Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Quack! Ouackl And don't look back By the Phantom Typewriter Operator LOS ANGELES , CA , N OV . 2 \ U.S. District Court Judge Warren]. Ferguson granted the injunction sought by the Bureau of Land Management against the Phantom Duck,of the Desert's Unorganized Trail Ride , bu t then the inj unc tion was reworded to allow the Du ck to ride from Ba rsto w to Vegas under existing BLM rules . There is no mo re Pha nt om D uck of the Desert "Unorga nized" Ba rstow to Las Vegas T rai l R ide. but the Du ck was gra nt ed h is legal right to ride with up to 49 fri ends and associates on land recognized as open on existi ng roads and trails. The BL M , represented by James R . Arnold of the U .S . Attorney's Office . had attempted to use other BLM statutes to shut th e area down entirely for the T h anksgi ving weekend , but Judg e Fergus on de nied th is req ues t and ordered the inju nct ion reworded . The Duck was abl y rep resen ted at the hearing by a ttorney George J. Stephan , brought int o the case by Dirt Bik e Magaz ine Editor Rick Siem an . 'Siem a n has orga nized t he Phantom Du ck of the Desert L eg a l Defens e/ Attack Fund to fight for th e Du ck and all d es ert rid ers. Contribu tions to th e fund ma y be sen t to th e Fla me , Sa nger . G rayson and Ginsburg Cl ien t Trust Fu nd , c/o Rick Sieman, 176\9 Los Ali m os St . , Granada Hills, CA 9\3 44 . Make ch ecks payable to the F, S, G&G Client Trust Fu nd . After listening to arguments fro m both sides , J udge Ferguson had both sides meet in an attempt to agr ee to a suitable route for the Bvto-V tra il ride. This was rega rded by many of the pro· Du ck grou p p resent as a victory in itself. "T his is t he first time in four yea rs tha t th ey've sat down and talked with us ," said on e . But the attempted negotiations broke down in a maze of confusion over p rivate property, existing roa ds , utility-company rights of wa y, and pri vately-controled mining roads on public land . In h is ru ling. Ju dge Fe rguso n recognized th e First Am endment right of protest aspects of the case , bu t noted Su p rem e C ou rt decision regarding sym bolic protest - it must not be violent . i.e.. black armbands , yes, burning draft ca rds. no. First Am endment rights were just pan of the argument p resented by Stephan, who did an admirable job , considering that he had been brou ght in on the case on Sund ay, two d ays before th e Tuesd a y hearing . Possibl y th e la rgest im p act of the decision was that the BLM cannot stop a private citizen from riding his motorcycle on public lands classified as open for vehicular use . • Goin' to Vegas with a feathered friend By Da le Brown Photos by Charle s M orey an d Brow n BARSTOW, CAlLAS VEGAS , NV , NOV . 25 I rode from Barstow to Las Vegas the Saturday after Thanksgiving. So did a lot of other people. Though it wasn't the "Phantom Duck of the. Desert 4th Annual Barstow to Vegas 'Unorganized' Trail Ride" - an in junction against the event had been granted four days before it was a well-attended 14 symbolic protest of Bureau of Land Management policies. It was d ifficult to determine the number of people who started from the Harvard Rd . start ing area , but an extremel y conservative estimate would be at least double the number who did it last year. BLM personnel were out at the start area and the first gas stop at Rasor Rd . on Friday, taking license numbers, asking people why they ca me and where they heard about the "event" and reportedly threatening arrest "of th e 5\ st person .. ." I rode with the man the BLM cha rges is the Phanton Du ck . We will conti n ue to use th is pseudonym because he told us on ce that he wasn't making the protest because he wanted to get his name in the papers. He just wanted to protest. T he re were \ 0 others in our group , so the Duck didn't even get near the maximum allowance of 50 total. Most all of th e District clubs had groups riding. Play riders as well as desert racers rode. A street rider , who hasn't been on the dirt in six years, rode the trail all the way to Vegas to protest the BLM. Tom Keller, Long Beach, CA, negotiated the downhills , sandwashes, snow and rocks on an SR500 Yamaha street bike , with street tires , and low bars, and made it to the finish at Blue Diamond Rd . in Vegas , before dark . AI~o seen on th e cou rse was' a VW "Thing" drive. by n ewl y-el ected Assemblyman J. Robert Hayes from the 39th District. As I got to the starting area early Saturday morning, BLM presence was very low key. I didn't see more than a handful of BLM rangers all day , including the one parked off the trail and in the snow at the Clark Mou ntains . Somebody , and I don't know who , ribboned the tra il all the way . Now the BLM will prob abl y say that that smacks of an organized event , but it helped keep all the riders on th e sam e roads , instead of ha ving to wander all over the place. I saw very few tracks off the road , save for where people stopped off the trail to do what the BLM says they want people to do, enjoy the desert . By the way , the Phantom Duck doesn't know who ribboned the trail , either. What happened to the Duck? He made it to Vegas. Riding a Honda SLl25 (the silver tanked model) , he wasn't on the fastest , best-suspended machine available. As others passed him, they usually waved or made other signs of encouragement. His bike spit a chain past the first gas stop, the back brake was sticking, and dirt was floating around in the carburetor, causing th e bike to sputt er oc casionally . But despite those problems and an hour delay while we regrouped at Cima Rd ., he did finish . Though a blow -by-blow des cription of the course is hardly necessary, it was an enjoyable trail ride. Many riders turned back after the first or second gas stop to return ·to vehicles left at the start area . Those continuing on past the second gas stop were treated to an unbelievably beautiful ride through the snow as the trail wound around the Clark Mountains and down Coliseum Gorge to the last pit at Stateline. . What we did - what the BLM wanted so desperately to stop - was enjoy a day in the desert. We saw more of it , enjoyed more of it , in one day than a hiker could in several days . The BLM estimate of the number of riders participating in the protest was 580 . Will the BLM go after the Duck? According to DeLoris "Pete" Palmer, a BLM Public Information Officer , "W e' re doing an evaluation of the activities . . . the information will be given to the U .S . Attorney and it will be up to him ." Palmer also stated that the BLM was not planning any arrests on Saturday . "There were n o arrests . . . no intention of arrests,' she said. For next year, the Duck and some of . his friends are th inking about applying to the BLM for a permit for the trail ride. But regardless of what happens over the next year, come Saturdayafter -Thanksgiving , there will be. people on th e Bvto-V trail. •

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