2 May 2013

Cut a hole in a fence, pay to get the fence fixed

| Barcham
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Rangers and Police combined forces to to catch someone who cut a hole in a fence out at the cotter. Then they charged him for it.

“In October 2012 a male offender was detected using a portable angle grinder to cut holes in one of the security gates at Vanity’s Crossing,” Manager of Regional Operations, National Parks & Catchments, Brett McNamara, said today.

“The blatant act of vandalism increased the risk of contamination of the Cotter Catchment, with locked gates erected on both sides of the crossing in February 2012 as a precautionary measure to reduce the risk of an event which could compromise the water quality of the Cotter River. The Cotter River provides over 80 percent of Canberra and Queanbeyan’s drinking water.

“The vandalism not only damaged public property taking time and resources to repair, but also put one of the limited number of water sources in the ACT at greater risk. It is good to see a strong message sent from the ACT Magistrates Court in relation to this offence.”

Mr McNamara said the outcome underscores the strength of the positive and proactive working relationship between Parks and Conservation rangers and ACT Policing.

I wanted to know why a person would take an angle-grinder out to cut a hole in a fence. Johnboy suggested it was probably a 4WD’er who was upset because he couldn’t drive out there anymore.

This sounded odd to me, I didn’t know that there are people out there who consider driving a 4WD places that you probably shouldn’t a hobby. I said that sounded like a stupid hobby.

I was then instructed to look up 4WDing in the Brindabellas, so I did and I found this video:

I stand corrected. 4WD’s are bad-arse. Still I think this rules out a 4WD’er as the suspect, because if he had one of those he could have just driven over the fence, just like climbed right over.

Like magic.

4WD

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wildturkeycanoe5:59 am 03 May 13

To be honest, a 4×4 crossing my drinking water supply doesn’t taste as bad as the thousands of native and feral animals that defecate and die in the same water. Just look at somewhere like Blowering Dam or Burrinjuck over the mountains and see what people can do there, before the water ends up flowing down to the next town for purification. I think this is more a case of someone in a government department justifying their job by coming up with ideas like stopping people from enjoying OUR National Parks, under the banner of “Environmentalism”. I hate Greenies….

Pork Hunt said :

Trial or trail bike? Might be of importance in this context so that the wrong crowd does not get hammered in error.

Oops, meant to be trail. Although you’re probably the only other one here who knows the difference between them Trial riders definitely wouldn’t cut the gate. They’d launch onto the top rail, spin 90 degrees and ride along the gate before launching from the gate post onto a nearby tree stump.

Sandman said :

Conan of Cooma said :

1. The gates are there to prevent vehicular access down existing tracks in the park – no fences. A basic lookup on Google maps or any other FREE map would have provided you with accurate information, not conjecture. If you haven’t been there don’t report like you have.

3. Well, considering the original reports of the vandalism, the frequency of bike traffic and rider vandalism out there, and the comments on a few regional rider forums in relation to the bust, I’d say you’re pretty crappy at finding facts for your stories.

p1 said :

Any gate that you can get a 4WD past, a bike rider can also get past. Although, I assume you are referring to the Lycra wearing subset of bike riders, and they are somewhat unpredictable.

I wasn’t inferring that the 4WDers get past gates, I was inferring the best terrain for 4WDers is somewhere where there is no gates or fences. If it’s flat enough to fence, it’s not fun driving terrain. Bike riders are usually the ones that need the gates open, anyway, as the majority are riding without registration and need to be able to fly off the main track at any time to escape the short, stumpy arm of the law.

Contradicting yourself a bit there buddy. You’re saying that it’s too flat to be fun enough for a 4wder so it must be bike riders? As a 4wd and bike owner I can tell you that anywhere you would even think about taking a 4wd is too flat to be any fun to a proper trial bike rider. As for cutting gates open, a dirt biker wouldn’t carry an angle grinder for that. He’d either ride the fence line till he found a hole, or in the severe case of the morons in Kowen on the MX bikes just cut the wire on the fence away from the gate. It’s much easier to carry a pair of pliers than a battery operated angle grinder.

Trial or trail bike? Might be of importance in this context so that the wrong crowd does not get hammered in error.

Conan of Cooma said :

1. The gates are there to prevent vehicular access down existing tracks in the park – no fences. A basic lookup on Google maps or any other FREE map would have provided you with accurate information, not conjecture. If you haven’t been there don’t report like you have.

3. Well, considering the original reports of the vandalism, the frequency of bike traffic and rider vandalism out there, and the comments on a few regional rider forums in relation to the bust, I’d say you’re pretty crappy at finding facts for your stories.

p1 said :

Any gate that you can get a 4WD past, a bike rider can also get past. Although, I assume you are referring to the Lycra wearing subset of bike riders, and they are somewhat unpredictable.

I wasn’t inferring that the 4WDers get past gates, I was inferring the best terrain for 4WDers is somewhere where there is no gates or fences. If it’s flat enough to fence, it’s not fun driving terrain. Bike riders are usually the ones that need the gates open, anyway, as the majority are riding without registration and need to be able to fly off the main track at any time to escape the short, stumpy arm of the law.

Contradicting yourself a bit there buddy. You’re saying that it’s too flat to be fun enough for a 4wder so it must be bike riders? As a 4wd and bike owner I can tell you that anywhere you would even think about taking a 4wd is too flat to be any fun to a proper trial bike rider. As for cutting gates open, a dirt biker wouldn’t carry an angle grinder for that. He’d either ride the fence line till he found a hole, or in the severe case of the morons in Kowen on the MX bikes just cut the wire on the fence away from the gate. It’s much easier to carry a pair of pliers than a battery operated angle grinder.

Comic_and_Gamer_Nerd said :

Conan of Cooma said :

1) A hole was not cut in a fence. The media release does not say fence. Where the hell did you get fence from? Perhaps you are thinking back to the tree-cam vid of the trail bikers cutting a hole in that fence? Which isn’t this.

2) “Cut a whole in a fence”? Dude…

3) 4WDers don’t need to take down gates, bike riders do. They do it all the time all over all the parks all over the country. It’s so common place that your inability to leap to the correct conclusion instantly, especially with media coverage over the last few years, is f***ing painful.

Whoa whoa calm down fella.

Wow Conan was swinging his mighty sword and taking no prisoners .Well if nothing else we can’t accuse Barcho of being a fence sitter!

p1 said :

I think the difference of opinion Conan of Cooma seems to hold might be the implication in the OP that serious competition 4WDers might be out cutting gates etc. I find it pretty unlikely that anyone who spends tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars building such distinctive machines is going to do such a thing.

On the other hand, idiots in stock hiluxs likely will… the same idiots who will then park and unload their unregistered trailbikes.

Good point on the comp trucks – highly unlikely those guys would be so silly.

But on the regular 4wders, you would have to be pretty silly to think that a fence needed to be breached to find a good 4wd spot. There are millions of them with open access – indeed there is a road that brings you around the other side of this gate (or close). I just can’t see the point in breaching this gate for 4wding purposes.

If he was a 4wder, I’d rather see him banned from the park for a few months on top of the $650 replacement fee.

It’s a problem everywhere. Trail bikers and 4WD drivers cut through private and government fences to drive on country that appeals to them. If you’ve ever seen a line of large rocks along a fenceline (like on the King’s between Ridgeway and Captains Flat Rd turnoff) it’s the last desperate measure to stop the 4WD-ers. the fence and gate along Cuunbean reserve (Captains Flat Rd) were cut almost weekly by such people wanting access for their vehicles. They’ve installed a new and difficult to cut gate there now, an angle grinder would do it, but it’s right on the road so presumably the risk of being seen is a deterrant.

I think the difference of opinion Conan of Cooma seems to hold might be the implication in the OP that serious competition 4WDers might be out cutting gates etc. I find it pretty unlikely that anyone who spends tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars building such distinctive machines is going to do such a thing.

On the other hand, idiots in stock hiluxs likely will… the same idiots who will then park and unload their unregistered trailbikes.

Comic_and_Gamer_Nerd3:33 pm 02 May 13

Conan of Cooma said :

1) A hole was not cut in a fence. The media release does not say fence. Where the hell did you get fence from? Perhaps you are thinking back to the tree-cam vid of the trail bikers cutting a hole in that fence? Which isn’t this.

2) “Cut a whole in a fence”? Dude…

3) 4WDers don’t need to take down gates, bike riders do. They do it all the time all over all the parks all over the country. It’s so common place that your inability to leap to the correct conclusion instantly, especially with media coverage over the last few years, is f***ing painful.

Whoa whoa calm down fella.

Here is a pic from before the fires looking towards Tuggeranong from mt Coree:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/spelio/221819444/in/pool-australiainthe80s

Barcham, that part of the Brindabells was a great playground that has been lost since the fires in 2003.

The area was mostly state forest with pine trees (so it was stuffed anyway) and had a great many tracks to spend an afternoon climbing hills and enjoying the outdoors with your family or your mates in 4WDs & motorbikes.

Given the Stanhope governments stance on anything that has an engine that is remotely enjoyable needing to be banned they sytematically started closing the area down by bulldozing tracks, adding gates & wot not. This was way before the ECD became a reality.

I really miss not being able to get out into that area, it was great fun. We used to swim in Vanities in summer, then head up to Mt Coree to watch the sun set (thank god we can still do that) or help my mates with their rally cars on a cold Saturday night in winter.

These things are now gone.

At least there is now a reason for the shut down.

Regardless of fence/gate etc, good to see a vandal caught. A mate of mine who’s a 4WD enthusiast came across a couple of young lads putting chains around a toilet block in a reasonably remote NSW location and then pulling in opposite direction with their 4WDs to see who could pull it over. My mate told them he thought this was an excellent joke and asked if they minded if he filmed it on his mobile, to which they readily agreed. He made sure he got clear shots of their number plates and handed it over to authorities. Winning!

And for those of you who may think to leap in with how he should have protested and tried to stop them, it’s was a numbers (of people) game and too risky for him under the circumstances, so well handled, I think.

Conan of Cooma12:13 pm 02 May 13

Conan of Cooma said :

…as the majority are riding without registration and need to be able to fly off the main track at any time to escape the short, stumpy arm of the law.

For clarification purposes, I’m not referring to all riders, just the clowns that put their armour on for the weekend and go and dust up the National Parks. It’s rare to see one sporting rego of any kind, but you do get a few doing the right thing.

Conan of Cooma12:10 pm 02 May 13

Barcham said :

1. I assumed the gate would be a part of a fence. My apologies if I’m wrong. I’ve not been out there.
2. Egads, I need more caffeine this morning I think. I’ll edit that up right now…
3. Do they really? I’m glad you know which conclusion to leap to is the correct one without having any evidence available to support your decision. I’m sorry our inability to blindly guess the truth as well as you can is painful to you.

1. The gates are there to prevent vehicular access down existing tracks in the park – no fences. A basic lookup on Google maps or any other FREE map would have provided you with accurate information, not conjecture. If you haven’t been there don’t report like you have.

2. Caffeine has been proven to have no effect to the one you are seeking. It stimulates, but not the part that makes you think better.

3. Well, considering the original reports of the vandalism, the frequency of bike traffic and rider vandalism out there, and the comments on a few regional rider forums in relation to the bust, I’d say you’re pretty crappy at finding facts for your stories.

p1 said :

Any gate that you can get a 4WD past, a bike rider can also get past. Although, I assume you are referring to the Lycra wearing subset of bike riders, and they are somewhat unpredictable.

I wasn’t inferring that the 4WDers get past gates, I was inferring the best terrain for 4WDers is somewhere where there is no gates or fences. If it’s flat enough to fence, it’s not fun driving terrain. Bike riders are usually the ones that need the gates open, anyway, as the majority are riding without registration and need to be able to fly off the main track at any time to escape the short, stumpy arm of the law.

Conan of Cooma said :

3) 4WDers don’t need to take down gates, bike riders do.

Any gate that you can get a 4WD past, a bike rider can also get past. Although, I assume you are referring to the Lycra wearing subset of bike riders, and they are somewhat unpredictable.

Conan of Cooma said :

1) A hole was not cut in a fence. The media release does not say fence. Where the hell did you get fence from? Perhaps you are thinking back to the tree-cam vid of the trail bikers cutting a hole in that fence? Which isn’t this.

2) “Cut a whole in a fence”? Dude…

3) 4WDers don’t need to take down gates, bike riders do. They do it all the time all over all the parks all over the country. It’s so common place that your inability to leap to the correct conclusion instantly, especially with media coverage over the last few years, is f***ing painful.

1. I assumed the gate would be a part of a fence. My apologies if I’m wrong. I’ve not been out there.
2. Egads, I need more caffeine this morning I think. I’ll edit that up right now…
3. Do they really? I’m glad you know which conclusion to leap to is the correct one without having any evidence available to support your decision. I’m sorry our inability to blindly guess the truth as well as you can is painful to you.

Conan of Cooma10:57 am 02 May 13

1) A hole was not cut in a fence. The media release does not say fence. Where the hell did you get fence from? Perhaps you are thinking back to the tree-cam vid of the trail bikers cutting a hole in that fence? Which isn’t this.

2) “Cut a whole in a fence”? Dude…

3) 4WDers don’t need to take down gates, bike riders do. They do it all the time all over all the parks all over the country. It’s so common place that your inability to leap to the correct conclusion instantly, especially with media coverage over the last few years, is f***ing painful.

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