I just found out that there are 16 hunting units in Idaho this year where ATV's can no longer be used off-trail. They can only be used for hunting if they are used on a road that is accessible by an automobile. It really ticks me off that the minority have such a big influence in setting laws. I went for a ride the other day in the foot hills north of Boise. I drove through 20 miles of rolling hills covered only with sagebrush. It was posted on both sides of the road - no motorcycles or ATV's. The horse riders were out in full force though. I have nothing against horse riders, but from what I can tell horses tear up the land much more than ATV's. ATVers need to unite and have a voice or soon there will be nowhere to ride!

 

zukaman,

It kind of goes back to a question I started below about wether us atvers were even a pimple on the a$$ of our vastly more organized cycle and sledder brothers.

Very few people seem too concerned about our organizational level being at basically the 'joke' level and I am beginning to believe that we (sadly, for our kid's sake) just may DESERVE whatever we end up with after all these years of our sport's existance and the explosion of a communication age that we never even exploited to our advantage.

I mean, c'mon; when do we seriously stop blaming "the other guy".......................................

 

BlackBalled...good thoughts lets do SOMETHING. As I stated in another thred...the industry is fighting for us...only idiots can destroy what they are attempting to keep for us.

 

I'm not really sure where to go from here, Pastor.

In my own state, our atv club pretty much consists of members who 'just want to ride' and have a hard time opening their mouths about anything much more significant than how they're all going to get there and who's going to bring the weenies. Their leader doesn't like to come out and say much beyond a RSVP (required) meeting that we had to shame them into holding every 4 months (on schedule) and we have proven time and again that their club refuses to return requests for safety training or even consider elected leadership.

Heck, we even had a business owner who started a poker run for (mostly) club members and bought a business membership in their club, to boot. This guy got jerked around to the point where he was telling the club administration that if they sent his money back; he'd "pin it up on the wall of his motel" for all to see!
I made a comment as to why I thought his treatment was not indicative of the way we want to act and IMMEDIATELY got kicked off the club website. The rest of them?.......................you guessed it; 'quiet as church mice' ...................and in '2003'; are all wondering why they have so little 'new' club or forum activity.

We've had a few people who have stood up and questioned (much more) than this; yet the vast majority of riders here in Michigan have no idea of what is happening behind the scenes; don't really care to learn and are the perfect 'sheep' for anybody wanting to shape orv policy in an autonomous manner.

Most of these club members are from the 'Detroit' area and guess what club promised them, when they joined, that they'd work 'hard' at getting them all their 'first ever', local riding area, out their back-door, in southeastern Michigan?(while the rest of our trail system lies in serious disrepair).

How in the heck do you compete with 'that' and maybe still bring up issues that nobody has ever before discussed openly?(for example, why 'parents' are charged $25 for sitting in on their kid's safety training class)

Believe me..........you don't [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

John,


I've waited thru allmost 3 yrs of this BS and am also sick and tired of the ''wait and see''game.Some of our so called ORV leaders have left us with little hope for expanded future ORV liberties,while other outdoor users[snowmobilers,ect]enjoy far more land use than we do.These new leaders ''bait you in''with WHY you dont have the same rights as other outdoor users,[because your user group is not organized]and fill your head full of expectations for the near future by joining their ORV organization.

After sitting thru yrs of ORV Board meetings in Lansing,I've concluded that a large majority of these guys that sit on our ORV board are nothing more than POLITICIANS!Politicians and results dont usually go hand/hand and that is evident by the poor results that have been acchomplished througout the last few yrs.

I could go on and on,but I'll stop here,you know where im coming from!

Bill

 

Bill,

I've taken so much crap from people with 'selective' memories that I find it hard to comment on this. Mean-spirited attacks and outright refusal to answer simple questions on TRAIL isssues (for God's sake).........gives us all a pretty good look into the moral character of those who are leading and following at this point in time.

I personally blame every last citizen of this state who has sat back and kept their mouth shut while our entire system has hung in the balance.

John

 

And I tell those that are tired of the past and current ORV game to get their a$$ to ORV board meetings and start asking questions?When more than just a ''handfull''of concerned users start to ask questions on a continued basis,only than will we start to see changes.

I agree,ATV users that sit back and settle for what we have now without voicing their opinions are not helping us to gain anymore rights.

Bill

 

I'm with you man, we are in Michigan and Clare Co. is real bad about the 4-wheelers, but we can ride
our smoking snowmobiles and dirtbikes w/ O.R.V stickers where ever the trail takes us! It's Bull*#@%^
I am mad as all get out, I plan to start some petitions and start some *^@! with all the townships and
with Clare Co.
We do need to get something going, and the sooner we do that the more ridding we can do!

Thanks your friend

RUNNING FROM THE D.N.R Cabinwife

 

Hi there, you are a man of many word... I like the thoughts that you bring to the table...
You are right about everyone just sitting back and bit***@# and not getting involved, we really just started to notice that we don't have the same rights as snowmobiles and motocycles... We ride in Clare county, and they are tough on ATV's. We have had enough and want to make a change. Still working on a strategy!

 

Working on a strategy?

It would be wise to gather up as MANY ATV riders as you can and head to the next ORV board meeting in Lansing Mi on Wednesday,July 9th @ 6:30pm and express your opinions.

There are some new board members on this staff and the new chairperson[Dick Reeney]seems like someone who wants to see some RESULTS,rather than just ''waiting to see what happens''?

One voice means nothing,MANY voices and you'll be heard!

Bill