Fishtrap ATV riders plead guilty

STAFF WRITER

Most of the men who illegally rode ATV’s on Fishtrap Lake’s wildlife management area pleaded guilty, but their cause will continue, lawmakers say.

After working out negotiated plea bargains yesterday with Pike County Chief Assistant Attorney Roger Varney, 16 members of the Elkhorn ATV & Recreation Club pleaded guilty to unlawfully riding ATVs on federal land at Fishtrap Lake.

The men were ordered to not ride ATVs or engage in illegal activities at Fishtrap Lake for one year and to pay more than $135 in court costs within 30 days. At Varney’s recommendation, Johnson County Judge Susan Johnson, who took over the case because Pike County district judges Darrell Mullins and Kelsey Friend are members of the club, suspended a fine of $50 for each man.

Varney said the county is satisfied with the outcome of the case, which sparked support from politicians and scrutiny from the voting public this summer.

“It shows that people have to follow the rules or the law even if they don’t agree with it,” Varney said.

The club, carrying a promise that members will exhibit safety and respect the land, was established last year and some of its members have been pushing for recreational trail development at Fishtrap since 2005. Last year, they even gained approval from the Pike County Fiscal Court, where magistrates passed a resolution supporting trail development while making it clear that the fiscal court has no authorization to support recreational trail development on a wildlife management area.

The men, a mixture of county and state employees and other professionals and retirees, were conducting a charity ride through Morgan’s Creek when they were cited by Fish and Wildlife officer Jason Campbell and wildlife management area manager Herbie Adams, who was fired from the Pike County Sheriff’s Department the day after the incident.

The citations were issued about a week after a Powell’s Creek gate had been torn down. This year, lake officials complained about ATV riders who have sabotaged gate locks and stolen gates on the federally-protected property.

The 17 citations issued sparked support from several area politicians like State Representative Howard Keith Hall, who have vowed to work toward developing recreational ATV trails at Fishtrap, where mining and gas companies are allowed access and where a horse trail and an inaccessible 14-mile impaired mobility trail is located.

“Sometimes you have to lose the battle to win the war,” Hall said, hinting that certain Democrats, if elected next month, would be “a lot more friendly and cooperative” about establishing ATV trails at Fishtrap.

Hall and Senator Ray Jones, who volunteered to represent the men in court, said Lieutenant Governor candidate Daniel Mongiardo has promised to make the trail development one of his top priorities if he is elected. They both said they will continue to work on the issue.

Jones claims that the ATV club was unjustly treated. He believes the officers and the county attorney’s office were justified in prosecuting the case, but he feels that the officers “could have found a better use of their time in prosecuting other, more serious offenses.”

“When we first tried to discuss a resolution, the comments I got was that we’re lucky that they weren’t charged with criminal conspiracy,” Jones said. “Well, they can’t be charged with criminal conspiracy on a traffic offense. This is the first charge that most of these men had. It was a misunderstanding. They should never had been prosecuted. These are not the kind of people who we need to tie our court up prosecuting.

“They feel like they were not treated fairly,” he continued. “They feel that they weren’t hurting anyone. It was a minor offense and I think it was treated inappropriately. It made them feel like a common criminal. With respect to the officers, and the drug dealers and the drunk drivers we have that are hurting people, I could think of better uses of law enforcement resources than that. I’ve seen people with DUI who were prosecuted as harshly.”

The men wanted to go to trial, Jones said, but they couldn’t afford missing work.

State and federal laws prohibit the use of vehicles in wildlife management areas.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service called motorized vehicle abuse, or “unmanaged recreation,” one of greatest threats to country’s public forests. Unmanaged recreation causes erosion, user conflicts, spread of invasive species, damage to cultural sites, disturbance to wildlife, destruction to wildlife habitats and risks to public safety, the department’s Web site says.

Adams and Campbell did not return calls yesterday. Rodney Holbrook, the lake’s resource manager, would not comment publicly, stating only that he was pleased with the resolution.

Guilty pleas were entered by Pikeville residents Buck Jones (represented by attorney Robbie Wright), Victor Hunt, 58, Gerold James II, 63 (a Pike County sheriff deputy), Joe Little and Gold Star Dairy Bar owner Lones Adams, 69; Rockhouse resident James Damron, 61; Rolling Hills resident Gaylan Adams, 49; Towns Creek residents Benny Slone, 46, and Billy Thomas, 44; Powells Creek residents Timothy Epling, 46, and Gary Bevins, 64; Elkhorn City resident Ricky Ratliff, 50; Phyllis resident Johnnie Hunt, 63, Shelbiana resident Kevin Picklesimer, 41, Fords Creek resident Freddie Fields, 66 and Cletis Webb, 64.

The case against Elkhorn City resident Greg Coleman, 46, was continued because he did not appear in court.

The men still face potential federal court charges.