You're right. I don't like it.
I have the same problem with ATVs running up and down my street. Worse, sometimes they run down the easement behind my house, although not recently. It pisses me off. Last Monday or Tuesday evening I came home from work to find my neighbor across the steet sitting on the hood of his car, drinking and watching a jaggoff run his ATV up and down the street pulling wheelies and such. I'm on the end of the street and the cross street is dirt. The rider's preferred way of turning around was wheelspin, whipping the ATV around quickly and stirring up a ton of dust. Other than calling the Sheriff, I don't think there's much I can do (which probably wouldn't do any good either - there's a Sheriff living at the other end of my street).
Still, under NO CIRCUMSTANCES does this warrant ATTEMPTED MURDER. Stringing rope or wire across a known bike/atv path is nothing short of attempted murder. Plain and simple.
