We got one and want to fight it. Has anyone got a ticket and went to court yet? Did you win? Any help would be great. Thanks Debbie

Can't help with the ticket ,but how about some details about how you got it ..."just the facts mam".....

Fight it by saying that where you went in was not marked by any stakes or signs and you had no idea you were in the enclosed area until you got pulled over.

Go back and take pic's of where you crossed into the closure. Good luck...

We went out to china wall Saturday afternoon, and on the way back strayed into the closure. It took quite a while to figure out that we were in fact, in the closure. Lots of tracks, and the lack of markers. I don't see how you can avoid it in some situations. The marker situation is in shambles.

Shambles.....I haven't use that word in a while.

that is a VERY common thing and the many tracks in the area prove that. i remember my first ride to china wall we past china wall by a couple miles and what set us off was we stopped seeing tracks. but none the less we never saw a marker or less tracks for a while past the area markers we saw when we headed back in a different direction. ahhhh the perfect world of law enforcment.

The more pics you have of how you got in there the better your case. Take pic's that show a newspaper headline tro prove the pic's date was not before the papers date. GET A LAWYER you do not know how to play the game inside the Courtroom. GET A LAWYER and listen to what they say. Good luck and let us know how it turns out

Thanks for the help. We have been only going to Glamis now for a few years. We only knew about the closed area from our friends we went with. We really didn't see any signs going in but did on the way out when we got the ticket. The blm ranger was coming toward us when we saw the signs. We attended the cleanup and didn't get anything handed to us about any closed areas. Only got a flyer for the future hands across the dunes. We were by olds hill I think? We plan to take some pictures during next trip. And we plan to fight this ticket to. My other post someone said it was $165 for the ticket

Go for it, they need to fix the signs

The standard for successful prosecution by the government is based upon the legal question of: "Did you knowingly and willfully enter into this area."

From what I can see here, you did not.

If you can take pictures of where you entered the "closed area" and provide a GPS coordinate and have a map of the dunes showing the same with this GPS information, I’d say you have a good chance of defending this action.

Also, I’d take pictures of where you entered the dunes with you rig (off the highway) and along with any “road” you used to get to your camp and your camp area demonstrating that you have no knowledge of the closure or where the closure boundary is because the area was not marked properly.

Lawyers are useless in something like this.. 165.00 bucks or 500+..

You have a case - an easy case.. Pics and proof are in your court. Even better is to invite ALL of US to witness for you.. 200 or so duners will change a judges mind fast..

let me know when and where if its in san diego, ill make time to show up for that case.

Thanks for the offer. We plan to take pictures this weekend of the stakes and will let you know about the court date. Debbie

seems like the lawyer would cost way more than the ticket.i realize the importance of principles so i would probably fight it also.who is going to pay for the signage when it becomes into play for proper enforcement.?seems only fair if you want it closed you should pay to sign it.the only problem is it doesnt seem to be going that way which boggles me.when i go hunting the farmers pay to post their land not the hunters.

2 weeks ago Tron, WildBill, and myself were in the back tearing it up sunday morning.. Sand was nice - suddenly it was TOO nice - I looked up and sure enough I was looking at the back side of a closure stake..

Never even saw it going in..

its hard to call something closed when they dont even bother to fix the stakes/signs

they are probably too busy writing tickets for DOT helmets and passes

They do fix them,,,but they are in SAND!!! I've been in the closed areas too and didn't know it.

When I went on the BLM flyover last month I saw many stakes out of the ground completely and others that were buried almost completely. Scott the BLM re-staker man said they just finished the small closure @ Buttercup the week before and that most duners found in the closed areas were behind Olds Hill or the small one by Patton. Its a never ending battle against the WIND to keep the markers UP...

I just spoke to Patti the ASA Chair for printing and copying needs, her husband Harley received a ticket over New Years for entering the closed area. The ticket was $146.00. They went to court on Feb. 22nd in Brawley and had it reduced to $50.00. She didn't have the name of the BLM person but it might have been Scott who commented that the stakes are NOT in great shape. So Sandqueen, contact Patti for any tips or pictures they have to help your case... Good luck.

ASA Committees Page

Chummin us too. Didn't see any stakes going in until to late.

Thanks for the info sanduners. Our court date is next month so I will contact Patti for tips what is her email address? Debbie

You can find it on the link above. ASA Committee page. Look for the Printing and Copying Services and click on her name.

Hope your court date goes good.

Use some Fee money to pay for someone to fix the signs more often.

Oh...I forgot...the Fee money is only used to hire more people to make sure people pay their fee.

Just ask to donate some money and some labor to repair the stakes next time your out there!