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Code enforcement officer keeps an eye on off-roaders
By Jimmy Biggerstaff / Hi-Desert Star
The off-road-vehicle puzzle has lots of pieces. Families and other folks have been coming here for years, mainly on weekends, to escape the urban rat race.
By and large, these visitors are responsible riders who comply with all regulations and ordinances. But not all riders fall into this category.
There are irresponsible outlaws who come here to rip around the desert, terrorizing everything in their path. They are the diametric opposite to those who enjoy the tranquility, solace and stunning vistas that the desert offers.
Not surprisingly, this group is not at all appreciative of the dust and noise raised by ORV riding, and many of them are not hesitant about notifying law and code enforcement officials when ORVs invade their space.
That’s where Hugh Oram comes in. He is a County of San Bernardino code enforcement officer dedicated to off-highway vehicle compliance, specifically County Ordinance 3973 passed by the board of supervisors last summer.
Officials say code is working
The code is working, Oram’s boss, Mike Romage said. “Part of what’s making it work is that we’re out there. We’re trying to make it work on both sides,” Romage added. “We have all kinds of situations to deal with.
“There are good people on both sides,” the code enforcement supervisor noted. “It’s never going to be perfect. You’re never going to completely get rid of illegal activity.”
The code enforcers back up their observations with statistics detailing contacts and citations by location and month. The numbers are dropping since officials initially tackled the problem last summer.
Romage tells horror stories about officers’ initial public contacts informing riders that they were out of compliance with the new ordinance. Reaction was often far less than complimentary.
The “law West of the Pecos” mentality is today largely tamed through the educational efforts of dedicated county law and code enforcement teams. The majority of Oram’s warnings these days are received with respect and immediate compliance.
A weekend shift for the ORV code compliance officer is a steady stream of contacts with the riding public, out for some fun on the weekend. Oram, a retired Riverside County sheriff’s deputy, uses the various tools of a veteran law enforcement officer to alternately compliment, cajole and, when necessary, encourage in the strongest terms, compliance with the county code.
“We just try to keep it down to a dull roar,” Oram said realistically of his department’s efforts to contain ORV violations.
As he patrolled in Pipes Canyon recently, a rider on an open, four-wheel vehicle commonly called a quad came ripping up the side of the canyon. Oram recognized him and drove alongside the rider, documenting the offense with a digital video camera.
After narrowly missing another law breaker in a dune buggy recklessly riding in the opposite direction, the quad rider disappeared into a Flamingo Heights neighborhood. Oram took the evasion in stride. “I don’t take it personally. They’ve got to get away every time. I’ve only got to catch them once.”
Almost certainly, Oram and the outlaw rider will come in contact again in the future.
World’s largest riding area
Off of Old Woman Springs Road on the way to Lucerne Valley lies Johnson Valley Off-Highway Vehicle Area, the largest designated, unrestricted ORV riding area in the nation.
The area has a varied landscape of rolling hills, steep climbs, dry lakebeds and sandy washes, a paradise for ORVs of all kinds and riders of all skills.
A widely distributed brochure compiled by the Town of Yucca Valley Police Department exhorts in red italic print, “There is no open riding in the Morongo Basin outside of Johnson Valley OHV area!”
The same rule goes in Joshua Tree National Park, where all vehicles must stay on roads, according to Cindy VonHalle, supervisory park ranger. “We have some four-wheel-drive roads available that get people out in to the back country.”
Traveling west from Old Woman Springs Road in Landers are designated routes from New Dixie Mine Road on Bureau of Land Management property into Rattlesnake Canyon and the Bighorn Mountain Wilderness.
The key word, Bob Hasty, BLM chief ranger in the Barstow office, emphasized, is designated. Hasty said a good rule of thumb when riding on BLM land is to stay on marked trails.
By and large, these visitors are responsible riders who comply with all regulations and ordinances. But not all riders fall into this category.
There are irresponsible outlaws who come here to rip around the desert, terrorizing everything in their path. They are the diametric opposite to those who enjoy the tranquility, solace and stunning vistas that the desert offers.
Not surprisingly, this group is not at all appreciative of the dust and noise raised by ORV riding, and many of them are not hesitant about notifying law and code enforcement officials when ORVs invade their space.
That’s where Hugh Oram comes in. He is a County of San Bernardino code enforcement officer dedicated to off-highway vehicle compliance, specifically County Ordinance 3973 passed by the board of supervisors last summer.
Officials say code is working
The code is working, Oram’s boss, Mike Romage said. “Part of what’s making it work is that we’re out there. We’re trying to make it work on both sides,” Romage added. “We have all kinds of situations to deal with.
“There are good people on both sides,” the code enforcement supervisor noted. “It’s never going to be perfect. You’re never going to completely get rid of illegal activity.”
The code enforcers back up their observations with statistics detailing contacts and citations by location and month. The numbers are dropping since officials initially tackled the problem last summer.
Romage tells horror stories about officers’ initial public contacts informing riders that they were out of compliance with the new ordinance. Reaction was often far less than complimentary.
The “law West of the Pecos” mentality is today largely tamed through the educational efforts of dedicated county law and code enforcement teams. The majority of Oram’s warnings these days are received with respect and immediate compliance.
A weekend shift for the ORV code compliance officer is a steady stream of contacts with the riding public, out for some fun on the weekend. Oram, a retired Riverside County sheriff’s deputy, uses the various tools of a veteran law enforcement officer to alternately compliment, cajole and, when necessary, encourage in the strongest terms, compliance with the county code.
“We just try to keep it down to a dull roar,” Oram said realistically of his department’s efforts to contain ORV violations.
As he patrolled in Pipes Canyon recently, a rider on an open, four-wheel vehicle commonly called a quad came ripping up the side of the canyon. Oram recognized him and drove alongside the rider, documenting the offense with a digital video camera.
After narrowly missing another law breaker in a dune buggy recklessly riding in the opposite direction, the quad rider disappeared into a Flamingo Heights neighborhood. Oram took the evasion in stride. “I don’t take it personally. They’ve got to get away every time. I’ve only got to catch them once.”
Almost certainly, Oram and the outlaw rider will come in contact again in the future.
World’s largest riding area
Off of Old Woman Springs Road on the way to Lucerne Valley lies Johnson Valley Off-Highway Vehicle Area, the largest designated, unrestricted ORV riding area in the nation.
The area has a varied landscape of rolling hills, steep climbs, dry lakebeds and sandy washes, a paradise for ORVs of all kinds and riders of all skills.
A widely distributed brochure compiled by the Town of Yucca Valley Police Department exhorts in red italic print, “There is no open riding in the Morongo Basin outside of Johnson Valley OHV area!”
The same rule goes in Joshua Tree National Park, where all vehicles must stay on roads, according to Cindy VonHalle, supervisory park ranger. “We have some four-wheel-drive roads available that get people out in to the back country.”
Traveling west from Old Woman Springs Road in Landers are designated routes from New Dixie Mine Road on Bureau of Land Management property into Rattlesnake Canyon and the Bighorn Mountain Wilderness.
The key word, Bob Hasty, BLM chief ranger in the Barstow office, emphasized, is designated. Hasty said a good rule of thumb when riding on BLM land is to stay on marked trails.
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