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Old 12-30-2010, 09:45 AM   #8
jrc
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Let's not drag up littoral rights to address this, the shore front landowners are not restricting the access, the state is. The state has a right to control "parking" in a public park. State and city governments routinely restrict parking on land as well.

Police in general have an aversion to crowds, if you watch the news about any public gathering that went sour or the TV shows about spring break on Lake Havasu and you see why. For them it's safer to restrict our right to peacefully assemble early, rather than deal with a riot later. So they are usually going to side with anti-assembly rules. It make their job easier and them safer.

You can see this in the rafting laws and rules. The state law (RSA 270:44) does not have the language about 150' from shore. The Safety rule Saf-C 407 adds the 150' language. So the state legislature adopted a rafting law and the Deparment of Safety implemented an even stricter rule in their rulemaking process.

I think these rules are overused and capriciously applied but they are legal.
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