Sorry, I needed to vent. It looks like my put-in had some visitors between yesterday and today.
Idiots in a truck. One can only hope they were picked up for OUI.
Looks like a new SUV ad.
Did you find anything in the river? Like a truck?
A couple of years ago we were doing a Saturday after Thanksgiving paddle on the Grand (Eaton Rapids to McNamara Landing). We planned to stop at the Bunker Road landing for lunch. When we pulled up there we could see considerable entertainment on the bridge - A fine collection of emergency vehicles. It turns out some one(s) had driven a stolen van into the river & it had floated down below the bridge. No bodies were found in the van. We had lunch & waited until they were finished pulling the van out.
“Morons” in a truck…
Police said the 17-year-old was riding in the bed of a 2000 GMC Sonoma in the parking lot of Ayotte’s Stateline Smokin’ Joe’s on the Tyngsborough-Hudson, N.H. border around 9 p.m. when he was thrown from the truck, which was being driven erratically by another teen.
Police say the teen was thrown from the back of a pickup truck in this parking lot. (WBZ-TV)
“At some point, it looks like he was attempting to do a donut and the vehicle kind of shook, it’s got very big thick tires and it just caused the 17-year-old in the back to be immediately ejected,” Tyngsboro Police Chief Richard Howe told reporters. The teen hit his head when he landed on the pavement.
The store owner said the entire incident lasted about five seconds, according to surveillance video. He said it looked like the 19-year-old was trying to drive through a huge puddle to splash his friend in the truck bed when the teen was ejected.
The 17-year-old was rushed to Lowell General Hospital and then flown on a medical rescue helicopter to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston with life-threatening injuries. Chief Howe said his condition improved overnight.
“It’s heartbreaking, a very avoidable event never should have happened. I don’t know why the 17-year-old was in the back of the vehicle but the operator has a responsibility for any passengers in that vehicle,” Howe said. “I’m hoping the 17-year-old can pull through and make it through this and that’s what we’re all hoping for at this point.”
Police say the teen was thrown from the back of this pickup truck. (WBZ-TV)
A 19-year-old was driving the pickup truck. Both teens, who have not been identified, are from Lowell.
Police do not believe that drugs or alcohol played a factor. The 19-year-old driver has been cited for operating to endanger and operating an unregistered vehicle and he could face more charges.
sing
Rookie - OUI?
Rival51 - didn’t find anything in the river but it’s early in the season so I remain hopeful
Sing - good truck moron story.
There are two nearby parks where a few bad eggs seem to want to tear them up with their vehicles. The winter before last I had the honor of finding one of them stuck in this same park. A quick call to 911 ensured that the 60 year old vandal got full credit. The officer was kind enough to call me and ask if I thought the $500 fine and paying for the tow truck was enough punishment. I said yes as long as the fine would be bigger if he was caught again.
OUI = operating under the influence. Be it booze or pot.
MAIS OUI
Moron Activation Is Serious
Operating Under the Influence
Lazy @ss turdkickers couldn’t be bothered to walk a few feet from the parking area to the water. Or from their car to a trash can.
Game cameras for you!
@pikabike said:
Lazy @ss turdkickers couldn’t be bothered to walk a few feet from the parking area to the water. Or from their car to a trash can.Game cameras for you!
Game cameras do seem like the right tool; I wonder why the police don’t use them for this sort of thing. Maybe they do.
This park allows folks to park on the grass anywhere and I also enjoy being able to pull in and have some space to let the dog run around. Those tracks are intentional burnouts…you can see some gentle tracks too.
When I see this type of damage I wonder if the police could match the tire tracks to a specific vehicle if they had access to a suspected vehicle. Two vehicles made the tracks and one of them has super knarly tires. There have been several trucks parked near the put-in I often use in the past few weeks that I have not seen before. They are fishing…often parked in one spot and fishing in another so taking a lot of shoreline for a couple people fishing. So it’s hard not to assume that the same goofballs (turdkickers) made the tracks. And yes, they also left fishing trash that I have to clean up so my dog doesn’t get into it.
One of the PA rivers that I frequently paddle has a concrete ramp for power boater launching and grassy area with some flat cobbles at the water for canoes and kayaks. One busy Saturday when I took 2 friends there to kayak we got there to find two trucks launching jet-skis hogging the grassy ramp and muddying it with their tires. We couldn’t use the concrete ramp because there was already a queue of trailered boats waiting to launch. BTW, here in PA, human powered boats have to pay an annual fee for a boat launch permit, just as powered craft do, so we are just as entitled to use any of the ramps, though vehicles are not supposed to drive to the walk-up ramps.
We not only had to squeeze past the jet-skier’s trailers but launching was scary for my one friend who was on their first kayak outing because the “lake lice” who had already launched were churning up the water racing back and forth while their buddies got their machines unloaded. Yes, I did point out to them that they were supposed to wait in line at the concrete trailer ramp but was met with a thuggish re-buff (where are the Fish Police when you need them?)
Once we got out on the river, we encountered the 4 jet-skiers several times. The river has sand bars near near shore and that summer we’d had a drought so the level was low. Still enough draft there for kayaks but dangerous for power boats so we had a fairly safe lane to paddle in despite the power boat traffic that day. But the shallows intensify the clapotis effect when the large wakes roll in and hit them. Doesn’t bother me but I had to coach my newbie through the frequent broadside waves. And apparently one of the jet-skiers began to notice the effect of wakes on the kayaks because he started swooping near us in what seemed to me a deliberate attempt to disrupt our paddling, even see if he could capsize us. Eventually he tired of this game and the quartet screamed away upriver.
We usually find that once we have moved a couple of miles from the launch ramp things settle down so we proceeded at a relaxed pace. Then, halfway around a bend in the river we found the same aggressive jet-skier wallowing alone in the muddy shallows, where he had capsized his own craft – his buddies had evidently taken off. He shouted at us to help him right the thing or get it to shore. He was not in any mortal danger so we just smiled and waved as we passed. Saw his buddies a little ways along – they did not ask and we did not tell. I hope he got the message.
What is it about jet skis that attracts mean people? I bet every paddler who has encountered them has a similar story about a jet skiier trying to intimidate a paddler. I certainly do, though he gave up because we calmly kept paddling despite his throwing wakes and clapotis around us, over and over.
You did the right thing by smiling and continuing on without helping him.
Deck launched heat seeking missiles!
The rude jet skiers I’ve encountered are kids, drunks, or both and the best approach is to ignore them.
The High Priest Curses the Transgressor
(or Mary Jane Muddies the Waters)
If some moron tracks
cross happy path with your hemp oil,
may his rasta come up short,
less nincomputz per shaky mohel
CWDH: good one.
In my state, anyone in a powered boat that behaves as stated above can find themselves in deep doodoo with the law. It’s very simple–just call the cops, or get their auto license numbers and report them.
I have had zero bad encounters with wave runners, but a few very large yachts have deliberately changed course in order to force me to have to avoid them. In these cases, I try to lure them into shallow water. Generally I find fishermen to be the most respectful, but you have to watch out for the fishing guide boats. They usually have the biggest outboard known to man and with a boatload of novice fishermen, they have only two speeds–stop and go. Go is about 60 mph.
Our Sheriff Departments have patrol boats and they really like to enforce the boating laws.
I agree with magooch, fishermen are almost always a pleasure to share the water with. In my case they almost always adjust their speed or course just to give me more space and I do same for them.
One thing I want to mention is that smart phones can be really powerful tools. Mine is water resistant and on a tether and I can start taking a movie in about 1-2 seconds.
One time very near the same put-in I came upon a guy driving golf balls into the river…he had a huge pile of them. I started filming him and his license plate and we had some words. He was very young (old enough to drive) and he seemed genuinely ignorant so I didn’t turn him in since he promised to never do it again (he seemed genuinely rattled by the possibility of a $500 fine). Another time I came upon a jet ski parked at our local farmer’s put-in and some guy and his girlfriend were drinking beer (trespassing, drinking, and complaining about their kids…lovely). My dog was pulling hard on her leash. I told them they were on private property and he said they’d leave as soon as they finished their beers. So I approached more closely and started filming them including the registration number on the jet ski and asked again if they knew they were on private property. I told them not to touch my dog and that I thought they should leave immediately or risk a trespassing fine.
I almost forgot my best “don’t forget your cell phone” story.
I hope I don’t come off as too grumpy, I do rescue drowning bugs when I’m paddling and in every case I let people off the hook when I was really tempted to escalate the situation.
So I’m on a local no wake lake with my dog. It’s a warm summer day and we’ve been on this lake many times and there are at least half a dozen other small craft out. Then some guy launched a jetski and starts tearing around the lake. He created enough confused waves that you could see some folks deciding to get off the water. He ripped along very close to the shore in the area where I always see wildlife just under the surface. Then he starts circling two SOT kayaks and playing “I’m going to sink you with my Jetski”. As he floods their boats I see a beer can floating that he knocked off one of the SOT’s (turns out they knew each other). So I paddle directly at them from halfway across the lake and pick up the beer can. I ask him what he thinks he’s doing. He tells me that he is a volunteer fireman and has permission from the local authorities to test his jet ski. He tells me I can check with the local authorities and asks me what I think. I tell him that I think he’s an f’in redneck. He tells me that maybe he should kick my ass so I said I’m about to take out anyway. He beat me to shore and took off in his truck burning rubber with frustration. He was bigger than me but it turns out that another fisherman was waiting at the takeout to back me up if necessary. I didn’t follow up because at least the moron was a volunteer fireman. But I have to admit that had I not forgotten my cell phone this day I would have either sent the movie to the local news or at least reviewed it with his supervisors.
@magooch said:
In my state, anyone in a powered boat that behaves as stated above can find themselves in deep doodoo with the law. It’s very simple–just call the cops, or get their auto license numbers and report them.I have had zero bad encounters with wave runners, but a few very large yachts have deliberately changed course in order to force me to have to avoid them. In these cases, I try to lure them into shallow water. Generally I find fishermen to be the most respectful, but you have to watch out for the fishing guide boats. They usually have the biggest outboard known to man and with a boatload of novice fishermen, they have only two speeds–stop and go. Go is about 60 mph.
Our Sheriff Departments have patrol boats and they really like to enforce the boating laws.
I wish ours were. DNR does the boat policing and there aren’t enough of them. On very busy days the Corp of Engineers and the Sheriff’s help out.