24-1-133. Posting notice of restrictions to public roads and adjacent lands; restrictions; penalties.

(a) No person shall post a notice purporting to restrict access over a public road unless the restriction has been approved by the governing body having jurisdiction over the road.

(b) For purposes of this section "public road" means any passageway to which there is a duly recorded instrument from the landowner or his predecessor in interest conveying to the public unrestricted legal right to use the passageway or to which a governing body has acquired unrestricted legal right for the public to use the passageway.

(c) The governing body or its authorized representative having jurisdiction over the public road shall issue a written demand to any person who unlawfully posts a notice in violation of subsection (a) of this section directing that the notice be removed within three (3) days following receipt of the notice. The demand shall be delivered in person by a peace officer or mailed by both first class mail and certified mail return receipt requested to the person's last known mailing address. Any person who knowingly posts an illegal notice or who fails to remove an illegal notice within three (3) days after receiving the demand from the governing body is guilty of a misdemeanor. If the person cannot be personally served because he deliberately made himself unavailable for service, or refused to accept delivery of the demand by certified mail, then he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor if he fails to remove the illegal notice within five (5) days after the demand was mailed to him by the governing body. Any person convicted of a misdemeanor under this section shall be punished by a fine up to six hundred dollars ($600.00) for each day the person fails to remove the illegal notice. For a second or subsequent offense, the penalty shall be a fine of not more than six hundred dollars ($600.00) per day, and up to six (6) months in jail, or both.

(d) It shall be a defense to any charge under this section, that severe weather or other circumstance not within control of the person charged prevented removal of the notice.