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Farmer assaulted by trespassers, police say

Brings trail issue back to the fore in New Tecumseth

BY Kurtis Elsner and Maija Hoggett, Staff June 16, 2009 19:06

An argument between a local farmer and a group of dirt bikers turned violent after the farmer caught riders trespassing on his land, Friday night.

Police were called to a farm on the 13th Line of New Tecumseth at about 8 p.m. after Bob Reynolds saw five people driving dirt bikes and ATVs on his farm fields. He said the riders were damaging the crops.

Reynolds and his wife drove out to the group of riders and confronted a male and female and demanded they identify themselves. The two refused, resulting in an argument. The farmer took the couple's ATV, which started a shoving match in which both the farmer and his wife were pushed.

The landowner demanded all of the riders wait until police arrived, at which point they all fled down the abandoned railway lines towards the 12th Line.

No one was hurt in the incident.

Police were unable to find the suspects. The landowner described the male suspect as being about six-feet-tall, weighing about 230 pounds with a brush cut. The female is white, with light hair and was wearing a blue shirt. They are believed to be in their early 20s.

Reynolds was at New Tecumseth council Monday night and asked the town to look at closing the abandoned rail lines.

"This is something that has been ongoing for years with us," Reynolds told council.

Mayor Mike MacEachern suggested staff could attend the property to see what can be done immediately to close off the portion of the abandoned rail line to the Reynolds' property.

The town is currently working on improving its trail system in the hopes of linking to the Oak Ridges Trail Association trails in the south and the Cookstown leg of the Trans Canada Trail in the northeast.

New Tecumseth council hasn't looked into the trails issue since 2000. At that time, a Trail Advisory Committee was looking to connect to the Cookstown portion of the Trans Canada Trail. To do that the committee was looking to negotiate a route along the abandoned rail line running north of Beeton to Cookstown, where the incident was Friday night.

Back then landowners adjacent to the rail trails objected because they didn't want hikers picnicking on their properties. Farmers buffering the trails expressed similar concerns for their crops and livestocks.

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