OUR VIEW: Injured Incline hiker should be charged; manager furious (vote in poll)

We should wish Paul Cohen a full recovery from the serious injury he suffered while climbing the Manitou Incline Monday, where he impaled his leg on rebar. Thank God he didn’t bleed to death. After praying for this prominent lawyer’s return to health, ponder whether he should be charged with criminal trespass.

“We will be looking into that,” said Cog Railway general manager Spencer Wren, who believed Cohen was on his company's portion of the Incline.

Wren grows more infuriated with trespassers whenever one gets injured or killed. Anything short of a trespassing charge in this instance will only reinforce a common myth that says it’s OK to trespass because local politicians and prominent professionals do it.

None of the Incline is open to the public, mostly because it’s dangerous and under-maintained for public use. It is clearly posted “no trespassing,” but every year roughly 70,000 criminals trespass in an unlawful plebiscite-by-mob that stands to undermine any chance the Incline will open to the public.

Wren serves on a committee that’s examining ways to open the Incline in a manner that respects property rights, enhances safety and reduces liability.

“We’re nowhere near getting it open, and one of our real fears was that if we talked about opening it the result would be a perception that it’s a done deal and it’s OK to trespass,” Wren said. “Well, our fears were realized.”

Wren said one of the enormous costs associated with opening the Incline includes projects to make it safeer by eliminating a variety of hazards, including rusty old rebar spears sticking up from the ground.

Wren and others associated with the Cog Railway live in fear of a devastating lawsuit by someone who gets hurt, or by relatives of someone who dies on the Incline. There’s no reason they shouldn’t fear it. Though it appears the rights of private property owners are tenuous, trespassers have rights. Some who injure themselves are able to successfully sue their victims. They can walk into court and claim injury by an “attractive nuisance,” even if the owner of the property posted “no trespassing” or “keep out” with multiple signs. It’s a sad commentary about the state of our culture.

“I always hear that a lot of these trespassers are respected members of the community, including wealthy doctors and lawyers,” Wren said. “How would they feel if I just went over and used their swimming pools when they’re vacationing in Italy? I could say ‘they shouldn’t mind, they aren’t using it.’ That’s exactly what happens to us hundreds of times a day. These people have no respect for private property. It’s as if their individual rights and desires are important, but ours are not.”

Over the years, criminal trespassers on the Incline have included members of the City Council and other community leaders. Wren said he can’t even keep the restrooms open at the Cog Railway because trespassers trash them and create a waiting line that can hold up a train for 40 minutes, as paying customers wait in line. He said efforts to educate trespassers about the law have resulted in threats and verbal abuse of his staff.

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“The United States Olympic Committee has brought athletes up here,” Wren said. “That’s a publicly supported program, yet they feel they can publicly flaunt the laws of the country. It’s not right.”

Stay off of the Incline. If friends and colleagues use it, tell them they are committing criminal trespass. The fact “everyone does it” only reveals cultural depravity.

Someday, everyone might decide to shoplift from convenience stores. Members of the City Council, along with doctors and lawyers, might boast of committing petty thievery. It won’t make it right and it won’t make it legal. Using the Incline is a crime. Don’t climb it unless and until you’re invited.

— Wayne Laugesen , editorial page editor, for the editorial board. Friend him on Facebook