Once again, the Star Tribune does an "in depth" article on the "evils" of ATVs in Minnesota, this time,full front page, and 2 full pages inside!!. Yes, at least this time they call most of the damage done by "renegade" riders that pull down signs, barriers,and trespass, but they have a lot of one sided B S that shows they are definately anti-atv, some of the pictures looked almost staged, and the one picture showing the long term wear resulting in a 5 foot deep rut was supposed to be on Spider Lake, but I have never seen that section of trail, and I have ridden Spider Lake for years, did they go on a closed section,put a wheeler there, take pictures just for effect? This one sided slam comes every year, usually in the spring,don't know why they waited until fall this year. They even brought up the ditch riding,how pheasants and other birds can't nest because of the "lawless" quad owners, nothing was said of the farmers that cut and bale the ditches, how many birds will nest in 2" of stubble??? Sorry for the rant, but this yearly trashing is getting on my nerves. But one thing stands out loud and clear: TO YOU A##HOLES OUT THERE TRESSPASSING,DAMAGING WETLANDS, RIPPING OUT FENCES AND SIGNS, YOU ARE WRECKING IT FOR ALL OF US, AND I HOPE YOU SINK TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SWAMP YOU ARE DESTROYING !!!!!!

 

Amen to 95wolv!

 

+1. It only takes a few azzholes and one biased reporter to get areas closed and bad laws passed.

 

Yep, one idiot can destroy it for all of us. We had two trails closed to our club because of idiots.

 

The Trib needs to be inundated with letters from locals that espouse the other point of view; such as the thousands of jobs provided directly to Minnesota tax payers (AC & Polaris factories, sales, service, etc), plus indirect jobs and taxes such as fuel sales & taxes, lic taxes, food, beverages, hotels, etc, etc to name just a few. No doubt there are people that can add to this list of benifits to the state.

 

Just got an email update from the ATVAM ( ATV Association of Minnesota). They intend to issue a rebuttal to the article to dispel at least some of the negative press from this slanted article. It will be interesting to see how far back in the paper it gets buried to keep anyone from easily finding it !! Sad thing is that I'll bet most of the people involved in writing that have never spent a day on a winding trail, trees everywhere, just enjoying an afternoon out with family and friends. Some of the best times I had with my son was starting him out on his little LT80,and watching him grow and develop a deep love of riding and the fun that goes with it. All those years,and the worst we ever did was roost a little dirt in some tight corners, I am SOOOO EVIL !!!!
Deedawg has a good point, a lot of letters would definately let them know how most of us feel, funny thing is, they hate our quads, but love our money we spend on trail stickers, gas, license fees, etc., because other groups for years have dipped into the fund created by ATV rider fees for their own use, leaving less for us to fix and add trails, keeping us from being tempted to ride in closed areas. Give us trails, and we will ride !!!!