Dear Ellie,

Please help me!!!!

Now I know there are wonderful ORV riders who are respectful to the land and private property, but not all!  I am in fear of retaliation from those “outlaw” riders using ORVs on my property next to my house.  I ask them politely to please use the roads and [tell them] that this is private property.  They yell obscenities to me and say that I do not own “the wash” they are using and that there are no laws against them using the wash.  The information from The County of San Bernardino I have does indicate the wash is on my property.  I have found the “private property” signs destroyed and sometimes the things around my house thrown all over the place, broken, or missing.

I am in Joshua Tree because I enjoy the peace and quiet and the remoteness.  These ORVs are so very loud, destroy wildlife habitat and send clouds of dust and dirt particles all over my house, car, and outside furnishings.  My house was vandalized and property was damaged and stolen.  The tracks were from an ORV coming right out of the wash.  When the San Bernardino Sheriff was called about the ORV’s in the wash, the response was that it was not their department to come out.

I feel very stuck - Do I call in a complaint again and risk more property damage and retaliation or do nothing and see a specific habitat area being destroyed, along with the noise, dust, etc that affects me directly?

Thank you so much,

Scared and Annoyed

Dear Scared and Annoyed, 

You will never see respectful, legal riders at your house, these are bullies. Never put yourself in contact with these people. They are outlaws, you have no way to know how violent and dangerous they can be.

The history of this world is filled with cultures that teach that the best solutions for everyone concerned lie in wisdom and beauty, not in violence, nor vengeance, nor escalation. Captain Williams of the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, who offered me the following action points, is a strong advocate of community policing and has been listening to and working with citizens to solve this very complex problem, if not yet with beauty, then certainly with wisdom.          

Only private land that is properly posted can be defended. (See my bomb-proof sign design in issue 1 of Ask Ellie.)

Wisdom: Make sure your land is legally posted. (See the legal requirements for posting your land elsewhere in this issue.)

Beauty: Build wildlife friendly acacia brush piles and fences across traveled routes. Most will go to another location rather than continually fight thorns. Contact a local landscaping company for leads on acacia, cholla and other prickly plant parts. Many will deliver to you.

Get law enforcement on your side.

Wisdom: Be a squeaky wheel as well as a friend. Develop a personal relationship with the law enforcement in your area, go explain your problem to them in person. 

Beauty: Take a plate of brownies or stop for doughnuts to make it a friendly and memorable meeting. 

Document everything.

Wisdom: Make notes, take photos, take movies, use a sound recorder.

Beauty: When law enforcement comes and/or you get to small claims court, you will have all the evidence you need.

Take legal action.

Wisdom: The courts are there to serve us, you can use them in two ways. Law enforcement will file charges with the DA and the DA will prosecute (really, they did for me) if you can prove your case. File a small claims case for being deprived of the peaceful enjoyment of your property.

Beauty: Work with absentee landowners and post their land as a free service to them. Post any BLM land near you as a public service.

Insist on Enforcement.

Wisdom: Report every trespass and ask for and keep the incident number. Keep calling until they come to the house if that is what you want; if you give up, the outlaws win. If the dispatcher won’t take the report ask to talk to the watch commander or supervisor. Call or better yet write ORV enthusiast and San Bernardino County Sheriff Gary Penrod [(909) 387-3545; 655 E Third St San Bernardino, California 92415], he is an elected official and is responsible to you as a voter.

Beauty: Each report is worth money in the enforcement fund to support the overworked law enforcement authorities in this important work. 

Stop them in their tracks.

Wisdom: Fence the property, hire big scary armed guards, put up barriers.

Dear Ellie,

I feel so hopeless? Are there any success stories you can share to help me feel like there is light at the end of the tunnel?

Waiting for word

Dear Waiting,

The folks in Gammel Township registered a big victory. Over Veteran’s Day weekend twenty riders and a dozen vehicles arrived in the ‘hood.

Within a few hours they had begun to tear up public roads and trespass, throwing a dust cloud three-miles long into the clear air. They destroyed berms and habitat in a frenzy of near perpetual motion.

The neighbors called for backup and got great response from Code Enforcement and the Sheriff who arrived together to educate and sedate.

Although the problem has not been completely resolved yet, it was reduced by more than 80% to the happy satisfaction of all the neighbors concerned.

Keep Fighting!!

Ellie 

Theoretically, a judge can choose to dismiss a complaint because the signs are not designed and posted according to law. Here are the requirements for legally posting private property in the State of California. Although some of the spacing rules are a bit different for large tracts of acreage, no other size, type, color, spacing, or wording meets the letter of the law.