‘Right to Ride’ Law Brought Up at BOS Meeting

During the Public Input portion of Tuesday morning’s Lee County Board of Supervisors meeting, Lee County resident Ron Becker addressed the issue of the ‘Right to Ride’ law that has been discussed at past meetings.

Becker brought copies of the Des Moines County ordinance and said he spoke to former Board Chairman Don Hunold in the past about the issue.

“I’d kind of like to know where we could go from here with this,” Becker said.

The ‘Right to Ride’ issue pertains to people being able to ride their ATV’s in different areas as long as they are properly licensed with the county.

Becker said he has spoken to people in Jefferson and Van Buren Counties and they said they have had no problems with their ordinances.

“With Jefferson and Fairfield, you can drive them down and park them right on Main Street,” Becker said.

This exact ordinance has been discussed at past meetings and was even voted on in past years, having been voted down by a 3-2 vote.

County Sheriff Stacy Weber said he has actually already begun work on it with County Attorney Ross Braden.

Weber had previously stated the idea of having a harsher penalty if the ordinance is not followed properly, an idea that was agreed on by member of the Board.

“I like Stacy’s idea too, putting some teeth into it so those who decide not to obey the rules of the ordinance, that you can confiscate whatever they are driving,” Supervisor Ron Fedler said.

Becker agreed this would be very effective.

“Once the word gets out that they’re confiscating wheelers, they’re going to buy whatever they need to make it legal,” Becker said.

Fedler and fellow Board member Matt Pflug will do more research and look into the ordinance further while also bringing in Braden to talk about the ordinance.

The hope is they will be able to bring something back to the Board by the end of February.