Lexington VA - Chessie Trail sign - prohibits guns

Week before last walked the Chessie trail a few miles in Lexington - trailhead off Old Buena Vista road a few blocks down from N Lee Highway #11.
This is in Rockbridge County, across Maury River from Lexington.
I understand the Chessie Trail was the old CSX railway, and was converted in Rails-to-Trails to the current nature trail, going all the way to Buena Vista.
Will post separate post of sign at trailhead, last bullet is 'No Firearms Permitted'.
Would think this is a public park, non-profit, probably maintained by Rockbridge County.
Did notice the partial credit of the Nature Conservancy, would expect the really don't own this, just helped get it created.
As such would think the sign needs to be corrected to eliminate incorrect statement banning firearms, in contravention to the VA state constitution.

Here's the pic.

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VGIF information page.

Website provided there is dead.

ETA: Apparently, VMI now claims ownership:


TFred

ETA (again): Way past my bedtime, but it would seem that if the trail is owned by VMI, any firearm restrictions would need to be specifically included in the VAC. Someone with fresher eyes can take a look.

Indeed it appears that VMI owns the Chessie Trail now.
http://www.vmi.edu/Content.aspx?id=10737425131

They cannot regulate/restrict the otherwise lawful carry of handguns. I suspect that students of staff could be subjected to penalties though, just as if they were on campus, but the regulation does not apply to those not associated with the university while on the trail.

"The Virginia attorney general's office told Williams that "a public university generally cannot prohibit open or concealed carry of a firearm on campus grounds," even though a university can ban openly carried guns in campus buildings or at specified events."
http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Gun-on-Virginia-Tech-Campus-Illegal-Maybe-Not-126778218.html

Do we not have anyone in the Lexington area? These days, fortunately, it is so rare to find an illegal sign such as this, I thought we'd have people jumping all over the opportunity to get this fixed!

TFred

TFred said:

Do we not have anyone in the Lexington area? These days, fortunately, it is so rare to find an illegal sign such as this, I thought we'd have people jumping all over the opportunity to get this fixed!

TFred

Click to expand...

Only days ending in a "Y" are appropriate to fix signs

I'll be back there the end of June for several days. Thanks to legal research by Tfred and Grape, I was thinking I could discuss this with the VMI folks by phone, and then in person if need be later this month.

Also know one of the Rockbridge county deputy sheriffs fairly well. When I was talking to him a while back about OC in VA - he said he didn't take me for "one of those Sovereign Citizen guys" - told him no I just enjoyed exercising my 2A rights as a Texan visiting his state, thanks to his VA Constitution allowing OC.

That's about 50 miles (1 hour 10 minutes) removed from me Grape. We've got our own prohibitions here in Lynchburg. Don't exactly know where to go with them since it's a sticky situation with the ball team and such. Some of my compadres here have asked for assistance and got nowhere.

Same in SOBO

Tobacco Heritage Trail in South Boston is also posted, but I can't find who actually owns it....

Old Halifax ( http://www.oldhalifax.com/county/RailsToTrails/ ) indicates that the Tobacco Heritage Trail is owned by Roanoke River Rails to Trails, Inc. What is not clear from my quick research is whether RRRtT is owned by any local authority covered by pre-emption. I'll see what I can dig up today or tomorrow looking at the State Corporation Commission and Halifax County global information system (GIS).

jmelvin said:

Old Halifax ( http://www.oldhalifax.com/county/RailsToTrails/ ) indicates that the Tobacco Heritage Trail is owned by Roanoke River Rails to Trails, Inc. What is not clear from my quick research is whether RRRtT is owned by any local authority covered by pre-emption. I'll see what I can dig up today or tomorrow looking at the State Corporation Commission and Halifax County global information system (GIS).

Click to expand...

Appears that it may be owned by a state agency: Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation

And maintained by volunteers.

http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/recreational_planning/documents/voppd13.pdf

A 501(c)(3) that REQUIRES representation form each locality that JOINS...

Making my head spin.

Yeesh! Halifax County GIS shows the trail property as "RR-ROW", but provides no further information. Halifax County Tax Office (online) shows nothing for RR-ROW, "Roanoke River", or "Rails".

Per the SCC search for "Roanoke River Rails to Trails, Inc.", Sandra F. Tanner is the registered agent for the organization. The address given for her contact is 200 South Mecklenberg Avenue, South Hill, VA. Plugging this address into Google Maps produces the result that shows this address is the home of the Southside Planning District Commission. Sandra is also the president of the RRRtT, Inc. per the SCC along with 7 other directors, who may be from other districts.

http://www.southsidepdc.org/about

"A Planning District Commission is a public body, created by the Virginia General Assembly, to promote the orderly and efficient development of the physical, social and economic elements by planning, encouraging and assisting governmental subdivisions to plan for the future. It has no legislative or taxing power but provides an opportunity for citizens to participate in decisions to solve common problems and needs."

More: http://www.southsidepdc.org/project...elcomes-section-of-the-tobacco-heritage-trail

Hey 180shabah have you been able to make any headway figuring out if the trail is authority owned with the information I found? Let me know if you're at a stopping point and I'll work with you to see how we can make headway together.

I will be in Lexington Tuesday through Thursday and plan to talk to VMI about the sign.


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Ah, good to know HPMatt! I frankly wasn't sure what the heck to do in the case of VMI since it's not covered by "pre-emption." Good luck with your discussions and let me know if I can be of use.