Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Is Cranston Out to Get You ? CYCLE PARTS desert 's e cos yst em protec tio n . receives full This plan would be developed by the Se cretary of the In terior with th e advi ce and assistan ce of a re presen tative citi zen s advisory commission on wh ich cy cl is ts should be included. S6 3 would benefit all groups and in terests that n ow use the California desert. . Pro tec ted areas could he se t asid e for the use and enjoymen t of the various in terests, such as cy cl in g, where ever the land is found to be co m p atib le with the proposed use. UL RI CH : What fa ct ors en te red int o your d ecisio n to in trod uce th at legislation ? CRANSTON : U nfo rtunately. many pe opl e look at th e desert as a broad expanse of useless sand du nes and ca ctus . In realit y , the deser t ecology is both fra gile and com p le x. I t is n o t an em pty space. but is h om e to a mul ti tud e of crea tu res and p lants , and is ric h in h ist o ry. T oday, a new p age in the hi st ory of the de ser t is being writte n by visitors of all types. If you call eve ry single day that a visitor spends in the de se rt a " visi to r day " , mort: than five million visit or days were spen t last year in th e Cal ifornia desert. By 19 8 0 there will be eigh t milli on visitor d ays spent in California's desert regardless of wheth er an ything is done to en courage desert re creation. Officials of the Bureau o f Land Man age me n t believe that with wis e management and planning, there co uld be as m an y as 3 0 mill io n visitor days in 1980, and 5 0 million in the vear 2000 - witho ut ruining the dese ri e nviro n ment. Without wrise m an ageme n t and con trol of these lands, h owe ve r , th e California deser t will only see m o re o f the problems that n o w threaten it - more scars fro m-ever inc reasing road and utility rights-of-way, pock-marks of past, present, and future s p e c u l a t ive m inin g operations. substandard construction ; litter, an d the conti nuing p lu nder of its na tural an d scientific resources . The bill I have in tr oduced t o estab lish the Ca lifo rni a Dese r t Conservation A rea wo uld p ro vid e fo r overall plan nin g an d wise m anagern en t of this im portant reso urce so that the dese rt's reso u rces a re p rotected fro m perma nen t d am age and so tha t the man y recreation aJ u ses o f th e desert can ca n tin ue , U LR ICH : In a given p eriod of time, about h ow m uch mail supporting p reservation of des ert lands versus the amount of mail supporting off road vehicle use of the d esert do es your office receive? CRANSTON: I've been getting about 10 le tt ers a week 'd iscu ssin g these issues. No rmally, three will oppose al lo wing off road vehicles in th e d esert. The other seve n su p port o ff road vehicle use of the dese rt in varying d egre es. Some say there sh o ul d be no rest ric tions o n their use . O th e rs suppo rt my view th a t there sh o uld be overall plan ni ng to ins ure that all in terested partie s will be ' allowed c o n t i n ued use of the d esert mo torcy clis ts in cluded. ULR ICH : What future plan s f or l egislat i on that m ight af f e ct moto rcyclists do you ha ve ? (If any .) C R A NSTON : I am supporting th e Co nsu me r P ro d u ct Wa r r a n t i e s Im p ro ve me n t A ct, ' S 3 5 6 , -w hi ch was int rodu ced b y Senato r Wa rre n Mag n uson (D-Wash .) . A ny m o t orcy clis t wh o eve r tried to get his mo ne y bac k fo r a dud spark plug o r h as tr ied to get a dealer to repl ace a defe c tive gear ca n app reciate the im p or t an ce of thi s b ill. T he le g i slation wo uld allow th e gov ernme nt to set fe de ral ' m inimu m , stan dards agai nst p roduct defects' of ma lfun ctions, and wo uld grant to U.S. Distri c t Courts the powe r to restrain any person fro m offerin g de ceptive warran ties . T he Iegisla tion passed th e Senate last year b ut fai le d to clear th e House Comme rce Committee before the sessio n adjourned. I am hopeful we wi ll achieve final passage this sessi on . U L R IC H : I r e c entl y had th e opportunity to ask Senator John To wer from Texas about the S enat e death of Co ngressman Chet Holified 's Co nsumer Protectio n A ct of 1971 during th e last sessio n of Congress. Senator T ow er claim ed to have help ed d ef eat th e bill, stating it uio uld "impose a tr em endous burden O il th e m ercantile commu nit y of this nation". Congressman Holif ied has t old me that his bill would "b enefit motorcyclists as well as millions of oth er co nsu mers ", and that he pia li S t o re-introduce th e bill in th is sessio n of Congr ess. How do you fee l towards this piec e of legislatio n ? C RAN STON : Congress m a n Holified's bill, H R21, is very simi lar to S707 i ntro duced by Sen at or Abraham Rib ico ff (O-Co n n.). Se nator Ribicoff's . bill was t abl ed in the Senate las t yea r. I opposed tabling an d will be sup porting the b ill aga in this year. It ' s too early to te ll whe ther we will have th e votes to pass S 707 . In m y view, th is is vit a l co ns u me r legislation . S707 would establish a Consume r Protection Agen cy within t he . Federal go vern me nt and give the consu me r a pla ce to go with hi s gripes about faulty me rch and ise and servi ces. T his agency would have the a uthority to set minimum safety standards for p roducts - m otorcycles included. I t would be charge d with responsibilit y for publicizing safety and de sign d efects in p roducts . And if th e go vernment takes no action to stop c o m p anies that m a ke exaggerated adv ertising claims . the Consumer Protection Agency would act as an ombudsman. For example , say a motorcycle manu facturer claims his 750 will accelerate through the quarter mile in 12.6 seconds. In reality, it takes 15.2 se con ds a n d t he Federal T rade Commission h asn 't moved to stop the spread of the false claim. Cyclists co u ld com p lain ' to the Consu m er Protection Age ncy whic h would the n go to bat for them with t he FT C if th ey have a legi lima te beef. U LRICH : Cong ressmen B arry Go ldwater J r. (R -Ca. ) and Bob Mathias (R-Ca.) int roduced HR 96 61 two yea r.' ago. Th e bill, which fail ed, was designed to support t h e mu lti-use conc ep t of desert utilization : Congr essman Go ldwater has told me that the bill will be re-introd uced du ring th is session of Congr ess. How do you f eel about HR9661 ? CRANSTON : T hough it did no t go as far as I wo uld h ave liked, I have n o m aj or argu me nts wi th the legislati on in the fo rm in whic h it was introduce d in th e last session . It had the same m u lti-use conce pt th at m y bill h as. However, it d id no t include as much lan d area an d d id n o t p rovi de for as fir m a commi tmen t to overall land use I u nde r st a n d that p la nn i ng. Congressman Ma thias is p re sen tly revisin g his bill. ********** M " '" s: M e- ell only $2.95 by J oh n O . Ulrich A lan Cranston is p ro bably th e m an m o st m isun de rst o o d and disliked b y off ro ad vehicle enthusiasts in th e hi st o ry of the wheel. His desert conservation bill. S6 3. is the cause of m uch of this misu nde rs tan di n g. Fe w motorcyclists know j ust exac tly what 563 will do if enacted in to law. In fa ct, even members of Se nator Cranston's Los Angeles office staff do not agree wha t S63 will d o. Befo re I met Senator Cranston , o ne staff membe r to ld m e that the bill would "effectively elimin ate orr road vehicle use" in the 16 m illion ac re desert area covered. T his convinced me that the reason obtaining an interview with the Senator took longer than anyon e e lse I talked toIexce pt Ronald R ea ge n ) was that he did n o t want the voting motorcyclists o f California to discove r wh at he was u p to. Just keep re ad in g, friend , and you will d iscover wh y my appointment with Alan Cranston was th e most shocking m ee tin g I have ever atten ded. ULR IC H : How w ill th e legisla tion y o u recently introduced to require the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to pr epare a land use plan f o r 16 million acres of des e rt land affe ct the use of motorcycles off th e road, if it beco mes law ? . CRANSTON : T he aim of my bill, S6 3, is to provide for the d evelop me n t of a co m p reh ens ive pla n fOT . the p rotection an d rec reati on al use o f t he 48,000 sq uare m ile Californ ia Dese rt National Con servati on Area. T his is an eno rmo us exp an se of land - bigger th an th e state of Mississip pi. There 's pl e n ty of roo m there fo r many th in gs - m o t o rcy cles included. Th e purpose of th e bill is t o ensu re that two o r more inco mpa tib le land-use activities do no t take place in the same area at the same time, and that th e M 1 WAY COMP RELEASE REG $12.95 ~- ell til :: w Z w -' U $7.S' > U tntIREAKABLE REAR FENDER REG$6.95 NOW $4.95 UNBREAKABlE FRONT lNREAKABtE FENDER REG.4.95 LEVER ASSYREG $5.95 NOW $2.95 NOW $3.aa CRAGER HELMETS CLOSE OUT $6.8a NOW • WESTMINSTER 13682 Beach Blvd. (714) 893-4 450 • LON G BEACH (2 13) 42il-9236 5869 At la nt ic • SAN BERN AR DIN O 473 W. 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