Devils Lake Question

Ed Wright wrote: A couple of years ago I actually talked that guy into giving me a warning instead of a $175 dollar ticket for driving the wrong way on a one-way road. I had the warning laminated and I keep it in my trailer at Wheeler's. As far as the OP's question. If you camp at Wheeler's there's actually really good bouldering right on the property but bring some brushes 'cuz the boulders have gotten a bit mossy since Eric Z and Paul J put up all the problems years ago.

Mid to late 90's, they changed the in park 20mph speed down to 15. Caught me going about 25 he estimated. No radar, just his word against mine. With the $175 ticket plus the mandatory 3 year moving violation hike in my insurance, it ended up costing me over 1600 bucks. They love us Illinois folks up 'der in cheeseland, just for the money.
Now when I'm driving that 2 mile section of road, I cause a major traffic jam as I'm going 15 and others curse and pass me doing 30-40 at least. But nobody else getting a ticket.....

Woodchuck ATC wrote: Mid to late 90's, they changed the in park 20mph speed down to 15. Caught me going about 25 he estimated. No radar, just his word against mine. With the $175 ticket plus the mandatory 3 year moving violation hike in my insurance, it ended up costing me over 1600 bucks. They love us Illinois folks up 'der in cheeseland, just for the money. Now when I'm driving that 2 mile section of road, I cause a major traffic jam as I'm going 15 and others curse and pass me doing 30-40 at least. But nobody else getting a ticket.....

You should have gone to court and fought this--I'll bet you would have won. I fought an illegal camping charge near Devil's Lake once and even though I was guilty I was able to hoodwink the judge. Plus having to go to court would have given you another excuse to go to da Lake for the day.

Ed Wright wrote: You should have gone to court and fought this--I'll bet you would have won. I fought an illegal camping charge near Devil's Lake once and even though I was guilty I was able to hoodwink the judge. Plus having to go to court would have given you another excuse to go to da Lake for the day.

400 round trip gas, tolls, loss of day of work= not worth the fine and the DNR has it out for me since '78. I never thought the insurance would go up though,,,it took over 8 months for them to catch it and make the increase for 36 months.

fat cow wrote: a trail that is frequented by hundreds of people each week. how about they do the jobs that we pay them to do.

The entitlement mentality.

The jobs we pay them to do and the jobs we expect them to do are two different things, and sadly the second list almost always exceeds the first. Devils Lake has actually found some money to hire a "trail crew" (one or two people) for some work this summer, interviews in the next week or two. And volunteer labor is always gratefully accepted.

Nick Mardi wrote:Climbed at night there a few times, I never saw a ranger anywhere outside of the office.... Lazy fucks.

Nick, if you never see the cops outside of precinct headquarters, you clearly aren't partying hard enough ... you have some 'splaining to do, lazy fuck!

The entitlement mentality. quote>

are you sure? It is a state park, with trails that are to be maintained by said park. Like you just stated they are hiring a trail crew, because that is what they are supposed to do and obviously what they are now allocated money towards. When i pay the entrance fee, that is what's expected from the park, there is no entitlement in that. if there were no fee, and no tax money funding the operations of the park, and i expected the trails to be maintained by people and their time and money, that i think would be entitlement. so if one wanted to volunteer to upkeep trails, what is the process in terms of risk managment, are there forms to sign at the head office?

You're confused about where the word "entitlement" comes from if you think no fee = entitlement. You make my point perfectly.

Volunteering: it's incredibly simple, no forms.

gotcha, as those who go to the park and pay are actually entitled to this service. why would you say that it's a mentality then, and with a negative connotation, or did i misinterprete that through your post. it seemed as though you were implying that I had unreasonable expectations, and that i deserve something for nothing, which i guess i always think of as a sense of entitlement, different from actual entitlement.

So the park would have no liability if a volunteer, say with no experience, was rocking a chainsaw working on a trail, had a mean kickback and cut a hiking childs arm off? are there at least regulations on what volunteers can and cannot do and operate, and therefore some system in place for volunteers? i would be suprised if there wasn't, people love lawsuits.

In 20 years of doing volunteer projects at the park, almost every one of which involved either terrain with hazards or materials with hazards, I have never been asked to do any kind of paperwork.

(On the other hand, I wouldn't just walk into the Visitor Center and declare "I need a chainsaw today ... trust me!")

Pretty simple.

With respect to the DNR cleaning up the trails: it is kinda surprising that in the last couple of years it has taken a while for the DNR to clean up trails, "designated use areas," where they actually do have some liability.

When I look at that what I see is how tightly stretched they have become, as staff has dwindled and budgets have stagnated over the last decade (since before the recession).

I'm being unnecessarily surly today. Apologies, fat cow.

haha it's all good, bantering on MP is probably the only reason i can stay sane at work