Tacks have again made recent appearances on roads northwest of Little Rock, popping many cyclists' tires, about a year after tacks along County Farm Road punctured the tires of several cyclists riding in the Bike and Hike for ALS.
The incidents have cyclists and county officials brainstorming about how to prevent such sabotage, suspecting it stems from long-running tensions between drivers and cyclists in the western part of Pulaski County.
"We've got a bear trap out there to catch the stupid person who did it," Pulaski County Judge Buddy Villines said.
Villines didn't specify how the county was planning to track down the person or group of people spreading tacks because he said he didn't want the perpetrators to know. But he said the county would prosecute them "severely."
Pulaski County sheriff's office spokesman Lt. Carl Minden said if a person were arrested in the incidents, he would be charged with criminal mischief, a misdemeanor, unless a report is filed alleging $1,000 or more in damage.
So far, no reports have been filed.
"It's going to be hard catching somebody doing it," Minden said.
"It's like trying to catch somebody littering," Bicycle Advocacy of Central Arkansas President Mason Ellis said. "If it was that easy, there'd be a lot less litter on the roads."
Tacks were placed on Barrett Road on Aug. 23 and Pinnacle Valley Road on Aug. 29, Ellis said.
Kayla Applegate, who started a change.org petition asking the sheriff's office and Little Rock officials to provide more surveillance in the area, said she heard the tacks were out on Barrett Road again Monday and possibly near the Clinton Presidential Center, as well.
Applegate rides the River Trail a few times each week with other women from the two cycling clubs she's in, but she said she has not fallen victim to the tacks herself.
"I was concerned for myself and my group but [also] for cyclists in general," she said of her petition, which had more than 500 signatures Thursday.
Applegate, Ellis and Minden said cyclists and drivers have been frustrated with each other for a long time -- cyclists for drivers not being careful and drivers for cyclists taking up too much of the road to be safely passed.
"Our patrol division has dealt with them before, tried to explain the rules of the law on both sides," Minden said. "That was going on back when I was a patrol deputy in the '90s."
Several people responded to Applegate's petition on change.org, commenting that they signed it because they believed tacks on the road were a safety hazard for cyclists.
"Have witnessed and had bike tires flattened by tacks along rivertrail to pinnacle. It is dangerous and cruel," wrote Sally Mengek of Little Rock.
John Linck of Maumelle wrote, "I ride these routes for health reasons. A flat during a group ride could cause injury to several cyclists."
Bicycle Advocacy of Central Arkansas' board planned to discuss the issue at its Thursday meeting but said it's a "hairy issue to try and figure out how to solve."
After county road and bridge officials were notified of the Aug. 29 tacking, department Director Barbara Richard said a crew went out to the area with a magnet to attract the tacks and then swept the street.
The department did the same thing last year after the Aug. 24 tacking of the Bike and Hike for ALS charity ride.
Like last year, the incidents come about a month before the Big Dam Bridge 100 bike ride, in which thousands of cyclists traverse the River Trail through Pulaski, Perry and Faulkner counties.
"Well, I guess that person gets stupid about the same time every year," Villines said of whoever has placed the tacks on the road.
District 1 Justice of the Peace Doug Reed, R-Roland, said he has gotten complaints from people in his district about getting stuck behind cyclists on Saturday mornings but never specifically in relation to organized bike rides.
"I can say this, there are people very frustrated by cyclists," he said.
The roads are narrow and winding in much of Reed's district, and many don't have bike lanes or shoulders, meaning vehicles can easily get stuck behind slower-moving cyclists. Reed said he'd like to see bike lanes or widened shoulders in the future, if the county or state could afford them on the roads out there.
Reed and his wife, Doris, who live on Barrett Road, were among the cyclists out on the roads last week, and Doris suffered a flat tire, although she wasn't hurt.
Doug Reed said he hadn't confirmed whether the flat tire was because of the tacks. He said he noticed a handmade sign not far from his home warning people about tacks, but he didn't understand it at the time.
"Yeah, I'd love to catch them," Reed said of the person or group placing the tacks on the road.
"That might make somebody have a wreck," he said.
Metro on 09/05/2014