Dec. 1--Thanksgiving Day weekend is all about off-road recreation for huge numbers of Californians who come to Kern County to play.

But if this year is anything like the ghost of Thanksgiving past, the weekend will end with serious injury or even death.

Ron Lewis, chief area ranger for the Ridgecrest office of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, estimated 25,000 people were crowded into the Jawbone Canyon off-highway recreation area by midday Friday, with tens of thousands more riding two wheels and four at other Kern County off-road areas near Ridgecrest and California City.

"Last year, we saw between 70,000 and 75,000 people over the Thanksgiving weekend," Lewis said. "At one point, we had five air (ambulances) carrying out injured riders."

Kern County sheriff's Sgt. Tyson Davis called Thanksgiving weekend the biggest weekend for off-roaders in the areas in and around Jawbone Canyon. Like Lewis, he also estimated about 25,000 people were at Jawbone on Friday.

Tragically, Thanksgiving week began with a deadly accident on Tuesday when a mother and daughter were killed after the four-wheel drive utility vehicles they were driving rolled down a steep hill in Jawbone Canyon.

The victims, Shellie Mazzei, 41, and her daughter, Rayshelle Venegas, 16, of Clovis, were thrown from their vehicles. They were not wearing helmets and other safety equipment.

Ironically, the law does not require that helmets and other safety equipment be worn by drivers of "outdoor utility vehicles" like those the victims were operating, the BLM's Lewis said.

"We have tons of safety laws for ATVs (all-terrain vehicles) ... but pretty much no laws for utility vehicles," he said.

With an ATV, the rider straddles the seat, Lewis said. Utility vehicles look more like a cart or small car.

One has to be age 16 or older to operate an ATV with an engine larger than 90 cubic centimeters, but there's no limit for drivers of utility vehicles.

Lewis recalled stopping a 7-year-old driving a utility vehicle with a powerful 700-cc engine.

"There was nothing I could do," he said. "The laws in California are just written that way."

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