Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Guest editorial Ron Schneiders mIsses one . . Important pOInt In his evaluation of the proposed "Orange Stickie" legislation which is now before_ the state legislature in the form of AB 1421 (Chappie). Not only would the proceeds from this new harassment device not benefit th'e off-highway vehicle program, but the $4 'in lieu' tax which is presently collected under the "Green Stickie" program would not be collected under the "Orange Stickie" plan. This means that your scooter becomes fair game for the local property tax boys. Anyone who has owned a boat knows what this means. As soon' as the state gets your registration processed, they send word to the county in which you reside. Shortly thereafter, the county assessor comes around to examine your "personal property" and places a value upon it which is subject to taxation at the going rate for property taxes in your area. Thus you could be paying the county an extra $20 to $50 each year for every bike you own. The present "Green Stickie" prevents this from occurring since $4 of the total SI5 collected is declared to be "in lieu" of all further personal property taxes. Thus the legislature has made your toy off-limits for the local tax boys under ,cGrcen Stickie". This fact alone should be enough to send a barrage of letters to Sacramento demanding that AB 1421 be stopped. I n addition, Mr. Schneiders is absolutely correct when he points out that some means must be found to encourage participation in the off-highway vehicle program. This is the only way we are going to get trails and areas provided for us which will be free from a constant threat of closure because of ecological reasons, proposed highways, developments, etc. Ron's proposal to encourage participation by requiring all off-road vehicles to have a regular license plate has considerable merit, unfortunately it also has certain inherent defects which I feel are insurmoun table. First of all, Schneiders suggests that when we apply for registrations we punch a hole on the IBM card if we in tend to use the vehicle off-road. If you puncbed the hole, a certain portion of your registration fee would go to the off-highway fund to fmance trails and areas for ORV use. Sounds great, except that there is no way the legislature would pass such a bill. Recently I succeeded in getting a bill introduced which would allow vehicles which are registered under the "Green Stickie" program to £Ie towed on th e high way without having to be re-registered as a trailer. Some of the obstacles which had to be overcome to get this bill past the DMV and the Division of Highways lead me to believe that a plan such as Schneiders suggests would be faced with such formidable opposition that it is doubtful that such a bill, if introduced would survive a first committee hearing. The registration money goes to fmancing highways, and any attempt to divert these moneys would be faced with almost instantaneous defeat. My trailering bill will be successful only because the vehicle in question will never be operated on the highway, and further it must be towed by a vehicle which has already paid a registration fee. I was also able to convince these people that only about 5000 such vehicles (mostly dune buggies) would be likely to take advantage of this situation. Imagine the horror of these bureaucrats when millions of bikers begin punching the little hole in their IBM card and diverting all that money to the ORV fund. Not only would a hole be punched when registering a bike, but ~so the family. jalopy, camper, motorhome or whatever is used to transport the bike ·to the desert. After all, this vehicle also becomes an ORV so why not put some money into the fund, right? The only way such a plan is likely to even be considered by the legislature is if there is an additional fee tacked on for using the vehicle off the highway. But when Joe _Biker goes to DMV to register his pride and joy, he knows that if he punches the hole he pays an extra $5 or so, and if he doesn't punch it he still gets a plate and nobody is going to harass him. Result still no off-highway vehicle fund, no new areas to ride. Besides the guy who doesn't have a street legal machine is paying more to get a plate from DMV than he was paying to get a "Green Stickie". Now let's go back and examine Schneider's objective, which I feel is very sound. First, Ron suggests that if we are going to have a program that will provide areas where we can continue to ride without harassment, we are going to have to find a way to get more people to pu t bucks into the off-highway program. Since it is still possible to transport vehicles without registration of any kind, many people have avoided doing anything at all. Many others decided that if they had to get registered, they might as well opt for highway registration which would permit.. the rider to use his machine on the streets. In both of these cases the off·highway program suffers because neither person is kicking in the money required to make it work. Now, let's look at another alternative. We will keep the assumption that the "Green Stickie" concept is a good one if the state would begin to carry OU t their obligations to provide us with some new riding areas. Sl.lppose all ORVs had to have either a "Green Stickle" or a license plate in order to be transported, and any vehicle with a license plate would have to buy an additional sticker to be permitted to use state supported facilities which were fmanced through the use of ORV moneys. This would accomplish several objectives: , 1) Many vehicles which are now not contributing to the off·highway program would have to purchase "Green Stickies", thus the amount of available funds would increase substantially. 2) "Street Leg"~" vehicles would be able to con tribu te to the program, although they would not be required to participate until there were facilities available. This would encourage the state to move more quickly in providing areas, so that they could take advantage of the opportunity to sell the supplemental stickers to the street legal bikes. I believe that this proposal would provide all of the benefits which Schneiders proposed, except that it would cost less for the individual who wants to use his machine in an off road capacity only. This is also a solution w h i chis feasible and could be administered quite easily. However, I would not support any further expansion of the registration program at this point until the state provides positive evidence that they are going to stop dragging their feet, and begin showing us that they can give us a first rate.trails program. There is enough money in the fund right now to do something positive. However, the Department of Parks and Recreation have been reluctant to move ahead. It is my fear that the Department is still tuned in to the dogma of the radical preservationist and are unwilling to allow us to acquire land which migh t be of interest to these posey-freaks. Because of this, I have proposed that the present Department be split up and two departments be established, one for Parks and one for Recreation. This proposal is admittedly impractical sinCe it would be very difficult to generate the necessary support to push this type of legislation. Another more feasible alternative, would be to transfer the en tire off-highway vehicle program to another departmen t such as the Departmen t of Transportation. (As there is no state DOT it would require formation of said department... Ed.) This Department would adminster the funds and make grints to any agency, state, local, or federal which presents a good program to benefit off-road vehicles. An advisory committee would be appointed to direct the Department in the administration of the program. This advisory commi ttee would be composed entirdy of ORV enthusiasts. Under this type of administration we would be free of influence-of the 80,000 Sierra Clubbers in planning our off·highway program. As it stands today, the Departmen t of Parks and Recreation is almost totally submissive to Sierra Club policy when carrying out its program. Our victory on the Red Rock Canyon classification is an indication that the Department is becoming more responsive to ORV people. I believe, however, that we need more assurance that the Department is working for us, and I therefore believe that our program would be better served if we tied our destiny to another department. In any event, it is imperative that :::: there be more direct participation by " ORV people in the planning and administration of the ORV program. M The Department of Parks and ~ Recreation tells us that they are willing ~ to set up ~ advisory committee to approve proposed sites for ORV go facilities. They are not willing at this « point ,to ask for our hdp in selecting (I) potential locations fo~ such facilities. ~ Thus we will be asked to OK an area Z only after it has been declared "Simon ~ Pure" by the Sierra Club. ~ I would like to urge that every ORV u enthusiast write to his Assemblyman or Senator (as the bill has almost cleared the Assembly) and ask that A B 1421 be defeated or amended to insure that a positive approach to the establishmen t of an effective off.highway vehicle program can be guaranteed. l = Bob Ham/CORVA/MORE The views expressed in this column are not necessarily those of Cycle News Inc., its employees or owners. They are the exclusive responsibility of the authors. Equal and fair rebuttal space will be duely considered. Editorials should be submitted typed, double spaced, and two weeks in advance of the publication dnte. Due to editorial changes and a few misunderstandings, old Auntie here will remain around eN for a while. Now hear this you old timers. Remember what a ball'we had at Perris last year helping to get the track back up on it's feet again after the fire? Well, it was so much fun that it's going to happen again August 11 tho If you are an old timer you're invited even if you don't get one of the neat invitations the Burton's had printed up this year. Everyone will be there to either ride or watch and just to show how great a night it will be; Penton's Fred Moxley will be coming down from Sacramento to participate. After loosing out of th.ree columns, this next bit will be a bits and pieces thing of things that were written about before but didn't get into print. On the sadness side we still mourn Swede Savage...you who were there remember the summer at Prado when he and Butch Languth decided to have a hair growing contest, and that was before long hair became the fashion. Swede was indeed one of us: Then we got the news that New Zealander Geoff Perry went down in an air crash and we've lost another great competitor...on the fun side, the Carlsbad motocross waS neat even ifsome of the personnel running the thing weren't when it came to credentials...when you are a working member of the press and can't get credentials but see a twelve year old with them on, something's wrong...still, we made the pits and were available to give John Banks any support he needed and had a good giggle after Saturday's practice when a two-stroker told me that John had no chance at a11...1 just grinned (a cat grin because of the times being turned in by our John) and he didn't do so badly with a third on a BSA (Yeah!). And then there was Rolf Tibblin who gave an exhibi tion on his special Husky, and when he rode past I thought to myself that doesn't sound like any Husky I've ever heard, sounds like a bloomin' Beezer... turns ou t that bike is mostly Beezer. Anyway, it was great to watch and hear Banks against the migh t of the two-stroke factories who arrived really loaded for bear...as usual our current AMA referee John Lancione did a splendid job... the riders like him and he's not afraid to make a decision when needed and then stand behind it. If he ever quits the AMA they 'II loose a good man, and I'll sick my Godfather on him 'for quitting. We need mOre officials like that. After Carlsbad came the stupendous thing at the CoUiseum. I still can't get used to seeing motocross racers on the Rams hallowed grounds, but whoever paid the healthy tab to get in got their money's worth ... those downhills were something else, and whoever said that Pomeroy was one of the fastest down-hill men in the world wasn't kidding... the course was rough enough for anyone and to watch someone like Pierre Karsmakers kill his engine in a tight hairpin coming out of the muhdole proves it. Other fans who paid for the Ascott IT National also got their moneys worth. Every heat was like a Main...me, even though I've known both riders since they were young 'uns at the track just had to pull for David Aldana because of the contingency money Norton would pay for a win and just coached him from the stands (as if he could hear) to push Gary Scott un til the Triumph let go and it did...one thing that really got to me was when a re-start was needed and the riders came around, the only man to remember what you're supposed to, raise you left arm in the air, was Gene Romero...rules are rules and some of the riders apparently have forgotten 'em but not Gene...) also came home with a copy of Dick Marm's book Motorcycle Ace, if you haven't read it, do... the pictures alone are worth the price and what you'll learn what living on the National circuit is all about. It is quite an education. Don't forger the Old Timers race at Perris, you'll see the greats in the sport there and hopefully, me t06. As to the stitches I have in th.e chops, all the tales circulating are untrUths... the truth is don't stand up in your motorhome when a Pinto acts like a dodo infront, and the hrakes come on hard! Maureen Lee

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