Roadrunner

Here's an updated article to my earlier post about lifted trucks in virginia.

Jeeps and Other Jeeps
John Carlin
WSLS NewsChannel 10
Tuesday, March 8, 2005

A friend of mine used to quip that, “No good deed goes unpunished.” And while I’m not trying to break my arm patting myself on the back – I kinda feel that way.

As I’ve already written in response to dozens of e-mails, I’m not against Jeeps. I’m not against 4-wheeling. I grew up on a farm, driving tractors, hay trucks, dune buggies, and CJ-5’s. I’ve ridden dirt bikes and logged thousands of miles on a snowmobile. I thought it was stupid when they outlawed 3-wheeled ATV’s because irresponsible people kept hurting themselves on them.

With that in mind, let me back up a little. Late last year as I was going about the business of being the Crime Tracker reporter, I discovered that police in Roanoke were ticketing high-rise vehicles at a rate not seen in years. The ticketing in itself was newsworthy.

In order to show viewers what was going on I rode along with a police officer and took some video to show with the story. I also learned the name of a woman whose Honda Accord was badly damaged by a high-rise vehicle and whose son was within in inches of a serious injury. (Police say the bumper penetrated the trunk of the car and came very close to the boy, who was in a safety seat in the back seat of the car) I interviewed the woman.

At this point, I had quite a story. But to be fair I asked a couple of local guys who had never had any trouble with the law and who had sophisticated Jeeps to show me why they needed the extra height. So we went to Broad Run in Craig County where the road actually traverses the river in numerous places. They drove through the river, pointed out the upgrades on their vehicles and even allowed me to drive a little. I thought they did a fine job of demonstrating the need for raised vehicles, if you want to go where they go and do what they do.

Little did I know that I wasn’t just shaking the hornet’s nest, I was knocking it from the eaves and stomping on it.

“Gee, I really liked your one sided, as figured it would be, report on lifted 4x4's!” wrote Sam Peters who owns a Jeep upgrade business on Williamson Road with the image of a large green monster truck looking Jeep on the side of the building (which appeared in the background of an interview in my report)

Like many Jeep owners he feels that Jeeps are trucks and therefore entitled to higher bumpers than the 22” allowed passenger vehicles – or as he put it: “Oh, by the way, while you were out for the Big Jeep rides, did you ever look under the hoods to see where Chrysler, … has their decal affixed stating LIGHT DUTY TRUCK! Gee I bet that one slipped by you!”

He recited his interpretation of state law and finished with, “Maybe next time you do a goofy report, you could at least do some investigating of both sides!”

As the e-mails continued to come in I realized there was another Jeep faction equally as angry.

“A little more work would have revealed Tread Lightly, Virginia Four Wheel Drive Association and United Four Wheel Drive Association as advocates, just to name a few. These groups diligently work on the behalf of our sport and off-road vehicles,” wrote Danielle Napier.

Danielle and fellow members of the Southwestern Virginia 4 Wheelers were angry that the video we showed was on the extreme side and not the nature friendly type of Jeeping practiced by the club.

I also received a letter from the club’s president Josh Howery, who wrote: “ Video clips shown in your report stunned me. I do not believe the off road enthusiasts interviewed in your report are a fair representation of the 4 x 4 community.” Howery urged me to go to the Tread Lightly website, and informed me of club activities, such as providing transport to hospital patients during snowstorms, and the adoption of the Potts Jeep trail on Potts Mountain.

Martin Morrison, the club’s immediate past president followed up with a phone call, to tell me that his group wants nothing to do with the “Williamson Road” crowd. Morrison says responsible Jeep owners use only enough lift to accomplish their goals. He says the high risers cruising on a typical Friday night are all for show. He says the owners of those Jeeps and trucks may never take them off road, and likely wouldn’t “tread lightly” if they did.

Morrison and I had a nice conversation and he agreed to send me some photos of work the club has done to assist the National Forest Service with the Potts Mountain project.

Which brings me to the latest group to call me – The National Forest Service. Woody Lipps, a law enforcement officer for the Washington & Jefferson National Forest is perhaps the best ambassador for the federal government I’ve ever met. He’s cordial. He’s understanding, and sees the big picture. “I think our world is over regulated. I'm a police officer and I'm saying we have a regulation for everything,” he told me almost apologetically.

But Lipps is all business when it comes to trespassing on the land adjacent to Broad Run, and throughout the New Castle Ranger District. Like Roanoke police, Lipps is also writing record numbers of tickets to drivers of “off highway vehicles.” He estimates they will write 75 more this year than last, which was also a record year. He says illegal off highway vehicle use ranks with invasive species and forest fire fuel as the biggest threats to what he calls “the people’s forest.”

As we drove the length of Broad Run he showed me where enthusiasts had cut cables designed to keep them off private property. A dirt pile designed to close a road had tire tracks over it. “They think it’s just another obstacle to be conquered,” he observed. A grassy area that once served as a campground for hunters and others has been turned to a mud hole by excessive and illegal 4WD use.

Lipps had high praise for the Southwestern Virginia 4 Wheelers, crediting them with saving the Potts Mountain trail from closure.

He says his officers catch roughly a third of all violators, and he wants you to know that number is likely to go up soon.

He says he’s a referee for the many groups who want to use the woods. And he claims there’s not enough land for everyone to do everything they want everywhere they want to do it. Hikers, mountain bikers, hunters, ATV riders, equestrians, Jeep drivers, “even golf carts,” he said with a note of exasperation.

I hesitate to even mention that. Next thing you know I’ll be covered up with angry e-mails from the Off Road Golf Cart Association!

Stay tuned.