You've been out enjoying a walk in the forest, but when you get back to your car you discover that someone who is wearing a green uniform is waiting for you. If they have not yet seen you, and you have the time to spare, the easiest way to avoid being successfully prosecuted for alleged failure to purchase a pass is to hang out in the woods until the officers leave. Not always an option, but if you do this, and never have an encounter, and later find a ticket on your vehicle, Column II explains what to do.

THE FINES ARE REAL. The fact that this is a demonstration does not mean that the Forest Service can not issue tickets. They can, they do and the maximum fine authorized by Congress for a fee-demo offense is $100. Failure to cooperate with a Law Enforcement Officer who may be trying to write you a ticket is a different offense and carries severe penalties.

NEVER ADMIT THAT YOU DO NOT HAVE A PASS. Again, this will be difficult. But, the LESS YOU SAY THE BETTER. They will insist that you show identification. This may or may not be required, depending upon who you ask. If possible, show them nothing, do not sign the ticket they hand you, take the ticket they hand you and leave.

A more likely scenario is that you show them identification, they write you a ticket, you sign it, take it and leave - NEVER having admitted that you did not have a pass.

NEVER ADMIT THAT YOU WERE RECREATING. As noted below, a pass is required for recreating and FOR RECREATING ONLY. They will use the "facts" that you had shoes on, were wearing clothes and perhaps carrying food as "evidence" of the recreational nature of your visit. As noted below, the intent of your visit can be argued, and a charge dismissed on those grounds.

NEVER ADMIT THAT YOU OPPOSE THE PROGRAM. Again, the less you say the better.

SAVE YOUR ARGUMENTS FOR THE JUDGE. Do not argue with the person writing the ticket. They are "merely doing their job" and have no power over the program or its enforcement. Your moment will be with the prosecution in front of a judge.

THE FOREST SERVICE WILL TRY TO INTIMIDATE YOU. Of course, not every employee of the Forest Service will do so, but it is important to realize that this is a controversial program. Passions, and indeed the stakes, run high. The folks who are enforcing the program are largely "just doing their job," but they will do their jobs, and if that means prosecute you for a program you feel is undemocratic and unsuccessful they will do so.

You may be threatened with a fine of up to $5,000 and/or six months in jail. This has happened to many people. NOT ONE has had to pay a fine greater than $100, and NO ONE has had to serve ANY TIME for this charge. They may mention this greater fine at any time - at the trailhead, during the arraignment, or during the trial itself. Currently, Fee Demo is so unpopular that actually fining someone such an amount, or putting them in jail for even a day, would be a MAJOR publicity loss for the Forest Service and is not in the foreseeable future. We will let folks know, through these webpages, if this ever changes.

Hopefully, the above will help. For more information, visit the AntiFee Legal Website. There are also more informational links at the bottom of the Information Page. Please note that since there have been no precedent setting cases to date, information regarding the legality of both the Fee Demo program and the execution of the program is often contradictory and incomplete. However, the information collected by folks across the country involved with this issue represents the most complete collection to date.

So you found garbage on your windshield....

You've been out enjoying a walk in the forest, but when you get back to your car you discover that someone who was wearing a green uniform has vandalized it. Placed upon your windshield is a note telling you that you're parked illegally and berating you for having failed to purchase the required parking permit. You read on and are shocked to discover that the notice attempts to extort $30 from you unless you immediately pay $5 back payment. Faced with these options you ask yourself: "What should I do?"

REALIZE YOU ARE IN A VERY STRONG LEGAL POSITION. As long as YOU do not provide evidence to the authorities that you were ever at the site in question, this is an easy ticket to beat in court. If you say something in print or verbally that can be used to "prove" that you were where your car was, that will be used as evidence against you. The key is to remember that they have no evidence placing you at the "scene of the crime." Keep it that way.

DID YOU GET A TICKET OR A NOTICE OF NON-COMPLIANCE? The first thing to do is to look carefully at the citation you recieved. A Notice of Non-Compliance (NON) does not have a return envelope, and instructs you to mail your response to a local Arizona ranger district. HOWEVER, the NON is NOT a legally sanctioned ticket. Period. It requires no repsonse. Period. These can and should be thrown out.

The NON is used to trick people into incriminating themselves. It is not a legally binding ticket, but it has been designed to look like one. If one writes the Forest Service and signs a letter explaining why the NON was issued in error, they can use that signature as "evidence" that one was at the "site" in question.

Folks have collected over 18 NONs, at last count, and not recieved a real citation. Locally, folks have recieved two or three so far, with nothing else happening to date.

It is possible that a real ticket will eventually be issued. However, you will be in a much stronger position to both defend yourself and critique the program if you have not returned a NON with your signature.

IF YOU DO RECIEVE A REAL TICKET.. Again, remember that they have NO evidence placing you at the "scene of the crime." Although you must respond to the ticket, which you will mail to an out-of-state ticket processing facility, doing so merely means that you recieved the ticket. NOT that you were at the site in question. Return the ticket, call the media, go to court, critique the program WITHOUT INCRIMINATING YOURSELF and walk away without having to pay any fine. It's that simple.

A TICKET OR NON LEFT ON A VEHICLE is done so without any probable cause. The Forest Service does not know who committed the supposed offense, they do not know whether you were recreating and they do not know that a pass was not purchased, even if none was displayed.

People who have not incriminated themselves and who ask the judge whether the Forest Service has provided "probable cause" have NEVER FAILED to have their cases dismissed. In many courts, people who do not show up for their own hearing have their cases dismissed en masse for this reason. US Attorneys in two states will no longer even prosecute these cases.

Hopefully, the above will help. For more information, visit the AntiFee Legal Website. There are also more informational links at the bottom of the Information Page. Please note that since there have been no precedent setting cases to date, information regarding the legality of both the Fee Demo program and the execution of the program is often contradictory and incomplete. However, the information collected by folks across the country involved with this issue represents the most complete collection to date.