Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

X Russ Sanfora YOU CAN'T AFFORD NOT TO BE A MOTOR-VOTER It is absolutely essential that every motorc y clist be prep ar ed to go to th e polls in th is election year to vote fo r c a nd id ate s wh o will s u p p o rt mo torcy cling and motorcy clists. We will do our part by publish ing the names of elected state and federal represen tat ives who h ave supported mo to rcycling. If yo u will b e 18 years of age or o lder by Nov emb er 7. 1972 , yo u must d o your part b y re gisterin g to vote. P RIM A R Y AND G ENE R A L ELECT IONS Ge ne ral Ele ctions o ccur on t he first T uesday of Nove mb er: No vemb er 7 in 19 72. T he G en eral Elec tio n s give voters th e opportunit y to vote fo r a sing le representative from each p olitical party, i.e., Democrat, R epublican, Peace and Freedom, etc . . Most sta tes have Primary Ele ctions which are held several months prior. to the General Elect ions. The purpose o f the Primary Election is to d etermine by the people 's .. 'vo te w ich DJ severa candidates will ron on the party tic ket. In explanati o n : seve ral persons ma y w ish to b ecome the Republican Candida te for a particular -po st to b e vot e d u po n during t he General Electio ns , Li ke wise, several p erso ns m ay aspi re to become th e De mocratic Candidate . At th e ti me of th e Prim ary Elec tio ns, the R epublicans choose which of the ~aq4idate . Like . candidates from ea ch parties . The n eatest thing that could h appen would be to have a Republican mo torcycle su pporter ru nning 'again st a Democrat motorcycle suppo rter in the Ge n eral Elect io ns . And, w e ca n m ak e t h at happen if we all pull to geth er ! HOW DO WE DO IT? m .o.r.e. from tile ca~itol' several perso ns will become th eir single ca ndidate. T h e sam e is true for the Democrats an d each of the o ther political parties. PRIMARIES ARE IMPORTANT As far as t he motorcyclist is conc erned, th e Primar y Elections are ext re me ly important. If six persons seek the Republican can d idacy, and o nly one of those p ersons h ave announced that they will support motorcycling if elect ed , it bec omes ultra-important to us that he becomes the R epublican We w ill poll t he ca ndida te s and d et ermin e th eir p osit io n on motorcycl es and mo torcy clin g. You register to vote. We won't te ll you h ow to vote, but we will tell yo u wh ich of th e candidates will supp ort motorcy clin g. Yo u vote. REGISTRATION DEADLINES Each of the states have d eadlin es for vo ter re gist ration. In Cali fornia, yo u must b e registere d as a voter by Ap ril 13 in order to p art ici ate in th e Pr im ar y a r eso l u t i o n s u p porting N ixon's decision, and who, in their words , "fully endorse the designation o f specific lan d use areas for all types of recr eat io nal ac tivit y ." To explain why I p ersonally end o rse Nixon 's policy , 1 am including excerpts fro m one chapter in a forthco ming b oo k on d irt riding that I am writing for Bond , Parkh urs t and Bond . sitti ng they eithe r wa nt to ex terminate u s or PUT US ON RESER VA T IONS! "In cas e you haven 't gues sed, I am not to tally in symp athy with t he Ed it ors an d A ssistan t Ed ito rs and Featu re Editors th at h ave wr itten th e 14 articles in my dog-ear ed manila folder. I am not totally in sy mpathy with th e actions bein g tak en b y much of th e mo torcycle industry, or the vari ous lobbyists th at represe nt o ur interest s. A t. b est , I t hink they are naive , and at worst I th ink th ey are, and w ill probably c o n ti nue to be, i ne ff ec t ua l. Furt herm o re, I am sick and tired of the bombastic at titu de o f most of my t wo-w heel ed bretheren regarding our righ ts. Here they se e their p lanet b eing snuffed out right before their very ey es and they continue to talk ab o ut 'pollut ion hysteria', the 'Bambi syndrom e' a n d a ll that other t om my -ro t. " Lo o k: It is an in disp utab le fact the motorcycles can be, and frequently are, destroyers (or at best, spoilers) of the land. Go to any heavily -ridden area and take no te of the ruts and erosion and missing vegetation. It is also an indisputable fact that land is becoming more scarce with each passing day, newborn babe and nuclear power plant. It is a further ind isp utab le fact that some of our worst enemies are within our own ' ranks - primarily , those fledgling riders with zero consideration fo r other people of their rights. "Along with this, consider the other demands on lan d . Consider the hikers, the campers, the horsemen, the b i r d-w a t c h e r s, the rock hounds. Consider three-quarter of the rest of the recreatin g population, whose activities, by and large, are incompatible with our own. Then what do we have? An impasse? Do we continue to whine and nag , to write lett ers to our Congressmen? Do we continue to insisten tl y beg for the righ t to traverse the lan d a t will? Do we co ntin u e to believe that our opponents will be appeased by reducing noise to 92 d ecibles, when 85 decibles can cause loss of hearing? "No t if we're serio us about the future of off-road riding, we don't. Not at least in my opinion, which is worth just as much as the 14 opinions in my manila envelope. " Let's face it : Less Sound, More Ground is a fine ra llying .p oin t , a welcome relief for those that spend much t im e in t he pit areas at comp e ti tio n even ts. Bu t it is no t the final solution. I d o n o t b elieve that many non-motorcycle p eople can te ll the d ifference between 10 0dbA an d 92dbA, and I don 't believe t hat o ur mu ffli ng ac t ion is going to make m uch o f a dent in their armor. Furthermo re , while I stro ngly believe that all bikes should be muffled, I believe that it is just ano ther d efensive m ove t hat will do little for the future of th e sp o rt. Just like building bridges an d putting t rash ca ns in th e d eser t. O f course, of co urse; we sh o uld co ntin ue to do these things. But we mu st n ot beco me a sniveling b unch o f ap ologis ts. " We mu st take the offensive. We mu st welcome. 'indeed , figh t fo r, th ose reservatio ns. We mu st stake o ut o ur claims o n th e land before there is no _......._-- " By actual count, I have 14 m aga zin e articles an d editorials in m y dog-eared manila fo ld er, labeled Ecology an d Lan d Use . I hav e read t hem all at least once , along w i th ad infinitu m oth er newspaper and magazin e articles th at I h ave either dis carded or forgotten to me. Mo st ly they ar e wr itten by Editors or Assistant Editors or Feature Editors of motorcycle magazines, although a few have been written by bona fid e Environmentalists or leaders of motorcycle groups, who h ave ta ken Creeping Bureaucracy to task and won this and t h at minor victory fo r our God-given sport. "Some of t h em are good, some of . them bad. Some o f them are logical, some are " stupid. Some are cleverly wr itten, some are mockeries of the English language, " Bu t all of them, all of them without ex cep tio n, espouse a central theme : We must fight for our God-given right t o rid e helter-skelter across any chunk of land that we so des ire. After all, they s e em t o ask, isn ' t that ' wh at motorc y cling 's all about? Isn 't mo torcycling individuality and freedom to roam from Sea t o Shining Sea wi thout restriction? To co nq u er the inconquerable? To escape burgeoning sub urb ia. To do our th ing if and when we please. Isn't that it ? "And if that's the case - which surely it is - we must unite, form voting blocks, write our legislators, demand an end to harassment and res trictions. We must oppose those Eco- freaks , tnose scare artists, who , like Krushovek (shudder!), are trying to buy us and our sport. We must save ourselves from those who don't understand us . On top of all that, we must placate our enemies b y showing them that we are, indeed, not Hell's Angels, heaven forbid. We must pick up trash at riding . areas to show "them that we are Good People, not one-percenters, We must voluntarily muffle our bikes so they will know that Good People are policing themselves. We must put 5 0 ga llon trash cans in the middle o f the desert and pl ant tr ees and build bridges for h o rsemen and h ik ers in . the H igh Sierras. A nd we mus t mak e su re that th e Mass Med ia knows about th ese Go od Deeds by t he Good People. " Bu t it is not just m isund ers tanding th at we mus t fight. There is also a .co nsp iracy , Peo p le b usinessme n, p osey-sniffers, cattlemen, miners, and the like '- have joined forces with th e Eco-fre aks and are try ing to take "our land away fro m us. T h ey are greedy, these people, only in te rested in wh at's best for th em. They give not o ne d amn fo r us or o ur rights. They wa n t the land, wh atever th e cos t. As Gordon Jennings pointed o ut in hi s No v. 1971 article in Cycle magazin e, th ey 'r e t he co wboys and we're th e Indians. A nd you know wh at th ey want to d o to us, d on 't you? T hey - sit down if yo u're not already __ e«ti!:>n~~ _ t'lIll _tt ;;; m;;·;;;;;;;n!'1 It) • ~drs~ " voter by September 15 to participate in '" e, '" the General Elections in California. N But, if you are a motorcyclist , .... REGISTER NOW ! Do n't put ;it o ff ~ b ecause something will co me up at the N last moment which w ill prevent yo u , ..: ,,, fro m votin g and d oing your part for the :E ' ca use o f mo to rcycling. til . If you register to vo te in th e Primary ~ W Electio ns , yo u d o no t h ave to register Z again. You are automatically regist ered W ..J for the Ge n eral Electio ns , an d all' U subseq u ent electio ns if yo u cont inue t o >U p ar tic ip at e; WHO MAY REG ISTER? Any ci tizen of th e Unit ed States wh o is 18 y ears of age o r older may b ecome a Registered Vo ter. Persons who are now 17, bu t will b e 18 years of age before November 7 , m ay register to vote by sign ing an affidavit to that effect at the time an d pl ace of registering. WHERE MAY A PERSON REGISTER? A p erson must regist er in t h e County of residence. In California , a person may regi st er in any con tiguous county , Pl t'aSl' lU TIl to ~tlgc J O) A nd tha t 's how I feel. I see Nixon 's p ro clam atio n as o pe ning the d oor in our quest fo r specific rid ing areas. As I see it, o ur fight is in convinc ing th e various agencies to designate adeq uate and suitab le areas for u s. If we fight th e good figh t and do the job, we m ay no t enjoy off-road riding "as we know it", but at leas t , by Go d , we 11 be ab le to rid e off t h e road.

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