You're not gonna get the answer you want on your creek. These days most "waterways" are protected from almost any disturbance. Especially if you are in an area that ever had a gravel production company working in a streambed. People downstream see a bunch of mud dirtying up the water that flows by their house and someone is gonna get a call. May not necessarily be the police but some "agency", don't remember what it's called in Pa, like the DEG, or TCEQ, USACE, or LCRA environmental agencies all with legitimate purposes but with nothing to do now as construction has hit the skids. They're all sitting around trying to justify their jobs so they don't get laid off or furloughed.

IMO the police will not have the "only" answer. State and federal agencies control water quality....

glad to hear you had a reasonable judge.

just be sure to be extra smart for the near future, as you know that cop (and his buddies) will be looking out for you. and i'm not talking about a couple of weeks, or even a few months.

i once had a cop give me a ticket for running a stop sign-WHICH I DIDN'T! (i'm the ass-hat who'll step out in front of you if you do that), which was dismissed in court (my judge was reasonable, and could see who was right). anyways, about 6 months later, i had a cop following me for 20 mins. when i finally stopped in a Tim's for a coffee, he was parked right out front of the store when i came out, and noticed it was this other cops partner.

since i had to walk past him to get to my truck, i made sure i was extra polite when i asked him why he was following me for so long. besides the shocked look on his face (i guess he didn't think i knew he was following me), all he said was, "that i seemed to be driving erratic". so why didn't he do a stop then?

you shoulda seen the look on this guys face, when i told him i reconized him as the partner of the other cop, who issued me the citation for running a stop sign.

just be extra smart, and take a quick second to think & look around before the next time you do a "go see".