OBSERVER Photo by Braden Carmen Audrey Buck, a property owner whose land contains Arkwright Falls, shared how trespassers on her property have impacted her family with the Arkwright Town Board at a recent meeting.

ARKWRIGHT — Trespassing is not always a victimless crime. The family who owns the land that includes Arkwright Falls knows that all too well.

Audrey Buck, a property owner whose land contains Arkwright Falls, shared with the Arkwright Town Board how her property has been regularly trespassed upon and the issues it has caused her family. Audrey Buck and her daughter, Vanessa, shared with the board the reality they face with their family property at the conclusion of the most recent Arkwright Town Board meeting.

“It’s absolutely appalling at this point what people do,” said Vanessa Buck. “They have lit our property on fire. I’ve had to be down there at 2 a.m. with the fire department carrying buckets of water from the creek into the woods because you can’t get a hose down there.”

The Buck family felt compelled to share their story with the board after at the last meeting, the board shared its desire to repair the bridge on Ball Road near her property. The Buck family also wants the bridge to be fixed, but for the access of taxpaying residents, not for the people who trespass on their property to visit Arkwright Falls.

At the last meeting, the town board mentioned its desire for a county response for the bridge, which it has since received. Town Supervisor Brian McAvoy called fixing the bridge “a long shot,” but remains hopeful of a resolution.

The Buck family took McAvoy’s comments about restoring the bridge and the mention of Arkwright Falls personally because of the hassle trespassers have caused their family to date.

“That’s why the comments got me fired up, because why would we open the floodgates and restore the bridge to give (trespassers) more entitlement,” said Vanessa Buck.

Audrey Buck claimed trespassers have blocked the driveway to her family property. Audrey and Vanessa Buck both also shared traumatic experiences like men with guns and dogs approaching their home and even a trespasser without clothes on appearing near their home. The Buck family has involved law enforcement on multiple occasions to deal with trespassers.

“You’re never going to be able to keep people away from a beautiful place like Arkwright Falls,” said Vanessa Buck. “No matter what we do, people are going to trespass. But I’d like to figure out somehow that it can be less traumatizing to our property.”

Highway Superintendent Lisa Waldron said the town is planning to post no parking – tow away signs around the property to deter people from parking on their land.