ST. GEORGE – With emotions still raw for many in San Juan County over creation of the Bears Ears National Monument last December, matters aren’t being helped by whoever is posting fake entry fee signs across the region.
“We’ve had a lot of these fliers showing up all over the county,” San Juan County Rick Eldredge said with a tone of annoyance at the matter.
The bogus signs declare that there is a $100 fee per vehicle per day and that it “must be paid before entering Navajo Tribal Park, Monument Valley Arizona.” It also claims that no wood cutting, hunting, or ATV use in allowed within the monument.
The bogus signs have been found by county residents at public lands overseen by the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management. Specifically, they have been found nailed to trees at campgrounds and at trail heads. One was even found at Recapture Canyon, Eldredge said.
Nearly 30 signs have been found and brought to the Sheriff’s Office thus far.
“I want to get to the bottom of this,” Eldredge said. “It’s stirring up the peace.”
To this end the San Juan County Sheriff’s Office is offering a $500 reward for any information on the person or persons behind the fake fliers.
“If you catch someone hanging these signs, take a picture of the individual and call the Sheriff’s Office immediately. 435-587-2237,” the Sheriff’s Office posted on Facebook Monday.
The fliers could be a part of a scam, or perhaps even a prank trolling the residents of the county. Either way, Eldredge is not amused.
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @MoriKessler
Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2017, all rights reserved.
Listen Sheriff, you need to chillax a bit. Whoever is making these signs is practicing the good old AmeriCAN value of free enterprise capitalism. Besides, what type of “crime” are you going to charge this person with? Littering? Unlawful joke telling? Practicing the First Amendment?
How is this a First Amendment issue? That makes almost as much sense as the lies being spread by our current administration.
It goes beyond a joke when there are 30 signs. Someone is trying to scam people out of money, or stir the pot over Bears Ears designation. I think the Sheriff could find this is inciting a riot (under Utah code, ” recklessly creates a substantial risk of causing public alarm”, Title 76 Chapter 9 Part 1 Section 101) or even forgery (“A person is guilty of forgery if, with purpose to defraud anyone, or with knowledge that the person is facilitating a fraud to be perpetrated by anyone, the person:
(a) alters any writing of another without his authority or utters the altered writing; or
(b) makes, completes, executes, authenticates, issues, transfers, publishes, or utters any writing so that the writing or the making, completion, execution, authentication, issuance, transference, publication, or utterance:
(i) purports to be the act of another, whether the person is existent or nonexistent;
(ii) purports to be an act on behalf of another party with the authority of that other party” Title 76 Chapter 6 Part 5 Section 501) by pretending to be someone they are, as a state or government representative
If anyone is stupid enough to pay, I believe that’s called an id10t error. Stirring the pot is not illegal. Inciting a riot? come on. I call it “performance art”. It obviously strikes a nerve in that region and the Sheriff is taking things a little too personally.
$100 sounds fair to me. The Navajo’s could use the money. I think $200 for Zion and split between Native Americans would be a good idea also. The parks are strained and need to cut down on visitors.
I also think the Sheriffs time would be better spent cracking down on people living in Utah, but having out of state plates on their vehicles. That is against the law in Utah but goes unnoticed all over the state.