Off-road park owners make changes for safety

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- "If the mud ain't flyin', you ain't tryin'."

That's one of the mottos at Brick's Off Road Park, according to its T-shirts.

The rural Butler County tourist attraction has become a haven for ATV riders and big-wheel truck enthusiasts over the last decade, but in June, it earned a new sort of notoriety.

A participant died during an accident on the 400-acre park, and a neighboring resident was injured seriously by an allegedly drunken driver who was leaving Brick's. Law enforcement issued dozens of citations to drivers coming and going from the weekend Trucks Gone Wild event, including to intoxicated minors.

Those whose homes are on County Road 484 describe the three-day event as a nightmare, with a reported 13,000 people keeping traffic backed up for hours.

Owners of Brick's said this week they have made improvements they believe will resolve the traffic issues. They also have hired Crawford Security to help police the event.

Jay Brickell and his son, Scott Brickell, said their business is not the out-of-control party spot portrayed by naysayers jealous of their success. They said public concerns are 90 percent built on rumor.

"We feel like we've done a pretty good job as an off-road park for the last 10 years," Scott Brickell said during a tour of the new two-mile loop road installed to take visitors from camping fields to recreation areas. "We have never had one accident during a scheduled event that required medical attention."

Brickell's quote referred to specific scheduled activities such as the slough pit, truck tug-of-war, drag boat races, etc.

The 20-year-old Gordonville woman who was killed in June was thrown from an ATV when the driver failed to negotiate a curve while riding on a trail, according to official reports.

To the best of his knowledge, Scott Brickell said, the couple was riding without helmets on a trail marked helmets required.

The park is posted with signs requiring helmets on certain trails and banning all-terrain vehicles from other trails, he said.

A trucks-only arena also has been created as an attempt to separate and protect participants.

"Obviously, we're deeply saddened, and our hearts go out to the family and friends of the young lady who passed away," Scott Brickell said. "To the best of my understanding of what happened, I think it was simply an accident."

The Brickells declined to give specific information about the number of security and staff who will help organize their second Trucks Gone Wild event this year. This is their first event since June.

No matter the number, according to Scott Brickell, someone will take issue.

"This sport has some inherent dangers, and there's no way we're going to be able to medically staff to make sure nothing happens to somebody," he said. "When you drive in the gate, you're at an off-road park, not Six Flags."

That said, the Brickells have constructed a helicopter landing pad for Air Evac and plan to have an ambulance or EMT on site at all future events. An EMT was at the June event and attended to the woman who died, Scott Brickell said.

New roads will allow emergency medical personnel access to 80 percent of the park, up from about a quarter of the park in June, he said.

"We've worked every day since June," he said. "We're doing most of this for safety, so emergency vehicles can get in, and for convenience."

More lanes have been added at the main entrance, where ticket booths also have been added, and moved back from the county road.

This will get visitors off the road faster, which Scott Brickell said he believes was the main complaint about the June event.

Dora Burns, a resident of County Road 484, said cars were backed up, blocking the road past her driveway from about 4 p.m. Saturday through 1 a.m. Sunday. Her family would not have been able to leave their home, she said.

"I think it got out of hand. No one was prepared for the thousands of vehicles," said Burns, whose husband went out three times to tell people to get off their property.

The individuals attending the event showed no respect for residents, other neighbors said.

"It (Brick's events) didn't bother me much until the last one, and it was an absolute nightmare," said Clardy Eaglin, 80.

Eaglin's yard, about a mile from the entrance to Brick's, was littered with beer bottles. Traffic was backed up past her driveway for hours, said Eaglin, who has lived there more than 30 years.

Neither Eaglin nor Burns saw unsafe or intoxicated drivers.

Longtime Brick's participant Michael Ballew said the Brickells are making a strong effort to improve the park.

Some of the June problems were caused by rainfall early in the weekend, he said. The park's roads became muddy, and vehicles had difficulty making it past the main entrance, he said.

"It was unexpected. They kind of got overwhelmed," he said. "As popularity gains on something, so does attendance, and the chance of something bad happening. I think it all caught up with them at once."

The Brickells need to have sufficient security in place for their events and may have needed more security at past events, Ballew admitted. But participants also have to take responsibility for their own actions, he added.

"Just because you show up out there, it doesn't mean you can blame somebody else for your ignorance," Ballew said of the behavior of some of the participants. "People can get out and enjoy each other's company without being an absolute idiot."

People also need to be aware of the type of events they are attending, Ballew said.

"Trucks Gone Wild was never a family event. I don't feel it was ever designed to be a family event," he said.

The draw of these events is that they are fun, Trucks Gone Wild promoter Matt Steele said.

The statement "family-friendly" means different things to different people, he said. As a parent, if he sees something he doesn't like, Steele said, he would walk elsewhere.

"Take responsibility for yourself and your child," he said. "It's just like watching TV to me."

Participation has grown from 200 people at the first event to thousands in recent years, said Jay Brickell, who grew up on farmland now used as the off-road park. None of the Brickell family lives on the property now.

The land has been in his family since the Civil War, when the elder Brickell's great-grandmother buried soldiers in a neighboring field after a battle at a Confederate encampment.

Jay Brickell, 75, still misses the spring calving season but has adjusted to the change.

He said he and his family are private people who have been frustrated by some of the questions from the public.

"I think it's a little unfair that people ask us how much money we make and how we run our business," Jay Brickell said.

The younger Brickell said he does not feel underage drinking is an epidemic on the property.

The Brickells place a lot of the responsibility for safety on the participants, saying they cannot police the entire park.

Scott Brickell also said visitors of the park form their own type of community, a family that would stop someone from driving drunk or doing something irresponsible that would cause injury.

"Their buddies don't want to see them get hurt," Scott Brickell said. "We've never had to shut anybody down before participating in an event."

The Brickells have said they are not responsible for what happens after participants leave the park, but they have taken keys from drivers and coolers from minors in the past.

In the last two weeks, the Brickells have invited members of the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Missouri Department of Natural Resources, Butler County Highway Department and local ambulance services to tour the property and discuss arrangements for the upcoming event.

They said they have made many of the changes recommended by DNR to stop damage to the Little Black River and Beaver Dam Creek, including fencing to catch trash and absorb oil at low-water crossings, additional truck-washing stations and installation of cables to limit access to waterways.