Family with kids gets kicked out from city campgrounds at 11 pm because park host "re

[Lia]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? WA

Family with kids gets kicked out from city campgrounds at 11 pm because park host "reserved" the space for her brother.

We went camping this Memorial day weekend and left on Thursday. After a long 4 hours drive from home to Eastern Washington city campgrounds, we found a camping spot that had 2 broken chairs and a broken cooler but no people around so we assumed that previous campers left broken stuff behind. It was around 6pm and I went and prepaid for that spot for 3 nights. Then we put up a tent, took all the things and food out, started a campfire and cooked our dinner. Around 8:45pm while we were eating dinner, our 3 friends arrived. While we were talking to them, a woman ran to us and started screaming " You have to move! This space is paid for! Get out! I reserved this for my brother." We were like, who is she? So we started telling her that these campgrounds are first come, first serve basis and "no reservations" as it says in the rules. She screamed that if we don't move or get out, she will call 911. We didn't feel that we did anything wrong and said "go ahead, call 911". 15 minutes later she came back and was nice but insisted that we move. We already had everything set up and her brother was not even there so we said why don't her brother takes a different space when he gets there. She started screaming again about calling 911. She did called them this time and they came around 10pm to talk to us. The officer was clearly on her side and I asked why since he didn't hear our story. After hearing our story and seeing our sleepy kids, he said that she was wrong but because she is a park host and wants us out, we should leave. That was when we found out who she was. We asked if we could sleep the night and leave in the morning and he asked her, but she said no. So to avoid being arrested, we had to pack and leave at 11pm. Our kids were scared, my son kept asking if we're going to jail and any near campgrounds were packed or closed for the night. Since we were very tired and couldn't face the 4 hour drive back home, we slept in some wild area off road nearby. In the morning we went to city hall to complain that city employee abuses her position to do favors for her relatives and kicks others out in the middle of the night. City mayor said that she was a volunteer. Then he talked to her in a separate room where she told him that she approached us at 6pm when we first got there and said that space was taken but we were screaming at her and set up the tent anyway. This is a lie! The first time I saw her was at 8:45pm and she was the one screaming and scaring our kids. Anyway, she got one park maintaince worker to tell that she called him at 6pm and told about the incident with us. The mayor believed her and told us to leave camping grounds for the weekend and that we can come back next weekend. When we left to go home around 3:30pm, her brother still wasn't there yet. We all feel that we have been treated unfair. Any laws about that? What about county or state laws? The city is in Grant county. What I figured out from this incident is to never argue with any authority, no matter how small it is, because even if you're right and didn't do anything wrong, they can lie and get away with it and you'll be accused and treated like criminal.

[HomeGuru]

Originally Posted by Lia

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? WA

Family with kids gets kicked out from city campgrounds at 11 pm because park host "reserved" the space for her brother.

We went camping this Memorial day weekend and left on Thursday. After a long 4 hours drive from home to Eastern Washington city campgrounds, we found a camping spot that had 2 broken chairs and a broken cooler but no people around so we assumed that previous campers left broken stuff behind. It was around 6pm and I went and prepaid for that spot for 3 nights. Then we put up a tent, took all the things and food out, started a campfire and cooked our dinner. Around 8:45pm while we were eating dinner, our 3 friends arrived. While we were talking to them, a woman ran to us and started screaming " You have to move! This space is paid for! Get out! I reserved this for my brother." We were like, who is she? So we started telling her that these campgrounds are first come, first serve basis and "no reservations" as it says in the rules. She screamed that if we don't move or get out, she will call 911. We didn't feel that we did anything wrong and said "go ahead, call 911". 15 minutes later she came back and was nice but insisted that we move. We already had everything set up and her brother was not even there so we said why don't her brother takes a different space when he gets there. She started screaming again about calling 911. She did called them this time and they came around 10pm to talk to us. The officer was clearly on her side and I asked why since he didn't hear our story. After hearing our story and seeing our sleepy kids, he said that she was wrong but because she is a park host and wants us out, we should leave. That was when we found out who she was. We asked if we could sleep the night and leave in the morning and he asked her, but she said no. So to avoid being arrested, we had to pack and leave at 11pm. Our kids were scared, my son kept asking if we're going to jail and any near campgrounds were packed or closed for the night. Since we were very tired and couldn't face the 4 hour drive back home, we slept in some wild area off road nearby. In the morning we went to city hall to complain that city employee abuses her position to do favors for her relatives and kicks others out in the middle of the night. City mayor said that she was a volunteer. Then he talked to her in a separate room where she told him that she approached us at 6pm when we first got there and said that space was taken but we were screaming at her and set up the tent anyway. This is a lie! The first time I saw her was at 8:45pm and she was the one screaming and scaring our kids. Anyway, she got one park maintaince worker to tell that she called him at 6pm and told about the incident with us. The mayor believed her and told us to leave camping grounds for the weekend and that we can come back next weekend. When we left to go home around 3:30pm, her brother still wasn't there yet. We all feel that we have been treated unfair. Any laws about that? What about county or state laws? The city is in Grant county. What I figured out from this incident is to never argue with any authority, no matter how small it is, because even if you're right and didn't do anything wrong, they can lie and get away with it and you'll be accused and treated like criminal.

**A: thank you for your story . I agree with your last sentence.

[Zigner]

If you would have left at 8:45, the kids wouldn't have been as sleepy.
Furthermore, you moved in to an already occupied spot.

[HomeGuru]

Originally Posted by Zigner

If you would have left at 8:45, the kids wouldn't have been as sleepy.
Furthermore, you moved in to an already occupied spot.

**A: good thing that campsite was not reserved by the bears.

[Zigner]

Originally Posted by HomeGuru

**A: good thing that campsite was not reserved by the bears.

...or the Redskins.

[>Charlotte<]

Originally Posted by Zigner

...or the Redskins.

...or the Seahawks?

[Lia]

Originally Posted by Zigner

If you would have left at 8:45, the kids wouldn't have been as sleepy.
Furthermore, you moved in to an already occupied spot.

Occupied by who? Her brother wasn't there even the next day at 3pm. I don't even know if he showed up at all. Those broken things weren't his. The park rules clearly say "no reservations" so why are they not the same for everybody? She cannot prove fairly that she paid for it before us because the second time she came, she had an envelope in her hand with payment and ours was already in the drop box for 3 hours.

Also it takes about 1 hour to pack so we could've possibly left at 8:45pm. Plus she didn't identify herself. You cannot just do whatever anyone tells you to do...

[Zigner]

Originally Posted by Lia

Occupied by who? Her brother wasn't there even the next day at 3pm. I don't even know if he showed up at all. Those broken things weren't his. The park rules clearly say "no reservations" so why are they not the same for everybody? She cannot prove fairly that she paid for it before us because the second time she came, she had an envelope in her hand with payment and ours was already in the drop box for 3 hours.

Also it takes about 1 hour to pack so we could've possibly left at 8:45pm. Plus she didn't identify herself. You cannot just do whatever anyone tells you to do...

Ok








What would you like done?

[Antigone*of*Greece]

Originally Posted by >Charlotte<

...or the Seahawks?

...or the Dallas Cowboys!!!!

[HomeGuru]

Originally Posted by Zigner

Ok








What would you like done?

**A: Maybe an official apology from the Mayor.

[Lia]

Originally Posted by Zigner

Ok

What would you like done?

I was just asking about the laws for our rights in the similar cases because if it was an argument between 2 campers about the space for the brother who is not even there the next day, nobody would've kicked us out in this first come, first serve and "no reservations" campgrounds BUT because she turned out to be a " volunteering park host" who reserved the space, we had no chance at all. We've been camping there since '98 and witnessed numerous arguments about the spaces. I just wished that she did approach us when we first got there before we set up a tent and unloaded stuff and of course, identified herself. She didn't even say she was a volunteer when we told an officer our side of story, asking why a city employee allowed to bend park rules to do favors for relatives.