bamboo this weekend 4/27-4/29 will it be open cause the dirt biker that died

I hope the family goes after the other driver only, and not Underhill.

Motorcyclist's death at farm sparks sorrow, anger

By Daphne Duret

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

STUART — A disaster waiting to happen.

That's what local officials for years have called the mud-bogging events at Underhill Farms.

The events have put owner Ed Underhill at odds with Martin County, which at one time fined him in the millions of dollars for sponsoring dirt-bike events on his 800-acre property in rural Martin County.

Now, after the death of a 21-year-old Lake Worth man in a collision on the property Saturday, the same people who warred with Underhill over the events are expressing regret and frustration.

"It's really a shame that someone had to lose his life," said Leonard Wein, the former head of Martin County's code enforcement board.

Timothy Lee died Saturday after he collided with another motorcyclist, Jeremy Helmuth, 16, of Loxahatchee, while approaching a jump. Helmuth's motorcycle hit Lee in the head, according to Florida Highway Patrol reports. Lee was not wearing a helmet.

Debbie Lee of Greenacres on Monday said the death of her son, whom she calls a "down-home country boy," has devastated her. She said she plans to hire a lawyer, speak to Martin County commissioners and do what she can to stop similar events from taking place on Underhill's land.

"If the people really want these events, then why don't they come together and find a way to make it happen legally and make sure everyone's safe?" she asked.

Timothy Lee's relatives in Lake Butler, a town in Union County in North Florida, were trying to cope with his death Monday. Eddie Lee, who was divorced from Debbie Lee when Timothy was a child, said he has been devastated by his son's death.

"I was really shocked at first," said Eddie Lee. "I woke up Friday and Saturday morning, and something told me to call him, but I never did. Then I got a call from his uncle on Sunday."

Eddie Lee said his son had loved motorbikes and mudding since he was a baby. A picture of Timothy on his fourth birthday shows him standing next to a cake topped with a miniature four-wheel truck. He said Timothy and his brothers usually knew to ride with helmets and says he's still searching for answers.

"I feel the owner should have some liability if he was doing events when he wasn't supposed to," Eddie Lee said of Underhill.

"But I still need to find out what happened," he said.

Underhill at one point racked up fines totalling nearly $3 million from the county in code enforcement violations, but an appellate court recently reduced those fines to about $48,000. Underhill had been trying to appeal that amount as well but had exhausted his appeals, code enforcement officer Pam Gibb said Monday.

Underhill did not return phone calls Monday, and his West Palm Beach attorney, Gwendolyn Tuggle, said neither she nor Underhill had any comment on the issue.

As for Wein, he calls Lee's death tragic but fears it won't end events on Underhill's property.

"This will not be the last event there," Wein predicted. "As long as there is a demand there, it'll go on."