Berwyn

SUMMIT COUNTY — Illegal off-road use in the Wolford Mountain Reservoir area is threatening wildlife in the area, according to the Colorado Division of Wildlife.

Just in the past few days, state wildlife officers contacted several Summit County teenagers who were illegally traveling in the closed area on off-road vehicles, said division spokesman Randy Hampton.

Denise Allabaugh

State police arrested a Wilkes-Barre man Friday after he allegedly struck a police car with his all-terrain vehicle, fled into the woods and then later hid in his basement.

John Slusarik III, 36, of Sheridan Street, was arraigned before Magisterial District Judge Michael Dotzel on charges of terroristic threats, reckless endangerment, accidents involving damage to an attended vehicle or property, driving under the influence of alcohol or a controlled substance, unlawfully operating an ATV on a street or highway, careless and reckless driving, criminal mischief, disorderly conduct, driving while operating privilege is suspended or revoked, driving on the right side of the roadways, public drunkenness and similar misconduct.

Bob Berwyn

SUMMIT COUNTY — Illegal off-road use in the Wolford Mountain Reservoir area is threatening wildlife in the area, according to the Colorado Division of Wildlife.

Just in the past few days, state wildlife officers contacted several Summit County teenagers who were illegally traveling in the closed area on off-road vehicles, said division spokesman Randy Hampton.

Lauren Daley

BLAIRSVILLE - Blairsville Borough police are reaching out to riders and parents of riders of all-terrain vehicles and motorcycles that they say have been causing a disturbance in the northern part of town.

Police Chief Donald Hess said his department has received numerous complaints from residents in the area of McClure Street and Miller Avenue about quads racing and driving on the road and private property.

Officials at the U.S. Naval Air Station in Fallon are warning off-road vehicle enthusiasts to stay off their bombing ranges in Churchill County.

Maj. Will Mayberry of the station's Naval Strike and Warfare Center says training squadrons used the Bravo-16 range southwest of Fallon only sparingly in the past and rarely on the weekends. But he says the war on terrorism has increased the demand for training in desert areas similar to Iraq and Afghanistan.

He says ground forces are using live fire on the range and could potentially be training any time of the day or night, including weekends.

Laurence Hammack

National forest officials have brought charges against 39 off-road enthusiasts who like to gun, spin and slog their four-wheel-drive vehicles through woods and meadows.

The practice, known as "mud-bogging," has caused about $30,000 worth of damage to a section of the Jefferson National Forest in Botetourt and Craig counties, said Woody Lipps, law enforcement patrol captain for the forest service.

OSCEOLA MILLS - An abundance of complaints of all-terrain vehicles being operated in Decatur Township and Osceola Mills and Houtzdale boroughs has prompted the Decatur Township Police Department to issue a reminder to the residents. It is illegal to operate an ATV on the roadway, private property or private roads and driveways without the permission of the landowner.

In a release submitted yesterday, Decatur Township police explained a roadway is considered a "portion of highway improved, designed or ordinarily used for vehicular travel exclusive of the sidewalk, berm or shoulder even though such sidewalk, berm or shoulder is used by pedal cycles.