Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

II1II----------------- 'nLAN O ~I A C ~ At; IIUN ~UH I Nt: LAND USE PROBLEM by Ron Schneiders It's no secret thatoH·road racing and perhaps all off road racing are now' threatened by extinction. Multiple guns have been brought to bear on us in the form of off-road registration, J3LM regulations and th Presidential Proclamation. When riders ask hopelessly, "What can we do?" the only answer has been - up until now - write letters and attend meetings, Letters do a lot of good, especially in certain situations, notably when some piece of detrimental legislation is in process and the legislators can be persuaded that votes will be lost if they vote the wrong way. Letters directed at the land use agencies though, are less effective. The men involved do not have to stand election every few years; they can ignore letters with impunity. Something stronger is needed. And I am happy to report that it is available. According to the Attorney for the CORL gro"p (that's the California Outdoor Recreation League) two actions appear feasible. First we can sue J .R .. Penny and seek to obtain a permanen t injunction prohibiting him from putting his new regulations into effect. He appears to be on very shaky legal ground on several issues, most importantly with regard to fees. A section from a federal law would appear to specifically prohibit the charging of fees where no developmen t or service is offered. Secondly, we can seek to obtain a ,permanen t injunction prohibiting the implementation of Presidential Order 11644, naming the Secretaries of Interior, Agriculture. and Defense and the Manager of the TV A in the suit. II has been stated that the Presidential Order has the effect of law. But under our system of government, or what is left of it, only Congress Itas the right to make laws. Penny has been saying that his action has been required by the Presidential Order. But the Presidential Order makes no mention of fees whatever. I am no.! a lawyer and it may well be that the action taken will 'be somewhat different from what I have suggested. But the effect will be to stop Penny and stop the implimentation of the Presidential Order. I opposed f,ighting the off·road vehicle registration act as being a loser's play and thus a waste of time and money, but this appears to be something we could win. If we did 'nothing but delay the -implementation of these orders for a couple years, we would be winners. We would have time to show why areas should not be classified as wilderness or whatever and time to work out some of the problems. And th'e agencies would have to start taking us seriously because we would have shown that we can stop their plans. Very possibly we could win totally and force the agencies to go to Congress and obtain a proper law if they want to tax us. And in this case we have some recourse. Among other things we, can 'vote ou t congressmen and presiden ts who are in favor of discriminatory legislation. A Wilshire Blvd. law firm has submitted a firm quote of $25,000 to file suit on our behalf and carry it (the Presidential Order) to the Supreme Court if necessary. They are land law specialists. They will also seek to obtain the preliminary 'injunction to prohibit implemen tation of the Presiden tial order. $25,000 is dir,t cheap for this kind of legal service. It is the opinio'n of the CORL attorney that $2500 would suffice to stop Penny. $3.00 from every member of the District would cover both actions. That's less than the fees that you'll pay to the BLM for two races if this new set of regulations goes into effect. This is not something that we can afford to wait on. The BLM orders may become operational in 30 days or less. Nor can we assume that someone else will do it for us. This action has already been suggested to the AMA and the MIC and their action is, "Sue the president? Ridiculous! We're supporting the ~ president and congratulating him on the presidential order!" And this while we're being squeezed out of our riding areas. The AMA and tlte MIC are both sold lock, stock, and barrel to President Nixon and are not about to do anything to embarass him, especially during an election year. In case you didn't know it, the heads of several industries and publications have flown to Washington at Nixon's expense to participate in the JiWcI.. WRIl£ fOR (OMPl£11: ~ , SPECS AN" PRICES ~ by Charles Clay ton At the end of this column is the text of a letter I'm sending to Russell Penny's boss, Itoping to stop Mr. Penny's mischief before it causes any more trouble. Don't copy my letter, write the Secretary your own views. If Penny gets away with this, the whole SP0rl and recreation of motorcycling wilI be seriously threatend with extinction. If Penny can demand a head tax on motorcyclists who use ""his" desert, a preceden t will be established. Then expect the other public land agencies to follow suit. Soon we would have to buy ,a ticket every time we rode. Organized events would virtually disappear, since no non.profit club and rew promoters can afford to meet all the BLM's demands, plus fork over 10% of their gross for nothing. Entry fees would skyrocket, and none of the money would be comin!!: back into the sport. I hope that all the independen t factions in motorcycling, from Joe and Jane Rider, clear through the AMA and MIC officials all write letters or send wires to the Secretary of Interior immediately to raise a hue and cry that will head off this desert robbery right now. I don't know how else we can preven t it. Once again motorcycle riders are being made the scapegoat for a ripoff without precedent. Use a postacard, if you Itave to, but make the Secretary put a stop to this thievery before it gets started. letter to Mr. Rogers C.8. Morton Secretary of the Interior U.S. Dept. of the Interior Washington, D.C. Mike Patrick's your move. _ Dear Mr. Secretary, This is to express my distress and dismay over a major item in the draft memorandum from the subject: 9ff·Road While California State office of the BLM, "Special Land Use Permits for Vehicle Events" (undated). most of the items in the draft memorandum are acceptable, the idea of charging lOuse fecs" for motorized recreational meetings on the desert is not. For generations, non-profit motorcycle enthusiast organizations have been sponsoring and promoting racemeets and non Ill' c. en " en ;: w Z W ..J U > U a,

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