Quote:
Originally Posted by jrc
I really didn't mean to get into that discussion, I'm sure some of those people are tresspassing. I was really trying to address the swimming from the trail point. People will swim from the trail, they already do.
And just because they may be tresspassing, doesn't mean they are commiting a crime, in NH criminal tresspassing requires that you know that you are tresspassing.
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Much of the Paugus Bay shoreline along the tracks is very rocky and not very "swimable".
There are a couple of private beaches in SDS, but those are private and would be no more open to random swimmer usage than any other privately owned beachfront along the lake.
The 9 mile crime trail statement is a tad extreme, but also rooted in reality. As was mentioned elsewhere, similar trails in MA *HAVE* seen a concentration of crimes. Of course it is not vacationers coming to commit crimes, it is local people taking advantage of people who do not know the trails and surroundings very well.
The speculation that this trail is the ONE thing missing in the lakes region to stimulate the economy and getting all NH citizens out in the happy sunshine enjoying their birthright is a complete pipedream.
Most people are in favor of public recreational developments, provided that those developments are well thought out and do not become unmaintained eyesores. The existing portions of the WOW trail already have disrepair of the fences, trash and debris collected along the trails, and when I've looked in on them at random times, do not seem to have any measurable usage.
As a disclaimer, I am an SDS homeowner. I do not have any real problem with normal law-abiding people who want to stroll along the water way (which they can mostly do today). I *do* have a very real concern that a group of socialite activists is going to come through and plop in some pavement and an ugly fence, and then move on to some other "cause" while the WOW trail becomes the "Wow, look at that decrepit pathway" trail.