Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

o N :g, '" Q. '" '" ..... ..... N :. :::;: ~ w Z W ...J U ~ U M.O.R.E • fr~m the ' Capitol by Russ Sanford AN OPEN LETTER TO THE CITIZENS AND MERCHANTS OF RIDGECREST . ' Is 'yo ur Chamber o f Commerce wor king for you, or against yo u? Or am I wro ng in presuming that the primary fun ction of a Chamber of Co mm erce is to sti mu late business and thereby enhan c e t h e e co no my o f the co m m un ity wh ich it repre sen ts? If yo u share my p resu mption , perhaps you will find the fo llo w ing to be of 'nterest . O n T h urs day , Fe bruary 22 nd, ap pro xima tely 20 memb er s o f th e Ca liforni a Off Road Vehicle A ssociation ga thered at Red R ock Can y on to provide t ran sp ortati on for th e members o f th e ' California Re creati onal Trails Commi ttee an d representati ves o f th e Cali fornia Dep artment o f Parks and Recre at ion. This trans portation wa s pro vid ed a t the re q ues t o f Mr. Lan sing Warr en, Chairma n o f the R ed R ock Can yon Citize n's Ad visory Council which was sp on soring th e to ur o f Red Rock Can yo n. It is significa nt to note that this transport ation was provided at the COR VA member's pe rso nal ex pense: fo r m o st , th e loss o f a da y's e mp loyme nt in addi tion to th e expenses in curred in transporta ting the ir off-road vehicles. T wo of th e members had t raile red their indi vidual mach in es fro m Orange Coun ty. I had tra veled to th e site fro m Pasad en a wi th Mr. Bo b Ham, vice -president of CORYA . We had been info rmed b y Mr . Warr en th a t the to ur wa s t o begin at 10 :00 a.rn . so the CORYA co n ting en t began arriving a t 9 :00 a.rn, and was read y to proceed o n sche d ule ' a t 10 :0 0 a.rn. When th e ' gues ts' began to arrive at app ro ximately 10 :30 a.m , we learned fo r th e fir st time th at th e t our was sch eduled to co m mence at I I :00. On e can hardly determin e lIlr. War ren 's motive in havin g us positio ned a full h o ur before departure time . In an ob vio us attem pt to h umilia te all of the d rivers present, Mr . Warren p ro ceeded to flaunt hi s su per-ego by describ ing in in fin ite de t ail th e most basic of ins t ruc tio ns in off-ro ad vehicle op e ra tio n: b asics whic h CO RVA m em b er s h av e long known and pract ic ed. A s if thi s wer e n ot enough, Mr. Warren th en p ro ceeded to p oin t o ut th ose off-road vehi cles wh ich in hi s opin io n wo uld n ot be able to co mple te th e t o ur due to an tici pated me chanical o r struc tural failu re. A nd in a final salute to hi s ego , Mr. Warren ann o un ced that he w ould be in th e lead vechil e and th at here afte r he w o uld be referred to via Citizen 's Band radio as " Blue Lead er" and [hilt the presumed that the luncb prepared by the Ridgecrest Chamber of Commerce was in tended only for the guests. A t th e urging of the Ridgecrest Ch amber of Commerce, we -abandoned our plans and joined th e o the rs in th e lun ch th ey had prepared. Mr, Ham and J had co me prepar ed to serve a fried-chic ke n lun ch , but we gra tefully accep te d the cheese sandwich and p otato chips provid ed by th e Rid gecrest Chamber of Commerce . Du ring the afternoon t o ur , a membe r of the Red R o ck Ci tizen 's Advisory Co un cil mistak en ly ide ntified me as o ne of the guests , p ossibl y becau se I was not ope rating o ne of the off-road vehicles an d was me rely a p assen ger . T his person to any of th e CORVA members. Not one of the members of th e Ridgecres t Chamb er of Commerce offered on e word of thanks t o any o f the CORVA m emb ers. In f a ct, M r s , P oll y Fish er representing th e Ridgecrest Ch amber of Commerce w as la ter o verheard to refer to th e persons wh o had pro vid ed the transp ortati on disc o ver h ow th ey are b ein g repr esented by th eir Cham be r of Commerce. I have also be en m ad e awa re: of an o rgan ize d pending bo ycott o f the R id gecrest m er ch an t s by o ff-roa d ve h i cle en th usiasis. T he bo ycott is based up on th e p remi se th at if th e Chamber of Commerce doesn't want off-ro ad veh icles in th eir area, th ey ce rtainly do n 't wan t th e tho usan ds of d oll ar s wh ich off-road ve ch icl e enth usiasts po ur in to the lo c al economy ea ch we ek -end. I mi gh t add th at j us t so the merch an ts of R id gecrest d o n ' t fee l th at they arc standing alone in this ma tt e r, th e pen d in g b o yco tt of goods and ser vices is also e x te nde d to Moj ave and Califo rnia City . T he off-road vehi cle en thusiasts now in tend to o btain their wee kend su p pli es fro m the n eighboring ci t i e s 0 f Boron, Lancaster , and Pal mdale, wh er e th ey are o bviously we lcomed . I p erson ally find it regre ttable th at th e pre sen t s ta te of a ffa irs h as degenera ted to th is leve l. Perh aps it is tim e for th e Rid ge c rest me rch an ts to tb or ou ghl y exa m i ne the p oli cy guideli nes whi ch thei r Cha mbe r of Commerce h as elec te d t o fo llo w . by tellin g him th a t he had th e ' wro ng man ', b u t h e obvi o usly was told b y so meo ne else. At th e en d of th e tour it members CO R VA to hav e d inner and perso n al sacrificies wh ich they had rendered. Not on e o f th e members o f the Red or he w ould be w ell aw are th a t suc h use Ro ck o f CB rad ios is a vio la tion of Federal Law and th e Federal Com munications Co m miss io n has sus pended opera tor lice nses and invo ked hea vy fines for mu ch lesser ab use of th e FCC ru les. "Tail End Ch arli e" m us t have been Co m mittee offered on e wo rd of thanks rule s , be ca use of Holiday Inn wh er e the 'g ues ts' were to eveni ng . I di d no t e m barrass that pe rson wo uld b e re ferred to as "Tail End Ch arl ie " . Mr. Warren has faile d to read the instructi on man ual fo r his Cll rad io, these "bunch be se rve d dinner . 1\Ir. Ham and I then arran ged for th e relat ed arrange men ts whi ch h ad b een provide d fo r ' my benefit " la ter that d rive r in the las t vehi cl e of the caravan of a was mad e q uite cl ear to me and to the o thers wh o had provided trans po rta tion that o ur pres en ce w as n o t w ant ed at the was q uite frie ndly and ma de several references to th e s teak d inn er and elsewhere a t -o ur person al expe nse as a sh ow of appreciation fo r the services aware as free-loaders " . For th at rea son, I am fo rward ing -a Cashi er' s Check in the amo unt of tw en ty d oll ars ($ 2 0) to the R id gecrest Ch amber of Co m merce to offset the expenses in curred by the " free-loaders" . From m y o bservatio n, th e su m of 52 0 sh ould adeq ua tely co ve r the e xpe nses of th e to tal lu nch , incl ud ing that whi ch Wa s consu me d by th e Califo rni a Recreation al Trails Com mittee , State Parks an d Re cre at io n p erso nne l, th e Rid gecrest Cha mb er of Commerce , the Red R o ck Canyon Cit ize n 's Advi so ry Committ ee, an d th e " free-lo ade rs." I h ave man y friends wh o resid e in the Rid gecre st area and I k no w for a fact th at th ey will be em barras sed t o Can y o n Ci tiz en 's Advi so ry he eviden tlv turn ed his ra di o off. O r p ossibl y', he was e mbarrassed by "B lue Leade r's " ego trip . Upon co mp le tio n of the first leg of the tour, the c aravan re turne d to th e st aging area wh ere th e Ridgecr es t Ch am b er of Comme rce ha d pre pared a lunc h in our absence. Mr . Ham of COR VA , had travelled to the site in his mot or h ome wh ere he an d I had intended to prep ar e lun ch fo r th e CORVA memb er s wh o were furn ishi ng th e tr an sp or tation for th e to ur . We had K •• • • • 8 •• 8 • 88 ••• 88.8 •• 8 ••• 8888.8. B••••••••••• 8 8 •• 8 ••••• , . ~~p.C fJ'-i $ '" ~';l. -W SAD . ~(

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