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Well, it was bound to happen, but I had no idea it would happen so soon.
Rich was cleaning up his storage area, and pulled my single-cab 4x4 pickup, my first yellow '79, and the remains of my white '76 out of the pile so I could get to 'em.
Naturally, I hauled them home. I hadn't pulled any of my various parts vehicles home to my 2+ acres yet, since I'd been too busy with other things, but the timing was right.
Immediately after bringing the three home, I went on a week or so vacation to PA to my grandparents' 58th wedding anniversary party.
Upon my return, I was surprised to find a notice from the County regarding their "Junk Vehicle Recycling Program"..
Pic:
(since this picture, a white '76 tub and frame was added behind the single-cab truck)
I gave the City/County entity a call to find out what's up.
An "Anonymous" complaint tipped them off.
They went out to investigate, and determined that three of my vehicles met their "junk" definition.
The definition, as spelled out in the Montana Code Annotated 75-10-501 is as such:
1) a discarded, ruined, wrecked, or dismantled motor vehicle, including component parts, that is:
2) not lawfully and validly licensed, and
3) inoperative or incapable of being driven.
To qualify as "Junk" it must meet ALL THREE parts.
Thus, if a vehicle is Operable, it's not junk.
If a vehicle is licensed, it's not junk.
I asked for clarification on "operable" and they said it needed to be able to move 20'.
I've moved Scouts 20' on the starter before.. and if anyone argues the fact, I'll start turning in every electric car I see for being non-op.
I asked which vehicles they felt were "junk".. turns out the Midas tub sitting in the dirt was one, the white tub and frame was one, and the single-cab truck was one.
The others are all fine.. either licensed (some permanently, and more are permanent all of the time) or obviously operable.
BUGM, Devil, the T'ette, the Laser, Oscar, Tigger.. all OK, as well as the yellow '79 still on 4 tires and pretty much complete.
So.. two Scout tubs and a pickup.
I hope to have the title to the pickup shortly, and I'll permanently register it. Problem solved.
I have titles for the others, but never bothered to license them.. guess I'll go do that.. permanently.
Problem solved. Even a body tub lying in the dirt is OK as long as it's tagged.
Here's where that nasty part of my starts to take over..
I suspect it was my neighbor that turned me. The same ones that insist on trespassing all of the time, and expanding their pseudo driveway into my field. I've been meaning to talk with them about this for some time, but didn't want to come off as a real @$$hole..
Same neighbor who's kids run around on an ATV back and forth at full throttle, and then spin brodies and send dirt and dust my way all of the time. I figured if it was OK for them, it's OK for me.. so I have been known to fire up Little Devil and take a few turns, too.. but I've been on good behavior.
Well, I think I know how to fix the trespass problem now.
I'm going to move all of my permanently licensed (and perfectly LEGAL) wrecks over to the corner of my property that butts against their mobile home.. the same spot they keep trespassing on.
That'll stop the driveway.
It'll also make it look like the junkers are *theirs* and not mine.
And it frees up more valuable space for my practice course for the racer.
Oh, and I can stack a LOT of Scouts in that portion of the field.. and I have a few more I can permanently register and park there, too..