Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

WIST ' America's weekly motorcycle newspaper Sharon Clayton . Pu blisher Caroline Gendry, Executive Secretary to the Publisher Li sa Schorr. Adv ertising/Editorial Assistant. Editorial Dale Brown , Senior Editor. Lance Bryson. Edi tor. Karel Kram er. Editor. J im Bowman. Edi tor. Advertising Skip Johnson , National Sales Manager. T err y Pra tt , Sal es Ma nager. .Duane J ohnson , Sales Manager. Steve Wilso n. Sal es Man ager. Linda Bro wn , Advervisi ng Coord inat or. Nancy Danger . Advertising Assista nt. Graphics and Production Kristin Coo per, G raph ic Artist. Ron a Kram er. Assistant. Mari on Hatash ita, T ypogr aphy. Den n is G reene. Laboratory. Accounting/Data Processing Mike Klinger, Controller. Donna Bryan , Accounts Receivabl e Coordin a tor. Gen eva Repas s, Assistant. Terry Dail ey, Credit Manager. Circulation Rh eb a Smith , Man ager . Mi ch elle Hanna , Sarah Taylor , Debbi e Wal ker , Lyna H~, Assistan ts. Want Ads Guest Editorial Gayle Wheeler. Want Ad Sales. Dealer Sales and Service Na ncy Emde Brogger, Deal er Sal es Manager. Service and Support Ch ris Aitcheso n , Reception ist. G rego ry Hanson , S&S. West 2201 Cherry Ave., Long Beach, CA P.O. Box 498 , Long Beach, CA 908010498 (213) 427-7433; L.A. Line 636-8844. East 4190 First Ave. , Tucker, GA. P.O. Box 805, Tucker, GA 30084-0805. (404) 934-7850 . Cycle News/West (USPS 141-340) is published weekly except the first and last week of the cal endar year for $20 per year by Cycle News, Inc., 2201 Cherry Avenu e, Long Beach, CA90806. Second class postage paid at Long Beach, CA . POSTMASTER: Send form 3679 to Cycle News. P.O. Box 498, Long Beach. CA 90801-0498. Subscription rates ; One year, second class ma il, $20; two years. second class mail, $35; three years, second class mail , $53; 25 weeks. $11. Foreign ra tes avai lable on request. Cycle News welcomes unsolicited editorial material including stories, cartoons , photos, etc. Such materi al , if published , becomes the exclusive prop er ty of Cycle News. Such accep ted material is subject to revision as is necessary in the sole discretion of Cycle News. Unsolici ted material wh ich is not used will bereturned if accompanied by a self addressed stamped en velo pe. All unsolicited material will be handled with reasonable care, how ever, Cycle News assumes no responsibility for the safety, loss or damage to such material. Reprinting in whole or part only by perm ission of the publisher . Advertising rates and circulation in forma tion will be sent upon request. See S.R.D.S. Copyright Cycle News. Inc. 1982. Trademark Cycle News registered U,S. Patent Office. All rights rnerved. 4 ON THE FRONT PAGE: Bruce Penhall poses with his cup as the first two time U.S. World Speedway Champ. Photo by John Hipkiss. Off-road - love it or lose it . I have been a member of the California Department of Parks and Recreation's Off Highway Vehicles Advisory Committee for th e pa st two yea rs, a nd I was feeling really proud of our ach ieveme n ts. We supported good projects and rejected bad ones. We stopped the state from using Green Stickie money for fan cy paved cam p gro u nds, with hot sh owers and $45,000 restroorns, so that m ore and bett er land co ul d be purchased and utilized for recreation. We had a p rett y good working rel.ationsh ip . It was we, th e users, ad VISing the state officials on how to spend our money - The Green Stickie Fund. That was before our tour and public meeting at Pismo Dunes State Recreational Vehicle Area on August 20, 1982. After that meeting, I was totally convinced that m y fellow ad visory committee members an? m ys~lf were being lied to , and deceived, 10 order to hide their (T h e Dept. Qf Pa rks and Recreation ) poor reasoning behind the fencing and li~ita tions being for ced upon us a t Pismo Dunes SVRA. P ismo Dunes SVRA does have its share of problems , probably more than all of our o ther SVRAs together. It also gets more use than j ust about any other California State Park. Just a few of th e major p roblems at Pismo Dunes ar e: 1. Overcrowding on major weekends 2. Lack of law enforcement personnel 3. Trespassing 4. Destruction of vegetation 5. OHVs on th e beach in front of beachfront houses The problems at Pismo -Dunes are definitely real, and nobody is deny- ing that. The solutions im posed on us by the Department of Parks and Recreation are appalling. The problem of an overabundance of people and campsites on major weekends causes overcrowding, accidents, and deaths (supposedly eight deaths this year alone). Overcrowding means a lack of enforcement with not enough park personnel to handle crowds on these weekends. There have been up to 5,000 campsites counted on some of the major weekends, which means about 20,00025,000 people on the beach. The Department of Parks and Recreation's solution is to have a limit of 500 campsites, or about 2.000 people on th e beach. The Department claims this figure is what they feel is ideal for their management. (Ma ybe, if it's a fa t and eas y management job they want. ) The users feel a limit of 1,500 cam psites is more realistic, but the decision has been made. As of Sept. 15, yo u will need Ticketron reservations for the Pismo Dunes. . We are all guilty of trespassing at on e time or another. At Pismo Dunes, . th e signs are ignored by almost everyone. We can all understand the need for fences to establish border lines. The State demands that we have a buffer zone which is to be as much as one-half rriile wide. But, the fence is on our side of the buffer zone. They have hundreds of acres of our land, th at we purchased with Green Stickie money , on the other side of the fence. There is no reason for a buffer zone when yo u have a fence . But, th e decision has been made. The fenc es are already up. The destruction of th e vegeta tion is another major problem. Sand dunes shift, and wi thout the vegetation to keep thedunes from blowing, eventually the dunes will be flat or in the middle of the city of Arroyo Grande. There is a definite need to fence off some of the dunes to prevent erosion. The placemen t of fences show another total disregard for the user. Important hills and dunes, which have probably never seen vegetation, are fenced off. Local users claim that the contractor, who put up the fences, went along until he got stuck and put a fence post at that point, and so on. The basis on which the State wants to revegetate the dunes is by aerial photographs from as far back as 1937, but the State didn 't buy the dunes until the 1970's. The estimated cost of revegetating the dunes is on a secret document we found. The cost is $2.4 million of Green Stickie money: The usual way to camp at Pismo -Du nes is to drive yo ur motorhome in until you get stuck (app. 100 feet) and that's yo u r camp. When it's time to leave, you pay a tow truck $10-$30 to get pulled out. That's life at Pismo Dunes. The only way you can get any supplies, parts, or gas, is to drive down the beach with your ATV, buggy, etc. to the Sand Center which is a grocery store, parts house and gas station. It is now prohibited to drive any non-street licensed vehicle on the beach within one mile of the Sand Center. What are the people to do? What they will do is make their ATV 5 street legal. Then, the State will have to worry about ATVs running around in downtown Arroyo Grande and Pismo Beach; what a mess that will be. What can we do to stop 'th is from happening again? Take the Green Stickie Fund aw ay from the California Department of Parks and Recreation. Assembl y Bill No . 2397 does just that, and it 's expected to pass in both houses. Hopefully, the Governor will sign the bill, and on Jan. 1, 1983 there will be an Off Highway Recreation Commission. This commission will have almost total control of our Green Stickie money. The problem is in finding OHV people for this commission, and then convincing the appointers of the commission to appoint OHV people. The appointers are: 1. the Governor - who appoints three, 2. Senator Rules Comittee - who appoints two, 3. Speaker of Assembly - who appoints the final two. 3. Speaker of Assembly - who appoints the final two. If we don't start finding people right now and demanding these people be put on our OHV commission, then we may h a ve a commission of Sierra Clubbers in charge of our Green Stickie Fund. And if that isn't scary, I don 't know what is. We need groups, dubs, entire communities to get together and pick people for this commission, if it's going to work. We have to write let ters to our State Senators, Assemblymen and our new Governor, demanding to have our OHV people control our money - the Green Stickie Fund. The people who finally do get appointed will miss many days of work, travel all over the state, go through endless amounts of red tape, and without p ay except for traveling expenses. For many, it will be a hardship. But. it will be worth it-when the million OHV users will be using their land in a safe and fun State OHV park in California. Let's find our best people. If you are interested personally, write yo ur Assemblymen, State Senators, and our Governor. Get local support from OHV dubs. Let it be known , that you 'want to help. If we all do nothing, we will lose everything. But, if we find seven good people, we will have control of our future of recreating with off highway vehicles. A rt Vasconcellos M em ber of California Off Hi ghw ay Ve hicle A dvisory Committee

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