Troy wrote:
Chaz wrote:
The site has reached a new low with the OP and talking about breaking the law and trespassing and others encouraging the OP to do just that. It's no wonder this country is going to hell in a handbasket.
This freaking world needs to loosen up a little. That is what is wrong with this world. It is trespassing, not murder or rape. I guarantee you have trespassed before in your life. GUARANTEED! It isn't a landowner's personal property. It is a state park which us people in the area pay taxes on to keep it going. If a kid wants to sneak in and do a little fishing, so be it. He knows the consequences, which really wouldn't be too bad in my opinion since he is a kid sneaking in a posted area to fish. He isn't going in there to shoot heroin or smoke crack. He is a kid being a little adventurous and no one is getting hurt.
"The horror"
Regardless of who the landowner is (private individual, a commonwealth, a small business, a multinational corporation conglomerate), it is still posted against trespass. It is the principle of disregard for the rights of property owners and the perception that is formed of so called sportspeople for their disregard of the rights of property owners and the underlying entitlement mentality of "if I don't like something, I can do whatever I want with it" that maybe causes some level of concern.
Have I trespassed before? I explored a Wildlife Propagation area around a reservoir that was near my house when I was young (but I was only hiking - no one was hurt, right?). But that does not mean I was in the right, nor does my own indiscretion at one point in my life justify encouraging others to do so, nor does it justify anyone who trespasses. So some here condone trespassing to fish. Is it ok to trespass to scuba dive in the quarry? Is it ok to trespass to cliff-dive in the quarry? Is it ok to trespass to shoot heroin or smoke crack? How do you ensure that someone doesn't progress into riskier activities unless you place a blanket closure on the whole area?
Part of growing up is making mistakes and learning what the consequences to making mistakes are. If my kid got caught trespassing somewhere and cited and fined, there would be no way that I would be paying that fine. My kid would learn about the real price of their choices and in the future, would have one more dollar-defined data point to factor into their decision making process.
There is also a mistaken assumption that because one pays taxes to an entity, one can do whatever they want with that entity's resources. Guess what? That entity makes the rules on how the resources can be used. Just because your feel like X or your opinion is Y doesn't mean that you can go wherever you want to. Sage advice that has been given here is that if you don't like the rules or limitations on the resources, then work to get them changed.
The OP originally stated he had been there 3-4 times. Then, a few pages later, the OP states this is just a hypothetical post to see what would happen if he was there? Over alleged rumors of 22" wild browns, or somewhere, someone throws in the presence of huge wild brookies? I'll bet there may be Sasquatches (not the one on this board, though, as he has weighed in against trespassing), mountain lions, fairies and unicorns in the quarry too, probably enjoying the hypothermia-inducing H2O.
And as to the rumor about a diving hose being cut and thus a murder being committed in the quarry? The state police investigated and found there to be no evidence of foul play. Two people drowned there in the winter, under the ice, apparently because a safety line was not tied off properly, and a rumor started that a third person on the surface cut that line. People have died there cliff diving. So while no confirmed rapes or murders have occurred there, people have DIED there, because they trespassed or at least took part in an activity that was high-risk, without vetting that activity with say a park ranger. If they had not trespassed, they may very well still be alive. When people die on public or semi-public land, that land often gets posted, especially if there is some feature on that land that creates a higher risk of other deaths occurring.
Edit: I don't see any bludgeoning here. Just two different camps of opinion.
1) The law is the law and whether I agree with it or not, I abide with it.
2) I don't like the law, so for the convenience of my own benefit (i.e. access to fish), I rationalize disregarding it.