Landowner run in on a stream near Pineville

[Terrierman]

5 hours ago, snagged in outlet 3 said:

Actually I think people these days are more careful than previously.   Everyone I know, including my adult children either Uber or hire out a company to haul them around.  My buddies at the lake hire "captains" to pilot their boats so they can party.  Not saying everyone does it but the smart ones do.  

It helps to have an over 16 and under 21 kid too.  Built in designated driver.

[Quillback]

5 hours ago, snagged in outlet 3 said:

Actually I think people these days are more careful than previously.   Everyone I know, including my adult children either Uber or hire out a company to haul them around.  My buddies at the lake hire "captains" to pilot their boats so they can party.  Not saying everyone does it but the smart ones do.  

You don't want to be crawling around here especially on St. Paddy's Day.  Local cops have stated they will be on the lookout for DUI types this weekend.  We've got a lot of cops in this town.  

[tjm]

Not many bars that I'm aware of though. Not long ago that was a "Dry County" and the residents would buy trunk (or truck)  loads of spirits to drink at home. 

[fishinwrench]

Truthfully it isn't responsible at all to get wasted, whether you're at home or not.  What if somebody falls down the stairs or gets badly injured slicing a tomato?   There has to be SOMEONE to step up and help.  

I was mildly buzzed the night that the tornado hit us......but had I been on the verge of passing out on the couch we would have all been killed.    It was a huge eye-opener for me.   

People that get wasted every few days, and live to 40 or more, are really lucky.   That's all there is to it. 

[Quillback]

Old lady that used to live across the street from me was a serious alcoholic.  She was drunk one night, fell and broke her hip.  They took her to the emergency room, she was in some serious pain, but they could not give her any pain meds until the alcohol wore off.  

[Al Agnew]

On 3/15/2025 at 8:17 PM, tjm said:

You think the party people are not part of the public that has access to the gravel for recreation? A party is recreation, isn't it?

In nearly 100% of the big parties at bridge accesses I've stumbled upon (and I've stumbled upon quite a few of them in the many years I've been floating), there was obviously at some illegal activities going on.  Underage drinking was by far the most common but there were others.  At one, I finished a night time float at about 1 AM, to find about 30 people on the gravel bar next to the bridge, cars parked willy nilly everywhere...and my vehicle nowhere in sight.  I just happened to look up the gravel road, and could see my light colored Blazer about 100 yards away in the moonlight.  Turned out that somebody had broken in the rear side window, found the keys that my dad had left hidden in it when he shuttled me, and given it a joy ride straight into the ditch (after ripping out the tape player that hadn't worked in a couple years and missing the 5 dollar bill that was probably worth more).  I approached a not quite completely wasted guy sitting on the tailgate of a big pickup and asked him if he owned the truck.  When he said he did, I asked him to pull me out of the ditch.  "Sure," he said, "as long as you don't ask me who put it there."

[tjm]

Sounds like you were lucky, a guy willing to pull you out and the car still derivable. I've seen cars that were strip salvaged right beside the street in the cities where police make constant rounds. In less than 1/2 hour time as I went down a sidewalk and made a return about 1/2 hour later. Saw what looked like a drug deal behind a doughnut shop where officers were having coffee at the time. A deputy driving by a couple times a week isn't likely to deter criminal activity at a place deemed to be "public". I bet you could find instances of drug labs and pot growth on private land that were tended by kayak or canoe if you searched a bit.

Your anecdote describes a circumstance that seems to justify elimination of the free access. And that may well be why the MODOT has closed all their land. And as far as floats go, I've seen groups of kayakers at the low water bridge that appeared to be intoxicated while floating, and a couple of times groups of "wading anglers" that were obviously not sober. I suppose that if a pair of deputies  spent enough time   at any low water bridge they could likely find reasons to arrest a fair number of floaters, even though the boating while intoxicated laws wouldn't apply, maybe they should.  

Unrestricted public access means access by criminals is encouraged. Advocating for unrestricted public access to private lands is in effect advocating for criminal use of those private lands. But if we want access to streams at bridges, we must allow that same access to all, parties, drug deals, drug producers, dumpers of stolen cars, all.

If laws are broken, the complaint must be about the law that is broken, not just use of the access.  And although you say underage drinking happened and I say some kayakers were intoxicated, I expect that in both cases we'd have no proof, you didn't get ID for age nor take a blood test and neither did I.