So, while I was watching (and photographing) minors taking part in activities which were probably not a good idea if not illegal a ranger pulled up by the bridge and parked.
We had heard a story that this ranger has several law suits against him and apparently enjoys harassing people. One story in particular involves a 17 year old male noticing this ranger poking around behind his camp, when the boy questioned the ranger the ranger immediately cuffed him, then the boys mother went over to ask what was going on (which is completely predictable) and he arrested her also. The story goes that neither of them resisted in any way or were disrespectful, they simply wanted to know why he would be back behind their tent in their camping area. If we go by the story then the lawsuit these people filed is not the only one pending. We are law abiding and such, so while we were unsure whether the story told was the complete and total truth, we weren't too bothered by it. Still, it was deciding that a couple of the people in our group would not camp there. But when it came to having lunch there I had no reservations. So we went and we had fun sitting with our chairs in the water. And later we watched some of that questionable activity I was talking about.
But when the ranger arrived we decided it best to depart. As we gathered our things and our people to go a police officer came tearing in the low road. This caught my attention because this kind of stuff just doesn't happen here and if it was happening I wanted to know what was going on. The ranger and the officer talked for a little while, then moved out to the road and started stopping everyone that crossed the bridge. This was crazy, so even though by this time sabrina had everyone in her car and ready to go I stayed outside our car and waited for a break in cars. I was lucky on this day because I was wearing my "I'm blogging this." shirt. That morning I had taken a survey and Nikky wanted me to wear it. When I found out we were going to the river I thought I should change because it is black and it would be hot in the sun. Nikky still thought I should wear it so I just stuck another in the trunk in case. So I waited for the break and traffic came and approached. They told me that Cedar Grove is the rangers jurisdiction but whenever they have time the police officer comes down to give him a hand. They were checking license and registration. I asked several times why they were checking it here and at that time. The Police officer told me they did this all over the county and that they were just doing it there because they both had time. I'm not sure how true this is because I'm pretty sure it's impossible to getting a speeding ticket there, where would you pull over? So it follows that they also wouldn't have a place where it would be safe to stop cars in the middle of the road in many other places in the county. Regardless of what they SAID they were doing, while they were checking people's license and registration they were obviously being very intimidating and overbearing. They were obviously looking in people's truck beds and back seats.
However when I talked to them they were both congenial and willing to answer my questions. I should have taken a picture of them and gotten their names, but I was a little nervous (what with the threat of being arrested because I asked a question) and I didn't have a paper to write down names.
All in all I'm not sure what to think. I wasn't sure that the story I had heard could be the complete truth, it just doesn't seem possible that they would let someone with so many complaints against him stay on the job, but I've never seen them do anything like that there. And while they were completely nice to me, they seemed quite intimidating to the people they stopped.
They were very young. I don't think the ranger could have been much older than me, and the police officer was definitely younger. I suppose they could just be trying to exert their authority. If this is true I hope they become more secure in their power soon. I would hate to think that we might always fear the area because of overzealous officers. On the other hand they were very polite to me, and I hope that the story we got was exaggerated at least a little. As for that check point that we saw, I hope that in the future they are at least a little more friendly in appearance.
I really did enjoy the day at Cedar Grove, it was very pleasant to sit and relax with my feet in the water, occasionally looking for rocks that would be good for skipping. I'm not very good at it but it's fun to try. I even enjoyed speaking with the officers. And my little chat with them probably got both sabrina and I out of a parking ticket. It might have also had something to do with the fact that we were leaving, and they were busy stopping cars going across the bridge.
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