DEPAUVILLE — Youths speeding on all-terrain vehicles in the hamlet soon may get a ticket instead of a lecture.

Clayton Town Supervisor Justin A. Taylor, speaking during Wednesday's Town Council meeting at Depauville Free Library and Community Center, said the town will ask the state police and the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department to enforce the speed limit and ATV laws in the hamlet.

"It's at a point where it is a law enforcement issue," Mr. Taylor said.

The issue is not new to the community. On June 24, hamlet residents got together to address the ATV speeding issue after the May 18 deaths of Jordan M. Houghton, 17, and Maxwell Z. Zeigler, 20, both intoxicated, in a one-car crash on County Route 11 near the hamlet.

At that June community meeting, hamlet residents and the town supervisor decided increased police presence was not the best solution for the problem, but that sentiment has changed.

Elaine Wilkie, a Depauville resident, said speeding has not declined since the June meeting.

Since the meeting, the town supervisor and many hamlet members sought to resolve the problem by hosting community events — such as an ATV safety course and a cookout at the community center — to encourage more dialogue with the hamlet's youths. But Mrs. Wilkie said that this is no longer an effective way to deal with speeding in the hamlet.

"A large majority of the people here still have the mindset of a rural hamlet," Mrs. Wilkie said.

She said the hamlet needs more law enforcement, not only for the safety of residents but, more importantly, for the safety of the young ATV drivers.

"They are ripping and running well into midnight having a good time," Mrs. Wilkie said. "Unfortunately, there is not an open awareness of the critical consequences."

The hamlet has much more automobile traffic than before, she said, and unwanted accidents are more likely to happen with cars speeding through the hamlet on Route 12.

Mrs. Wilkie said the Town Council should ask police to be more "time and location sensitive" when patrolling the hamlet to reduce ATV speeding.