Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Last minute points? Depends how badly AMA Novice and Junior Pro flat trackers need 'em, but there's one last chance to gain a few more points after . the Ascot National. One catch: It's on the east coast, at Metrolina Speedway in Charlotte, NC. Bob Janelle will present the Carolina Din Track Series - a three-race program - over Oct. 10-12. More info on tap at 703/6631058 or 703/663-0049. Winston Pro Series competitor Mike Kidd and his wife Sandra welcomed a new addition to their family on August 13. Tammy Jean weighed in at 7 Ibs.. 8 oz. "Everybody is doing just fine." said U.S. Army sponsored Kidd. The August 16-17 AMA National Championship Amateur and Youth TT Scrambles final at Kanapolis (Kansas) State Park saw California riders reap gold in the Saturday Mini and Schoolboy divisions, led by double class winner Chris Carr. Illinois riders Artie Hull, Jr. and Randy Turbett were the only riders to break the West Coast stranglehold. Sunday's Amateur divisions belonged to Kansas riders. Entries from the Sunflower State took six of nine class titles as Dan Brooks copped the 360 and 500cc wins and the team of Mike LeValley /Mike Krebs took gold in the 500cc and Open Sidecar classes. • WAsil- GTON, DisCLOSEd California Wilderness an "end-run" The U.S. House of Representatives had no trouble approving the California Wilderness Act of 1980 recently as it passed the bill by voice vote under a suspension of the . rules . With this knowledge . California Congressman Phillip Bunon - the man responsible for introducing the more stringent substitute bill to the original legislation - told the full House that he wanted to thank the Sierra Club, Wilderness Society, Friends of the Eanh, the Audubon Society . the California Environmental COalition and the Citizens Committe to Save Our Public Lands for working so hard on his bill which locks-up an additional 2.1 million acres ' as wilderness, 23,000 acres for the National Park, 1.4 million acres as pan of the National Park Wilderness system and slates 166,000 more acres for future wilderness study. The only good thing about the bill is that 580,000 acres are now freed from a court injunction that locked them up. This acreage was included in the "release language" of the bill and had to be rammed down Burton's throat in a compromise move . But. that is where the compromise ended. . Two California Wilderness bills the were originally introduced: stringent Burton bill and the more reasonable legislation by California Harold Johnson. Reasonable. Johnson's bill was, because he only wanted to include lands recommended by President Caner as wilderness - a mere one million acres compared to the whopping numbers included in the final legislation. However, Johnson 100t out largely due to the political rnanueRrings of Bunon aDd Public Lands Subcommittee Chairman John Seiberling who would not consider johnson's bill. In diasetlting with the Bunon bill, Oregon Democrat Roben Duncan said he is "reluctant" to add more acres in the bill than what the president proposed. This, he stressed, will set "a precedent for what we do in state after state." Duncan added that "no one can accuse this administration (Caner's) of not being environmentally oriented. " And for that reason, Duncan questioned the reasonableness of the Burton bill. Burton is the obvious culprit in this overzealous move to lock-up so much land from development and public use. The key to his victory appears to be the maps Burton used to show which lands will become wilderness areas. Using non-traditional names for these areas, most people in the California delegation did not really understand the impact of Burton's bill on their districts. Also, there is reason to believe that Burton did not even show the maps to many of his fellow Californians. Yet, in defending the legislation, Seiberling noted that: "Many major off-road vehicle travel routes, including the state's longest four-wheel drive trail , have been left out of wilderness." Seiberling also stated that due to the bill's release language, offroad vehicle use of popular rou tes would no longer be blocked. This is all part of the compromise worked out among interest groups, the Ohio Democrat said. However. people in the motorcycling community, among others, still do not know exactly where the released lands and the wilderness lands lie. This is due, once again, to Burton's prostitution of the terminology used on his wilderness map. According to Rob Rasor, of the Government Relations Department, American Motorcyclist Association, few if any off-road groups were consulted .whe n .Burt on wuformula.tinghis bill, . _ "We're not pleased with it," Rasor said . "We think Bunon pulled an endrun in getting it passed." Rasor added then Johnson "blew it" by allowing Bunon to pull an "endrun" around him. While Johnson is not on the Interior and Insular Affairs Committee, which handled the California Wilderness bill, he is a ranking member of the House along with being the chairman of ' the powerful Committee on Public Works and Transportation, However, these credentials were not enough to sway Burton, the ranking Cali fori an on the Interior Committee and Seiberling, the chairman of the Public Lands Subcommittee. As Seiberling noted during the floor debate - if you could call it a debate - over the bill , "While this bill is the result of the combined efforts of many many people, to the extent it bears the stamp of anyone person, that person is Phillip Burton." ... ...... . . , .., . ., .•. Jim Zoie , 3

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