What would your reaction be if you returned at dusk to a public boat ramp after a day-long fishing trip and discovered your vehicle and boat trailer had disappeared?
Panic, anger, worry, if you had small children or senior citizens with you? That’s what happened June 2 to Richard Sanders of Jacksonville at the heavily-used USO ramp at the New River.
“I didn’t have my children with me, but often I do,” he said.
He did have on board William Rouse, a member of the Division of Marine Fisheries Southeast Regional Advisory Committee.
A Wildlife Resources enforcement officer had come to the USO ramp, seen Sanders’ extra-long boat trailer and pickup truck double-parked and called Smith’s Auto Service of Jacksonville.
“What had happened was there was only two (boat-trailer) parking spaces left when we got there,” Sanders said. “Instead of pulling straight in and blocking the road, I parked in two spaces.”
Fifteen to 20 vehicles and/or trailers have been towed at the USO ramp the last six months. Each tow costs the owner $250.
“We get calls from different officers,” said Lynn Smith, owner of Smith’s Auto Service. “We’ve towed probably 60 to 80 total vehicles at the USO ramp. Most of (the single vehicles) are (illegally) parked; the owners usually are at the (nearby) courthouse.”
Sanders’ brother, who works for the Onslow County Sheriff’s Department, knew where his vehicle and trailer had been towed.
“The owner (Smith) was really nice,” Sanders said. “Once he heard what happened, he only charged me $100 and worked late to help me get my truck and trailer that night.”
Since then rumors have flown that a particular WRC enforcement officer had a deal to call Smith’s Auto Service to tow vehicles and trailers. However, Smith said he didn’t know nor was he or his employees related to any officers who call for USO tows.
Rouse said, because of recent concerns about lack of coastal boating access and a flurry of WRC-instigated tows at ramps, he discovered WRC officers are not supposed to call the same wrecker service repeatedly — to avoid the appearance of collusion. But Jacksonville’s other towing services, Sanders Garage and Cox Body Shop, have towed only a few vehicles at the USO ramp.
Don Cox said the USO towing issue was so controversial, he tried to stay away from it. “We’ve towed some abandoned cars at the USO,” he said. “Wildlife (officers) only call one service.”
Jason Sanders said his business never gets calls from the WRC.
Cox Body Shop and Sanders Garage are about 1 mile from the USO ramp while Smith’s Auto Service is 3 miles from the ramp.
“I guess (WRC) calls us because we have four full-time wreckers, and we’re Johnny-on-the-spot when they call,” Smith said.
Sanders said he believed the lack of attention to public boating access and an overzealous WRC officer were roots of the problem.
“Jacksonville doesn’t count Camp Lejeune Marines as (local) citizens, but they are,” he said. “We need more boating accesses.”
Sanders also said it would have been OK if the WRC officer had just issued him a citation instead of towing his vehicle.
“When you tow somebody’s vehicle, and they get back (to a ramp) at night, you could be endangering lives,” he said. “I’d accept a ticket. Some common sense would have been good.”
Be the first to comment