City Park Public Access

[Greg]

No roast from me. I am behind you on this 1k%! I think that would be great idea.

Is this a first? OTF and the Chief agreeing on something?? LOL

Greg

[parachiteadams39]

Legal splitting of hairs aside, and putting aside the basic fact that our constitution and indeed the very founding of our country are grounded very much on the basis of strong protection of property rights I would ask this question:

How you would feel if one day you came home from work to watch your favorite TV show and found me in your easy chair, drinking a beer from your fridge, flipping through channels. And then, when you were offended, how would you feel if I got offended because after all you weren't using the TV and anyway what gives you the right to say this is "your" house or "your" beer or "your" TV?

That may help elucidate the perspective for folks who own land with living water, pay taxes on it, pay a mortgage on it and simply want to be able to use it without going down to their favorite spots to find that they've been fished/hunted/littered by someone who is, frankly, freeloading off of their investment of time and money.

The fact is that everyone on this forum expects their property to be respected. No one on this forum would welcome me in their easy chair of an evening. Likewise beyond splitting legal hairs simple decency dictates that you accord other peoples' property the same respect you expect them to accord yours.

[Buzz]

Legal splitting of hairs aside, and putting aside the basic fact that our constitution and indeed the very founding of our country are grounded very much on the basis of strong protection of property rights I would ask this question:

How you would feel if one day you came home from work to watch your favorite TV show and found me in your easy chair, drinking a beer from your fridge, flipping through channels. And then, when you were offended, how would you feel if I got offended because after all you weren't using the TV and anyway what gives you the right to say this is "your" house or "your" beer or "your" TV?

That may help elucidate the perspective for folks who own land with living water, pay taxes on it, pay a mortgage on it and simply want to be able to use it without going down to their favorite spots to find that they've been fished/hunted/littered by someone who is, frankly, freeloading off of their investment of time and money.

The fact is that everyone on this forum expects their property to be respected. No one on this forum would welcome me in their easy chair of an evening. Likewise beyond splitting legal hairs simple decency dictates that you accord other peoples' property the same respect you expect them to accord yours.

I've stayed out of this thread completely until now because I beleive your analogy is totally off the mark. I respect all property rights, both on streams and off. The idea that you being in my house, in my easy chair, and drinking MY BEER, is similar to me walking onto your property while in a stream is utterly rediculous.

1) I have a lock on my front door.

2) I have obvious property lines.

3) I have a "No Trespass" sign on a corner post right beside my driveway entrance.

If you don't want the wayward fisherman crossing your property line you should invest in a little signage or at least some purple paint. I, like most respectable fishermen, would recognize and respect that and turn around. If a property owner who knows these things might happen and doesn't do the necessary things to avert trespass, he should at least give the individual the benefit of the doubt and inform him of the property line and ask him to leave. There's no need to get nasty like a lot of these people do.

[parachiteadams39]

I think your critique of my point has some validity.

My aim was more to give city dwellers among us a sense of how it feels to find someone has fished your favorite hole a couple of hours before you planned to or put up a deer stand on your land: it feels like you've been violated and someone has sat in your easy chair.

I agree that it's important for landowners to post their land -- even more so after reading how blase a lot of people on this forum are about trespassing!

But there has certainly been much discussion in this thread of the idea that if I know (or suspect) it's private but it's not posted can I "get away with it."

And in that sense I think our points come together: if your front door isn't locked (I don't lock mine), if you don't have a no trespassing sign at the corner of your drive, if there isn't a fence between your neighbor's yard and yours, is it then acceptable for someone to come in to your house and crack open a brewski? Of course not.

Ditto all other forms of private property.

Again I'm about common decency. I agree that land owners could be more polite and that they should post their property. But I also know for many of us the fiftieth time we have to ask a trespasser to leave our land -- even when posted -- we tend to lose patience. It may be your first time trespassing on our land, but it's not our first time dealing with it and it gets really old.

[ozark trout fisher]

My aim was more to give city dwellers among us a sense of how it feels to find someone has fished your favorite hole a couple of hours before you planned

I am not a city dweller as you indicated. I live in a community of 600 people right now, and I moved here from a very small high desert town in Colorado. That's all I have as a response here-otherwise this topic is covered in another thread.

[Buzz]

Again I'm about common decency. I agree that land owners could be more polite and that they should post their property. But I also know for many of us the fiftieth time we have to ask a trespasser to leave our land -- even when posted -- we tend to lose patience. It may be your first time trespassing on our land, but it's not our first time dealing with it and it gets really old.

Believe me when I say that I totally understand and agree with you. These people who have no regards for the rights and ownership of others mess it up for all of us who do. Like I said before I would never knowingly trespass. And if I did I would be respectful of the landowner and very apologetic, then leave the way I came in.

[Chief Grey Bear]

Like I said before I would never knowingly trespass. And if I did I would be respectful of the landowner and very apologetic, then leave the way I came in.

LIAR!!!

[Buzz]

HAHA

[troutbum479]

going back to the first page on this thread. Who does own the land between the dairy farm and the city park? And on the case of trespassing how many fishermen on this forum have walked down the railroad tracks beside the city park to get to their fishing hole. We all know or should know that is considered trespassing, but most still do it.

[eric1978]

My aim was more to give city dwellers among us a sense of how it feels to find someone has fished your favorite hole a couple of hours before you planned to or put up a deer stand on your land: it feels like you've been violated and someone has sat in your easy chair.

A better analogy would have been...

How would you feel if someone walked past your house on the sidewalk that runs through your front yard? I know I don't run to get my shotgun when I see someone approaching my property, even if I think he might toss his Snickers wrapper on my lawn.

Waterways, regardless of size, should be considered "rural sidewalks," but society has established different sets of rules for different types of property.