The Law

Just when we thought we were getting settled back in St. Paul we have to be on our way again. Tonight we'll be driving back up north to make a court appearance for a ticket Mark and I received. Yes, we're criminals.

Last week Mark and I rented cross-country skis for the day, and got Great-Grandma babysit so we could enjoy an hour outdoors skiing a nearby trail. We had a lovely time. The weather was beautiful, the scenery was great, and the whole time we were thinking how silly we were for not having gone out sooner.

As we made our way back to our car we were greeted with some unpleasant news. The MN Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has special Conservation Officers (CO's) to regulate the different outdoor laws. We typically think of them enforcing rules on the lake with people in boats, or snowmobiles, or enforcing fishing licenses, limits, etc. The particular CO waiting at our car asked us about our "ski passes". We had no such thing, and knew nothing of it. We were each issued a $92 ticket for cross-country skiing without a ski pass.

We are guilty, there's no way around that, but $180 for forty-five minutes of skiing outdoors without a pass seems a little steep. We're going to try and lessen the fine at the court tomorrow. It's unfortunate that after living in the area for our whole lives and skiing a trail two miles from owned property that we were ignorant of the law. It's also unfortunate that I was less than charitable with the CO as he wrote our tickets.

I did confirm, however, that you don't yet need to buy a pass to walk outside. With Minnesota being full of Democrats, I'm sure it won't be long before you do.