Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Carter oav announcement expected April 7 LONG BEACH , CA, APR . 4 President Carter may announce action on the Council on Environmental Quality's proposed ' ban on ORV use of federal lands on April 7, according to informed sources. By announcing the proposal on the day Congress recesses for Easter, Carter will be able to avoid immediate reaction from Congress. Opposition to the secretive proposed amendments to Executive Order 11644 has already surfaced in both H ou se and the Se nate. T he proposed ban on O RV use of federal lands originally was to be part of Carter's pla nned En vironmenta l Message to Congress. Bu t since W hi te House Energy Advisor Jam e s Schlesinger has poi nted ou t to Cart er parts of the proposed t hat Environmental m essage con flic t with Schlesinger's energy pla ns for the nation Carter is expected to delay the anno uncement of his En vironmenta l pla ns - except for the proposals dealing with ORVs. Ca rter's position on ORV use of federal lands is expected t o be announced on April 7, separa tely from the Environmental Message. It is unknown whether or not heavy public . opposition to the proposed ban has been effective in convincing Carter to abandon the proposals. . Motorcyclists and other off-road vehiclists should continue to write, telegram , and telephone the White House stating opposition to the proposals. • Keepup pressure, says AMA WESTERVILLE , OH, APR . 4 The America n Mo torcyclist Association (AMA) today issued an u rge n t warning to its mem bers to "keep the pressu re on the White House" in the current emergency over future off-road vehicle (O RV) use offederalland . "A couple of weeks into a crisis like this , things tend to level off. " said Rob Rasor, Assoc . Director of the AMA Legislative Dept. "W e can't let that happen because the proponents of land closure are using a lot of undergro u nd ta cti cs . Our best weapon against those tactics is public pressure directly on President Jimmy Carter. " The crisis arose whim the Council on Environmental Quality, an agency of the Executive Branch of the federal government . proposed Amendments to Executive Order 11644 that would change the present policies governing the use of motorcycles and other O RVs on federal land , without p ublic comment. Rasor said , "T he AMA has spent an awful lot of its m em bers' dues dollars working wit h th e Bu rea u of Land Managment , Bu rea u of Out door R ec re a t io n . Corp of E nginee rs, National Forest Service and ot her agencies to insu re th a t motorcyclists' interests were represented in the land use p lans resulting from E.O . 11644 . The executive order is a means 'o f regulation vcry difficult to oppose," said Rason , "T here is no opportunity for the public to have a say. "T he AMA and the Motorcycle .l n d u srry ~!?~,!ci l " (¥.IC) have . repeatedly asked to see the actual and final' language of the proposal and have been continually denied specific answers. We're not the only ones having this problem. Senator Frank Church (D -Idaho) said in a news release' on the subject. 'The more 1 have sought the answer, the more varied th e answers ha ve beco me .' . "The key to defea ting th a t secre~ is to raise a fu ss" sai d Rason. "The rhore people who kn ow a bout a secret, the harder it is to keep a lid on it. W e need to con tinue th e flood of letters telegrams a re better - to the White House." .T he thousands of bikers who have already wri tten sho uld now call. The W hite Hou se n um be r is (202) 4561414 . Tell them you wa nt to express your opinion on federal la nd use and they will transfer you to a "comments office" whe re a staff member will take your opinion. Motorcyclists a re encouraged to blitz those lines with their feelings on this issue. "We -need to remember. " Rasor continued. " tha t one man has the power to straighten this mess out Jimmy Carter. There are an incredible number of stories circulating in Washington about who started the order, who modified it and how . who has approved it , who has concealed it and so forth. " But the point to remember about an executive order is that at some point one man has got to stand up , put his name on it and say , ' I think this is good for you and I'm going to make it la w.' Tha t man is President Jimmy Carter and that's who we've got to confront right now. "The critica l objective is to continue toflood the White H ouse with mail. "W e have a new Presid ent who campaigned on a platform of openness in government. The first major action of his administration that directly .affects motorcycling ha s been veiled in secrecy and hidden from public access. If President Carter means what he says about the wa y America should work , . • he'II stop thi s order. " Senator McClure blasts proposed ORV ban WASHINGTON . DC , MAR. 31 Sena to r Jim McClure (R-Idaho) has lashed out at any proposed ban of off road vehicles on pu bl ic lands, calling the proposal "ridiculous." McClure said the proposal , originating in the Co uncil on Environmental Quality , (CEQ) and now circulating in the Carter Admin ist ration "betrays a lack of un der sta nd ing of the use of public lands. " I am deeply concerned that this type of proposal may reverse the long standing policy of allowing wide pub lic use of the public la nds, to a policy of shutting the public out of its lands , unless public a c cess is specifically permitted," the Senator said;-, " I ,. will . ,figh t tooth and nail against a ny suc h p ro posa l to ban th e use of off r oad or recreat iona l vehicles . McClure said he was amazed at the appa rent lack of u nd e r st a n d in g displayed by the CEQ and t he Carter Administration on the use of public lands. " T h is smacks of typical bureaucratic thinking coming from the marbeled halls of . Washington. DC ," McClure said. "W e should send the bureaucrats out West on a motorcycle , a dune buggy, or a snowmobile so they can clear their heads ." McClure earlier released copies of the CEQ proposal which would drastically shut off public lands to off road travel. The proposal would amend 1972 Executive O rd er 11644 concerning the use of federal land. The Idaho Senator said his staff is exploring possible legislative action which can be taken should President Carter accept the recom me nd a tion of CEQ. "If the President goes a head with th is ban , then we must stop it in Co ngress, a nd I a m prepared to do j ust that ," said McClu re. • II , The Story of a Preventive protest -By Charles Clayton T h ere is nothing like a struggle against a co_mmon foe to u nite bikers . Such a st ruggle is the proposed ban, on environmental grounds. of off-road riding, racing. recreation and the like on federal lands. .In the last two weeks. you all responded like champions to the call for letters and telegrams to the White House and may have stopped a terrible injustice from going down. A little background information. A snowmobile association first learned of an upcoming Executive Order that would change the policy of the federal government toward recreation vehicles on pub lic land. The snowmobile lobbyists moved quickly and made sure an exemption for snowmobiles was written into the p ro posed E.O. New s of this leaked to a n executive of a big dirtbike manufactu rer , and he called the motorcycle associations and Cycle N ews, wit h the dis turbing rumor. Each outfit checked the story independently and agreed that it was serious. In two weeks the President of the United States wou ld declare all lands under the jurisdiction of the federal government - forests. deserts. flood plains, parks - off- limits to motorcycles. Not in so many words, of course. The order was to be worded in the usual environmentalist pig-latin . but it transla ted beyond a doubt : No Motorcycles Allowed, Ever! Cycle N ews tore out the front page on Monday and bannered the story in both ed it ions . Biker boiled it down to a Nutshell in its later edition. By the time the papers hit ' the street, AMA and MIC members were getting mailgrams from their associations. -all urging them to communicate wit h the White House and try to head off the signing of this order until the President had me t with representatives _ of motorcycle interests. By Thursday the . W hite House operators were interrupting hikers ca lls with a cu rt "For or againSt?" Secretaries wo u ld n't esti mate t he amount of lett ers already received, bu t a special task force was set up to deal with the mail on " the motorcycle issue." It made the evening news in Los Angeles. the first time that we've seen the news report a biker ca tastrophe that didn't happen yet. U .S. Congressmen were quoted in the papers that day saying they opposed the forth coming Executive Order , They were the same congressmen Who h ad not bee n informed before the recen t order b ann ing dam construc tion on the sam e environmen ta l grounds . C a rter 's ho neymoon with Congress may have ended when he stopped the d arns in the western states, in the face of a drought. Perh aps Jimmy will now read the im plications of the orders his environmental-cases ask him to sign. Let us hope that America's wea kest minority. the biker . has helped to tum the tide against this ram p ant environ mentalism t ha t is. b reakin g America do wn , W e will on ly k now we were successful if it doesn 't ha ppen - " if Ca rt er doesn't cha nge t he present motorcycle status of p ub lic lands from "open until ordered closed." to "closed ' u n til ordered open" . But we ca n never rel ax our vigi l against the anti-b iker in the enviro nm ental agencies . We were lucky to be warned this tim e, Next time we may not find out until it is too late for preventive protest. • ...... .J-< 0.. < THE LATEST o P BY PAPA WEALEY (Continued f rom page 2) Harley-Davidson's Franco Uncini scored a 250cc class win ln .an International road race program in Italy on March 27. Uncini, who impressed many at Daytona, also scored a second in the 350cc class w hich was won by Yamaha's Johnny Cecotto. Uncini's teammate Walter Villa suffered a flat tire in the 250cc go and was involved in an accident with Jose Cecotto in the 350cc race. The U .S, ro u nd of the World T ria ls Champions hip. slated for May 28-2 9 in the Port H uron, Michigan area, will be hosted by the Michigan Ontario Trials Association . Changes in the 77 AMA motocross schedule have been announced. Canceled are the '125cc National scheduled April 17 at ·Phoenix International Raceway and Trans-AMA Series events orig inally scheduled November 6 at Saddleback Park in Irvine. California, and November 27 at Phoenix Int ern ational. Change your '77 calendars to reflect the follo wing changes which have been made since the a bove cancelations. The Puyallup (Washington) TransAMA will be held on November 6 (origi n a lly scheduled for November 13) and the final round of the AM A Supercross Series. originally set for December 3. will be held November.l2 at Anaheim St a d iu m in yep Anaheim, Cal ifornia . Gary Semics, reportedly having trouble with calcium deposits in his leg, stayed home to recuperate rather than compete at the Dallas Supercross, Kawasaki 's Supercross Champion , ':Ja m m in' "Jimmy Weinert was having ignition problems all evening at the Dallas one-nighrer, couldn't get it all together. 15

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