WARNING - Harlan County License Plate Crack Down - WARNING

J.C.

J.C.

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Apr 18, 2005
Location
Greensboro, NC
Seems the constables in Harlan County, KY are cracking down on tags! Many, many people were stopped in Evarts this weekend and given a verbal warning! One person, stopped in a retail parking lot, was ticketed for NO TAG & NO PROOF OF INSURANCE!

Buggy owners and un-registered vehicles beware! They are going to start ticketing from now on according to what the local PO told us!
 
Geez...it seems like people with heavily modded rigs are running out of places to go. It's going to get to where we all are going to have to make our trail rides/buggies street legal.
 
thats the reason I keep putting money in the TJ and not building a buggy. Plus i want to be able to drive to WalMart
 
As the Late Great Paul Harvey would say, " And now,...The Rest of the story.

Leslie and I treated our group to a spaghetti dinner. We realized we didn't have a colander to strain the noodles, so I jumped in the Jeep to go get one. I went just around the corner to the Family Dollar store. I went in, found what I needed, went outside, saw a Evarts City officer sitting backed in beside the store, gave a friendly wave, got in the Jeep buckled up, and backed out. Just before I was going to pull into the hwy, he bleeped the siren, and threw the blue lights on. I stopped and he walked up and asked me where my tag was. I told him at home. He asked for my registration and insurance card, I told him I didn't have an insurance card. He asked how much I had had to drink, I told him nothing more than diet Sundrop, and coffee. He took my license and registration back to his car. Just as he did this, a county officer pulled in. I sat what seemed forever, and finally the county officer came up and give me the ticket. No explanation, no signature, just give it to me and told me there was a number there I could call and work something out since I was from out of town. HE then told me that he didn't want to ruin my weekend( sorry Bud, too late) so when I went out the next day, not to be the last in line!
When I got back to the campground, I told everyone what happened. I then took a close look at the ticket. I had not one, but THREE charges!!
Failure to display registration tag. True
Failure to produce proof of insurance False, I give him my registration, it has proof of insurance on it. He asked for an insurance card, not proof.
Failure to wear a seat belt False, I had my belt on. When he asked for my information, I asked if it was Ok to step out so I could get to my wallet. HE said Ok, I opened the door, unbuckled my belt, and got out.

I went back up town(in Mikes truck, it has a tag) and found him, with someone else pulled. With a different county guy there to back him up. I waited and to discuss this with him. When I did, I showed him that I had given him proof of insurance, and I also told him I did have on my belt, He said I can't do anything about it now since it's already been printed out. So oh well

I talked with someone else with the city up there, they talked to the Mayor, and the Mayor requested a copy of all my info, and said he would see what he could do. so, we will see.

Talking with Johnny Sherman, he spoke personally with the mayor while up town. He also told Johnny that he had requested my information. So, something may or may not be done about it. HE also told Johnny that he told his officers to NOT harass anyone else. And, if they did, tell them that Mayor said to call him if they had a problem with it.
 
That is unfortunate Chip. Sam and I got pulled Thursday night around 11 and all we did was drive from camp across the bridge to the spray and wash. All he wanted to know was if we had been drinking. After that was cleared up he seemed "ok" and started to Bs with us.

I told Sam someone was bound to get a ticket this weekend, just hate it happened to be one of us.
 
sorry to hear that chip. i always heard that they were pretty cool up there and didnt bother anyone. i guess they are changing with everything else. hope you get it all cleared up.
 
I wonder, with the trail system fees in place & now the police starting to crack down. I'll bet there may have been some issues with some wheelers & their trying to weed out rif-raf.



Kind of reminds me of whats happened at the farm between last fall & this spring. Mud pits gone, no-alcohol, higher gate fee + rig fee. Don't misunderstand I ain't complaining as it's still worth it to me, but I'll bet there is a different atmosphere there for this event.
 
I definately think, along with Jeff B, that the county assuming park operations is behind this some how and that more things will change in the future.

Also, ATVs are classified as "uninsurable vehicles" in KY. They don't have to be registered or have insurance so they are exempt!
 
They need to check the people in the park,from what I saw their was alot of drinkin goin on.
 
We always rent a house from the police cheif in town. He knows that none of our rigs have tags, and just always waves and smiles when he sees us riding around town.

I was coming down the street in Evarts saturday night about 9 and was flagged down by an Evarts officer. He asked if i had been drinking, i told him no, and he told me to have a good night.

Its strange how some of the officers and even the Chief are cool with us riding around, then others seem to have a problem with it.....
 
I know that it sucks, but the economy is bad and the county and town need revenue. Ticketing people that are beyond the regulations is how they can make money.
 
I couldn't get over all the people being pulled in Evarts this weekend. One thing to point out is that they did pull over a number of locals and other KY tagged vehicles so it doesn't seem like they are trying to target the park users in general. Some clarification does need to be made though as to what is legal and what is not anymore to drive on the road up there. 3 years ago when I started going up, it didn't matter what you had, it could drive on the road.
 
complain as we may, but I'd think if you are driving on a public road you'd need a tag, insurance, and registeration. If you don't have either and get a ticket, then it is well deserved.

However, not being a KY resident, my opinion may be un warranted as I am not 100% sure as to the laws up there
 
The point is:

On public roads you do need to be tagged and insured. However, due to the prospect of a boost to the economy, the town of Evarts was turning a blind eye toward these infractions as long as you were behaving yourself. I have been told so personally by a PO. Now they are changing the rules without any warning, at least in Chip's case. They should give verbal warnings for a few weekends at least to get us acclimated if they are going to start ticketing!
 
They may want to look into passing a local ordinance that specifically exempts offroad only vehicles...IF:

Maybe require flashing lights or something similar to what a tractor would do? I think the buggy folks wouldn't mind doing that to be legit...

(they may not need to even pass that ordinance - but they may want to look up the existing state regs for tractors (off road farm vehicles) and then post up those requirements for us to use.

I will say I am glad to hear they are discouraging drinking and driving...but not sure how "asking" is going to really do much.

Sam
 
Meanwhile i bet there was at least 11 Oxycotin deals that went through while Roscoe and Ennis played cops.
 
I keep seeing threads like this on the net. They all have the same common story. Bunch of tickets given out. Someone talks to someone in power and it will never happen again. A few months later it does. It's pretty darn simple if they want to stop it talk to the police chief. If it happens again fire the police chief.

Here's the most recent story I read of the same thing. It was last month.

http://harlancountytrails.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1236563368
 
On the website, (not sure which one, ontharox told me) it did say no registration required, it has been changed not to say that parking is available so no blacktop is required.

I didn't see any such area, at least none that was near size enough to handle the volume of trucks that would need it.

Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with following the rules. But they need to be let known.
The first time I was ever in Evarts, there was a "welcome committee" that came by and let us know about the place. They specifically told us that it was OK to ride on the road as I was doing.
From what I saw there was probably 70% of the trail rigs with no tags. Many were stopped. As far as I know, I was the only one who was ticketed.
It was also known that the local Mayor did not want this happening, so to get around it, the local stopped you, and the Sheriff dept was the one who ticketed you. I saw this same scenario played out many times.
 
Well I would ask the people up there if they want people coming in or not ?

If they want to ticket everyone in site for every little thing to temporarily increase their revenue thats fine. Once word spreads people will be timid about going to evarts and start venturing to the other nearby areas to camp/ buy food gas etc.. and Evarts will be boycotted. I'm 100% in favor of stopping people who are drinking and driving etc.. Make it clear that will not be tolerated and I'm sure people will get the point..

The way I see it is, they need either of the following:

1) Plenty of parking near the trail heads for 100+ trucks w/ trailers to park.
2) An access road/path where you are allowed to drive a 'trail rig' to the trails.
3) Clearly outlined rules of what is allowed or not allowed.

They are well within their right to ticket people who are violating the laws but people will also be more than willing to not go back as often or buy stuff in other towns on the way in. I plan to buy stuff there to help support the town, i eat out more often in town to help the local economy etc..

I can see even restricting non-road legal vehicles from headed into/through town etc. But make it known, and clearly mark the approved access roads.

Maybe the top side of the mountain is a better destination ? Anyone stayed up there?
 
Damn, that sucks Chip.

The police are going be responsible for a loss in tourism money.
 
We are going up for the last weekend in May with 5 or 6 unregistered/non tagged/non insured rigs. Is the cost of the tickets they are handing out enough to warrent spending the time and money to become street legal? Are they handing out multiple violations? Can these tickets /citations be handled right away or are would you be making return trips to clear things up?

We stay in the cabins rented out by the good folks at the Chevron. Are they pulling people for even that short of a drive to the trails?
 
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