Inconsiderate visitors are dangerous

Inconsiderate visitors are dangerous

This is what two days of above average weather brought to frozen Lake Hopatcong last Sunday: peaceful, serene views of ice fishing on the lake and snowmobiles, motorcycles and ATVs racing through them, often at speeds greater than 60 mph.

Most of the lake was covered with several inches of water, so control and braking ability could not have been very good. Past our window drove a boy with a much younger child as a passenger, without helmets and riding through a patch of rocks sticking up through the ice. Motorcycles were drag racing in groups of three or four, sometimes more.

These riders, not all, but most, showed a lot of inconsideration for others around them. I have taken several hikes on the frozen lake this winter, but not on the weekends. It is just too dangerous.

Half of the vehicles get on the lake from Hopatcong State Park. I would like the state police to conduct a DWI checkpoint from 5 to 11 p.m. one weekend as riders return to the park and load their rides onto trailers and trucks.

It is very easy to count the number of trucks and trailers in the park to justify the expenditure of police time.

I bet the police would catch a good number of "fish."

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