Chimney Rock posse receives honors: The men who made the desert safe again receive accolades and rewards

By PATSY STODDARD Editor

Four ATV clubs gathered to honor the Chimney Rock posse and Det. John Barnett who made the capture of the Chimney Rock bandit possible. The Woodside-Chimney Rock area was plagued by thefts for two years. Numerous items were taken from ATV riders in the area as well as farmers and ranchers who use the area. Fencing, a generator, ATV, motorcycle, gas cans, guns, camp trailer and many other items were taken over the years.
But, the thefts came to an end when the Chimney Rock posse, consisting of Jason Allinson, Jeramie Young and Ron Young, got involved on the morning of Feb. 21. Alan Peterson, ATV enthusiast and OHV club member gave out the awards at the ceremony held in Price on March 19. A number of prizes and awards were gathered to honor the heroes. Each ATV club at the time of the theft of the generator offered a $500 reward for the return of the generator. The Bill Barrett Corporation donated some money and the Farm Bureau also said they would offer $1,000 reward upon conviction, that reward hasn’t been presented yet, because the bandit is just beginning the legal process.
Peterson said some extra reward money was added to the purse when Cleveland resident James Sherman from Evolution Diesel and Trailer Service read the story about the award ceremony in the Emery County Progress newspaper. He wanted to donate because he repaired the vehicle which had broken down across from Woodside and the camp trailer was broken into while it was parked there and the guns were stolen from the trailer. Sherman said he wanted to give back because of the misfortune of the couple from which the guns had been stolen and he wanted to help reward those responsible for the capture of the bandit. The guns will be returned to the couple after they have been used for evidence in the case.
Peterson read the capture story as told by Jason Allinson, “Today myself Jason Allinson, Jeramie Young and Ron Young went riding down at Chimney Rock. When we got there we heard that the Chimney Rock Bandit had been seen earlier that day. We went for a ride not seeing him, we went back to our truck to eat lunch. While we were eating, Emery County Sheriff Det. John Barnett stopped and told us that he saw some tracks over by where the bandit was last seen.
“So we gassed up our bikes and headed over to where he saw the tracks. Jeramie decided to climb to the top of the hill to see what he could see. When he got the top of the hill, sure enough, there he was stealing a gas can and a coat out of the back of a truck. Right there at the time, we took off after him he headed down a wash and I was right on his tail. After about 300 yards he hit a wash and went over the bars. I jumped off my bike and tackled him. He jumped up, kicked me in the ribs, and took off running. At that time, I jumped on the bike with Jeramie and we took off after him again. Jeramie stopped and got off his bike to call the cops and I took off after him with Ron. I was right behind him in the wash and Ron was beside him on top of the wash. Ron got ahead of him and dropped down in the wash and stopped him at that time I ran him over and jumped on him, Ron ran over and we got him down and tied his hands behind his back with my jersey. Jeramie went back to the road to get the cops and Ron went back to the bandit’s bike to pick it up.
“I heard Jeramie coming with the cops so I thought it was all over just when I turned back to the bandit he stood up and kicked me and then head butted me and took off again. I couldn’t believe it, the chase was on again. I pointed Jeramie and the cops to where he was. We looked for him for about 20 minutes when finally a cop showed up with a dog and it was all over from there,” said Jason.
Peterson read the names of the four clubs who donated the reward money including the Sage Riders motorcycle club; BookCliff Rattlers motorcycle club; Southeastern Utah Off-Highway Vehicle Association; and Castle Country Off-Highway Vehicle Association.
Rocky Mountain ATV and Motorcycle donated new riding suits to the three men who captured the bandit. Det. John Barnett was presented a jacket with multiple use icons across the back. Barnett said the capture wouldn’t have been possible without the work of the posse and he thanked them for their part in apprehending the bandit.
Peterson said, “We want to focus on the good people who did good things. We want to be good neighbors. We have worked hard to have a good relationship with the grazers. We all need to work together because we have a common enemy who wants us all off public lands.”
Peterson had another presentation where he gave out the Brass Hands award to Bill Allinson who is the OHV volunteer coordinator for the Price Bureau of Land Management. Peterson said he started this award in honor of Dick Brass who taught him a lot about public lands and taking care of them. “The ATV clubs of Carbon and Emery counties are made up of hard working people. They have done tremendous work on the land and the trail systems in our area. It is this work ethic and concern for the land that gave me the idea for this award. In 2002 the award went to Wade Allinson; 2003-Bill Broadbear from the forest service; in 2004 to Don and Bonnie Keele; in 2005 to Scott Wheeler; in 2007 to Clayton and Betty Campbell and in 2008 we are proud to present this award to Bill Allinson,” said Peterson.
Peterson read the inscription on the plaque. “This award is given in recognition of your time, labor, concern, knowledge, and organizational skills, which you have provided to the establishment and improvement of recreation opportunities on our public lands. Your accomplishments benefit all people who enjoy outdoor recreation. Thank you for all you do. Presented on the 19th day of March, 2009 by the CCOHVA and The Sage Riders Motorcycle Club.
Bill Allinson accepted the award and said, “I want to thank the clubs. You make me look good. You guys do all the work. I can call on the clubs and only give them a day’s notice and they’ll have 10-15 people show up to help. Whenever I need help they come. The BLM provides help and tools and it’s good to see the BLM coming together with the users. The users spend their time helping to show other users how to stay on the trails, passing out maps and they maintain the trails. I am amazed by the amount of volunteers we have. You can always rely on the users. I’ve formed friendships with everyone and that’s what it’s all about, you’re always there to help.”
Peterson read a list of things Allinson has been involved with on public lands including: solicited clubs to do an agreement on maintaining the trail system; organized volunteers and developed a map of the San Rafael Trail system; organized volunteers and supervised installing carsonites and signage on all the designated trails; meets with State Parks and Recreation administrator concerning printing of the trail maps; meets with printing company to print maps; Calf Canyon fence installation; organized, scheduled and provided materials for Eagle Scout project installing pole fencing at the Twin Knolls trailhead; organized, scheduled, supervised Eagle Scout project which provided materials for erecting a seven group site campground at the Buckhorn/Swinging Bridge area; installed pole and rail fence, installed poles separating each campsite, installed fire pits, picnic tables, and fee pay tube; organized and supervised State Fish and Game Wildlife Dedicated Hunter volunteers installing 200 foot of fence in Coal Wash sand dune area; installed and painted kiosks; repaired and installed cattle guards; organized, set up information booths and scheduled volunteers during the spring and fall providing hikers, bikers, OHV users with maps and information; trail cat trail repair on Cedar Mountain Tower trail, Eva Conover trail, Fix-it Pass trail and Behind the Reef trail; repaired BTR trail at Cistern Canyon; drilled and installed rebar, filled with rock using volunteers. This was a three day project. Allinson has had approximately 700 hours of volunteer hours.
Peterson continued to read other projects Allinson has been involved with including:
“Team Building: Bill has brought together all of the players needed to build a team. That is, the users, BLM and State Parks and Recreation. With everyone working together, many good things have been accomplished.
Volunteers from outside our local area: Bill brought users from outside of Carbon and Emery counties to the table to help in patrolling and in doing trail maintenance. Prior to this I would estimate that 95 percent of the volunteer work was done by locals. He brought balance to the ratio of volunteers to users. Especially considering users from outside of our area represents a large portion of total users.
The San Rafael Route Motorized Designation Map: We are convinced that the map would not have turned out as well as it did, without Bill’s involvement. The BLM had been working on a map for about three years, with little progress. Bill got it done in about six months. This map is the first of its kind. It includes, Points of Interest, longitude and latitude coordinates, UTM grid, trail numbers and difficulty levels. Many of Bill’s hours invested in this map were his own time, donated towards seeing it through development to printing and distribution. Many hours were spent coordinating between the BLM, the users, Fred Hayes of Parks and Recreation, the printers and Scott Wheeler.
Volunteer Agreements: For the first time since the PathFinders M/C in 1986, the BLM agreed to allow users to enter into Volunteer Agreements or VAs. This was another huge accomplishment. Bill contacted many different clubs and even attended their meetings to solicit their help. These weren’t just local clubs in Carbon and Emery counties, these were clubs from throughout Utah and western Colorado. Many of these groups now have signed volunteer agreements with BLM for maintenance of the trails that make up our trail systems on the desert and forest.
Trail cat: Bill outlined the work that’s been done with the trail cat. This is a huge accomplishment. This type of work had never been done on our area trail systems, both on US Forest Service and BLM lands. One example is the TV tower trail, which is now usable by ATV and dirtbikes. Also, some much needed repair work was completed on the Behind the Reef Road. Prior to Bill getting authorization for the trail cat, volunteers had done all of the trail work with hand tools, shovels, picks, pry bars and mattocks. Who remembers Ramp Canyon on the Behind the Reef Trail?
Restrooms: When Frank Davis retired from the BLM, well over a year ago, Bill took it upon himself to clean the restrooms located in the area where he was working. Bill always has cleaning supplies and toiletries in his truck so he can do this work. This is another example of Bill’s work making life better for all public land users.
Expo Booths: Bill represented the BLM many times at outdoor shows and hunting expos. This was all done as a volunteer and without pay. As recently as March 12, Bill was at the Sportsman’s Expo in Salt Lake representing the BLM at their booth.”
Peterson recognized Fred Hayes from State Parks and Recreation who distributes the money from OHV registration and is given back to the users in the form of project money and the money for the printing of the maps. Peterson said, “Fred has been very supportive of us.”
One final award was given by the forest service in appreciation to Wade Allinson for the work done during the tamarisk removal project by the Order of the Arrow scouts last June.