Illegal Driving Of 4-Wheelers Rampant In Hendry-Glades
LABELLE, FLORIDA -- Sunshine Acres in LaBelle has an ongoing problem with 4-wheelers running amok all over the streets in the area, residents say. Although running unlicensed vehicles like these on any street or greenbelt area is illegal under Florida law, many areas of Hendry county are plagued with the sounds of these off-road vehicles and the damage they do to the grounds they run over.
In LaBelle, a retail store has opened in recent months selling the 4-wheelers. The Florida law only allows driving such unlicensed vehicles on private property, with the permission of the property owner. Thus, there are not a lot of places one can legally drive these.
One local Sunshine Acres resident says "These people are just having a field day over here destroying the road side ditches that the county road and bridge just spent good taxpayer dollars on to clean and reshape for better drainage." Wanting to remain anonymous he says the Sheriff's office hasn't been any help in controlling the vehicles use on public roads. He says, "They destroy people's driveways, and when you call the sheriff's department about them they (the dispatchers) just blow you off. They will take your number and tell you that a deputy will call you back and they never do."
Port LaBelle for years had a similar problem due to their extensive system of greenbelts behind many homes. People were driving everything from 4-wheelers to swamp buggies through resident's backyards. After hundreds of calls to the Sheriff's office and posting of warning signs at the Port LaBelle entrances, the problems has gone away, although an occasional 4-wheeler is still seen in the area.
We have had issues of vehicles and four wheelers driving all over the greenbelt and getting stuck and rutting up the greenbelts behind our homes and throwing trash all over and beer bottles and cans. We have called the sheriff department several times to have them run off and we ourselves have run them off. WHY does the county not put up signs and or ropes blocking off the greenbelts from these vehicles? They go through private owned lots, they have thrown trash into the lake (in which we live on) and we have untangled a duck from a plastic bag thrown by these trespassers. We live in a small neighborhood on the lake at Cedarwood and hwy 80. We have paid ourselves to have signs placed for no vehicles or ATVs allowed as well as no trespassing signs and put up flags to detour vehicles from ruining our greenbelt and trashing it, disturbing our peace with drinking and we have even run off people that parked at the culdasac and were smoking pot! We need law enforcement to ENFORCE the laws regarding vehicles on the greenbelt, littering and public drinking.... We run them off constantly but we are citizens and the law needs to be more forceful and back us up. Who knows what one of these people who disregard our privacy as well as the law may do... we do not want them behind our homes or trashing our neighborhoods. We voted for people we felt would be good for our community and our peace of mind... we just want them to put into action what should be done in the first place. We are tired of these people driving vehicles and ruining the land. This is not a road, and only county vehicles are supposed to drive on the greenbelt.. yet no one stops them, law enforcement just drives by when they see vehicles on the greenbelt... REALLY? Are we that unimportant except when you want our vote? We LIVE here, this is OUR back yard, that trash winds up in our yard on the lake and hurts our wildlife... I do not come into someone elses neighborhood and trash it or rut up the ground, disturb their peace... so why is nothing being done to protect our properties and the land around it as well as our peace of mind?
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