5 off-roaders found guilty, must pay municipal tickets

Written by Journal Sentinel

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Tom Kertscher

Oak Creek - Five of the seven men who were hit with colossal towing bills for getting stuck in the muck while off-roading have been found guilty of municipal violations.

Twice last month groups of young men got their trucks stuck while tearing around vacant Milwaukee County-owned land off E. American Ave.

The city needed a heavy-duty vehicle to remove the trucks and charged the first group $922.52 and the second one $1,133.

The five men who were ticketed for off-roading Feb. 11 had their day in municipal court this week. One of them, Brian Streich, 24, of South Milwaukee, didn't show up. He was found guilty by default and owes $470 in fines for criminal damage to property and trespassing.

The four others appeared in court and pleaded no contest. Fined $470 each for trespassing and criminal damage to property were Bryan Fortier, 24, of South Milwaukee, and Jeremy Gibbs, 19, of Milwaukee.

Fined $172 each for trespassing were William Etringer III, 24, of Cudahy, and Richard Bowen, 26, of Milwaukee.

Two men who got stuck Feb. 14 are due in court April 7. Their towing bill was higher because city crews were paid overtime for having to work on a Saturday.

Source: http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/41511947.html

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Community Voices

“It’s frustrating having a hunt ruined by people riding ATVs where off-road vehicle use is prohibited. Many ATVs look the same so there’s no way to identify violators when reporting the incident to law enforcement. There should be a requirement that off-road vehicles used on public lands have license plates or large decals. Any ATV user who follows the law and land management directives on where they can and can not use these machines should have no objection to this type of identification.”

- Holly Endersby, hunter from western Idaho