Lesh sentenced

[SteveH]

Lesh sentenced to $10,000 fine, 160 hours of public service

Rogue snowmobiler David Lesh was sentenced to a $10,000 fine and 160 days of useful public service Wednesday after his conviction in October of two petty offenses related to illegally riding his snowmobile at Keystone ski area. He plans to appeal his conviction.

www.vaildaily.com

 

[gr8fulabe]

I hope they throw the book at that D-bag one day.

 

[DaveInDenver]

Yeah, string him up! We only want certain kinds of ski area desecration permited on our public land, like 500 room hotels and parking lots.

 

[gr8fulabe]

Yeah, string him up! We only want certain kinds of ski area desecration permited on our public land, like 500 room hotels and parking lots.

you must not know this guy's history if you think that is all he's done. Once he helps get all motorized access to the national forests eliminated, you can go buy some of his apparel.

 

[Cruisertrash]

This is the guy who took a dump in the middle of Hanging Lake and put the photos on his company's social media, right?

 

[3rdGen4R]

This is the guy who took a dump in the middle of Hanging Lake and put the photos on his company's social media, right?

It was photo shopped… but yes, it would seem he likes negative attention.

 

[3rdGen4R]

Yeah, string him up! We only want certain kinds of ski area desecration permited on our public land, like 500 room hotels and parking lots.

Dave,

What do you suggest, out of curiosity?

 

[rover67]

he is a douche canoe. eco Abe's comments.

 

[DaveInDenver]

This is the guy who took a dump in the middle of Hanging Lake and put the photos on his company's social media, right?

Those were fake.

he is a douche canoe. eco Abe's comments.

you must not know this guy's history if you think that is all he's done. Once he helps get all motorized access to the national forests eliminated, you can go buy some of his apparel.

You're right, I had no idea who the guy was until I read the article. Seems like just another Tuesday seeing people driving around on side-by-sides. My point is to take care of how you throw people under the bus that's heading straight for us.

 

[Cruisertrash]

@3rdGen4R I had not heard those photos were faked - do you have a link to an article or anything about itThen again I try not to check in on this guy or updates to his stories. The thing about him is that fines and slaps on the wrist obviously mean nothing to him. I would guess he perceives those as the cost of "doing business" with a "no press is bad press" attitude. Hey if it drives attention and therefore sales....

 

[DaveInDenver]

I had not heard those photos were faked - do you have a link to an article or anything about it

The story in my local paper: https://www.gjsentinel.com/news/wes...cle_170f0d3e-3426-11ec-be82-0b116b3c2bd9.html

"Shortly after the Keystone-area incident in Summit County, Lesh again posted photos on social media, this time of himself allegedly defecating in Maroon Lake outside of Aspen. And another post showed him on a log in Hanging Lake in Glenwood Canyon.

Forest Service investigators later determined the Maroon Lake photo was likely fake and the Hanging Lake was questionable. Charges weren’t pursued in the Maroon Lake case and were withdrawn in the Hanging Lake incident."​

It doesn't attribute that analysis to an individual ranger or person but cites the U.S. Forest Service as determining it.

 

[Cruisertrash]

The story in my local paper: https://www.gjsentinel.com/news/wes...cle_170f0d3e-3426-11ec-be82-0b116b3c2bd9.html

"Shortly after the Keystone-area incident in Summit County, Lesh again posted photos on social media, this time of himself allegedly defecating in Maroon Lake outside of Aspen. And another post showed him on a log in Hanging Lake in Glenwood Canyon.​

​

Forest Service investigators later determined the Maroon Lake photo was likely fake and the Hanging Lake was questionable. Charges weren’t pursued in the Maroon Lake case and were withdrawn in the Hanging Lake incident."​

It doesn't attribute that analysis to an individual ranger or person but cites the U.S. Forest Service as determining it.

Thank you for that and sorry for mixing up which lake the guy took a s*** in!

The attitude of "wouldn't be funny if ..." and then finishing the sentence with something that trashes the public lands we all hang onto by a thread is SO infuriating to me.

 

[Stuckinthe80s]

Those were fake.


You're right, I had no idea who the guy was until I read the article. Seems like just another Tuesday seeing people driving around on side-by-sides. My point is to take care of how you throw people under the bus that's heading straight for us.

I get where you're coming from and totally agree from this perspective. However, with regards to guys like this who do things to draw attention to themselves, a $10,000 fine is just the cost of doing business. Who knows how much revenue he'll generate through this attention and there are others like him doing the same thing.

On one hand, I agree that the penalties should be a lot stiffer to make these types of idiots think a little more before they act. On the other hand, I could see how it could quickly become a slippery slope to where the rest of us get things taken away and never get them back.

 

[AlpineAccess]

You know when you go somewhere and see there is a rule, law, unsightly sign stating something so obvious to anyone?

It's because of people like this guy. Like people that break trails on public land vehicle, or vandalize a few aspens with their initials, there will be those following who see tracks and follow them because they don't know better or they choose to be ignorant. Most likely they know it's wrong, but someone else already did it and so that makes it ok.

I think people that behave this way and just pay the fee (because it isn't substantive enough), become a catalyst for people who follow them (social media) and their exploits.

When someone is economically rewarded for publicizing destructive behavior of public places, they should be punished economically and it being publicized is appropriate.

 

[DaveInDenver]

You know when you go somewhere and see there is a rule, law, unsightly sign stating something so obvious to anyone?

It's because of people like this guy. Like people that break trails on public land vehicle, or vandalize a few aspens with their initials, there will be those following who see tracks and follow them because they don't know better or they choose to be ignorant. Most likely they know it's wrong, but someone else already did it and so that makes it ok.

I think people that behave this way and just pay the fee (because it isn't substantive enough), become a catalyst for people who follow them (social media) and their exploits.

When someone is economically rewarded for publicizing destructive behavior of public places, they should be punished economically and it being publicized is appropriate.

This very problem exists in some local bike trails to me. People are short cutting sections to what we used to call hucking them. It's basically seeing a spot where the trail bed snakes with a sweeping turn or switch backs because it's too steep to walk or ride up (or down for mortals). But with e-bikes and big hit suspension what's rideable now is pretty gnarly. So you'll see rocks stacked into ramps. I will sometimes knock them down and scatter the rocks. This usually gets a rise outta someone complaining on social media but talking to the BLM they know it's a problem and causes erosion issues.

It might get a trail shut down if it's bad enough but if even not that's not the worst part of it. It shows your user group attitude and will definitely make a difference the next time a Wilderness bill comes up or a trail is reviewed for use. But I also agree it's a complex situation. You can't eliminate all evidence you exist and what is fun for me doesn't have to be fun for the next guy. The rules/laws are the least common denominator and that's usually going to be someone on foot. So my position as devil's advocate isn't to defend this guy but to highlight the slippery slope as Nic mentions.

The bottom line is since we're talking about recreation the real outcome is to not get to do it at all. Unless you're on a horse, they have a very liberal hand at what damage they can cause. Different rant, though. None-the-less, this guy clearly violated the line. But I'm not sure what he did was 100% bad for us. The line has been slowly creeping but maybe it can be leveraged to show how much less bad responsible users who stay the trail and pick up trash really are. Just to pile on him just becomes fodder for the circular firing squad. You don't want to help the anti-OHV by giving them ammo.