Four Wheeler Stolen In Fairfax

[cedarman]

I like: "shoot shovel and shut up" (but only if the intruder is armed AND in my house.

Since we are a "nation of laws" (discussion about effectiveness deferred), as citizens, what "LEGAL" rights do we have to detain someone we catch on our property attempting to steal or damage private property?  None?

[cedarman]

Found this info:

Here's what the Vermont Law is: 13 VSA § 4954. Arrest without a warrant.



The arrest of a person may be lawfully made by an officer or a private citizen without a warrant upon reasonable information that the accused stands charged in the courts of Vermont or another state with a crime punishable by death or imprisonment for a term exceeding one year. When so arrested, the accused shall be taken before a superior judge, assistant judge of the superior court, or judge of a district court as soon as may be and complaint shall be made against him under oath setting forth the ground for the arrest as in section 4953 of this title; and thereafter his answer shall be heard as if he had been arrested on a warrant. Amended 1965, No. 194, § 10, operative February 1, 1967; 1973, No. 193 (Adj. Sess.), § 3, eff. April 9, 1974.



I'm not certain of this, but I'm assuming there must be a VT law related to home invasion that would be punishable by more than a year in prison.

[Mike Raburn]

Was it green in color?

[mirjo]

Despite all the legalese, it's unlikely that a citizen's arrest would be successful w/o the use of some kind of weapon, be it a bat, shovel, firearm or brute force. Suggesting that that the criminal element could be caught without show of some force or intent of seems particularly ridiculous.

These are not cats. Shaking a box of food and calling "here kitty,ktty" is not going to have the desired affect in this case. I don't advocate violence by any means, we are supposed to be a civilized society with laws/rules et-al; however, thieves among the law abiding flout the laws because they know they will get away with it 99-100% of the time because law enforcement really just shrugs and says "oh well, not much we can do about it."

Why is that? Having been a victim of robbery in this town some years back, we were told the exact same thing. If the people in charge of "doing something about it" can't or won't who does that leave? A group of citizens left to protect themselves from thieves with more rights and freedom. A more negative connotation is a vigilante posse.

I'm all for peaceful resolutions and would like to see this four wheeler located in someone's garage and have the authorities confront the person. I would like to see some kid get his butt  kicked by his parents, since it obviously didn't happen enough before,  if he felt so entitled to avail himself of someone else's property.

We all chose to live out in the sticks.  And this is what happens.  AT THE SAME time though, small towns/rural communities have their own ways of maintaining order.  They don't neccesarily need VIOLENT vigilantism.  When you organize and agree to limitations... it goes from vigilante posse to 'Neighborhood Watch'.  I don't see it written anywhere that berating and making little stealing pukes wet themselves was going to get you landed in jail.

I couldn't agree more

[mary]

Vermont's DMV website has a "readable" guide regarding ATVs, including registration, titling, equipment and operating and age requirements.  http://dmv.vermont.gov/publications.  With a couple of exceptions, an ATV must be registered to be operated anywhere except on land owned by its owner and ATVs with a model year of 2004 or after must be titled.   
 

Perhaps some of the problems that arise, including accidents involving children, unauthorized use, damages and even theft could be alleviated if it were followed a bit.   

[Mike Raburn]

Fairfax Residents,

I spoke with our friends this morning regarding the four wheeler.  They are very thankful that so many people in Fairfax are supportive of them.  The family would still like to remain anonymous but have asked me to post a description of the stolen property.

2007 Yahama Grizzly 400 4 Wheeler ( Green In Color )

The family used the machine to plow their driveway in the winter.  Any information leading to the individuals that have the machine would be appreciated.

Regards
Dave Shea

I have an eye out for it here between Anchorage and Palmer!!

[lena6]

When Jim and I had our business up where the daycare is, we were always having somethink stolen.  Believe me, the law never did a thing.  You find out who they were, report them, take them to court and they got a slap on their hands and were told never to do it again.  We also had many tires punched when they were parked there.  This was about 20 years ago.  Does it want you to take the law into your own hands?  YES....................................

[Stand Alone Defense]

Correct me if I'm wrong Josh, but I don't think we need to register our ATVs with the dmv in vermont.  Usually when something like this happens a posse is what it comes down to.  About 14 years ago there was someone running thru fairfax, fletcher, and fairfield stealing farmers atvs and even burning some of them.  There was alot of speculation as of what happened but lets just say all of a sudden people weren't missing 4-wheelers anymore.

Yes, if you are going to operate an ATV off of your own property on public roads or on any VASA trail in the state of Vermont you are required to have it registered.  Does this always happen? No.  Also farmers are not required to register their ATVs if they are using them in a farm capacity 

[Stand Alone Defense]

The worse part about having an ATV stolen is in most cases the person or persons stealing it are simply stealing it to beat on it and joy ride so most times if it is recovered it's not in working condition.  I recovered one 2 years ago after meeting the ATV on the road at 11 pm I decided to turn around and see what the individual was up to.  By the time I caught up to the fourwheeler it was abandon in the ditch with antifreeze spraying everywhere and the ignition busted out.  Turns out it had just been stolen from a house 1 mile down the road didn't take the thief long to render the machine in operable.  Just another case of someone have zero respect for other peoples property!!