EDITOR:
There are basically two types of ATVers. There are those who know only two speeds - full bore or dead stop. Second, there are those who ride to enjoy our beautiful, accessible BLM lands. We stay on trails and follow the BLM's directions on where to ride and where not to ride.
But some people don't know there are good ATVer's as shown by one recent frightening experience. We inadvertently turned into a private driveway. Once we were around the first turn and could see a house, we realized our mistake and started turning around.
A man with a dog was coming up the driveway. He was yelling; we couldn't hear what he was saying.
We thought he was yelling at the dog. As the dog approached, we could see it was young. We told the dog to "Go to Daddy;" he did not obey. We were concerned that the dog would go on the main road, so we waited for the man to come closer.
Then we realized that the man was screaming at us to get off his property. There was no polite request and then screaming. He started out screaming and he threatened physical violence. But why? There was no mistaking that we were already turning around.
We were already complying with his wishes. There was a BLM stick sign we had passed that we thought indicated we were on BLM land. As soon as we realized our mistake, we started to turn around.
This same type of stick sign is used to indicate when you are on the designated trails. The BLM sign on this man's property wasn't readable to us from the road. Seriously, we took pictures, we could not read it.
When we tried to explain, we realized this man would not listen; we apologized but I'm sure he didn't hear us because he was so consumed with rage about the ATV situation in general. And, he wasn't talking to a group of rowdies.
No one in our group is under age 55. We're polite and respect the property rights of others. Lots of other ATVer's do the same.
This man is only a nasty symptom of a larger problem. We clearly need a "Come to Jesus" in this community about all "getting along". This isn't the first clash or threat of serious physical harm, and it won't be the last.
So am I saying it's his fault that we made a mistake? Not at all. But people living near public lands should not assume every ATVer is out to ruin their day and break the law.
When one man's rights butt up against another's, there seldom is an easy solution. But being rude and threatening definitely isn't the answer.
Anne Thornhill
Gardnerville
