Date: Wed, 10 Jan 2001 22:46:12 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Phil Davis Subject: Re: Snowy Owl situation In-Reply-To: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed All - Don't take this question/comment wrong ... going into someone's yard uninvited was a big mistake and ditto for blocking the road, etc. But having said that, it's my understanding that typically, there is an eight-foot public right-of-way along each side of every road. It has to do with running utilities, etc. I can't confirm this, maybe an attorney out there on MDOsprey can comment. In the 70's I was active in time-speed-distance sports car rallying ... on public roads and within the speed limits. Part of this sport was the encountering of "checkpoints" along the route where the cars were timed and logged in. As you can see, the question of the legality of our being on the side of the road was raised many times. Obviously we did not set up our checkpoints in front of houses, but, in front of fields, pastures and woods was typical, even though this might be "private" land. Occasionally, we were "run off" by an indignant landowner. Perhaps more as an academic exercise, we were interested in what our "rights" were, although no one was interested in arguing with the local gendarme who insisted we move on or a farmer brandishing a shotgun who felt that the land was his all the way up to the road ... Maybe the question is purely academic, but does anyone know the legal answer? If there are no "no parking" signs, I think we are technically legal to park on the side of the road as long as we don't block traffic. Phil At 06:29 PM 01/10/2001 -0500, Bob Mumford wrote: (snip) >He [the policeman] ordered all cars to be >completely off the road and stated emphatically that no more warnings will be >given. Anyone parking on the road from now on will be ticketed. He also >said anyone parking or walking on the south side of the road, where the >Crawfords live, will be cited for trespassing and taken to court. ================================== Phil Davis Davidsonville, Maryland USA mailto:PDavis@ix.netcom.com ================================== ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================