MORE AND BETTER AND KEEP 'EM COMING
2007 Comments Worth Repeating V
By Bill Schneider, 11-01-07
This has been a banner year for insightful, humorous and satirical comments from readers. I actually posted five of these Comments Worth Repeating articles, so far, and I have put together a chronology of them following this article, just in case you want to go back and read more of them. If you do, you won’t be disappointed.
Forest Fires Burning Up More Tax Dollars Than Trees
Note: This is a long, insightful comment, but here are two snippets. “Of course, in a wildfire, the engines sit in neighborhoods like mine, defending structures when they could be out protecting the forest...It’s a tough issue to address, since many of the horses are already out of the barn.” (Kim)
Groups Opposing CAFE Off Track
“Good article, Bill. But this whole conversation feels to me like something that would take place in the halls of the Warm Springs State Hospital. The profligate use of oil is paying for the madrassas that produce the suicide bombers and the world-wide Islamic movement to destroy our country. It’s paying for Iran to develop the atomic bomb, and to arm the Shiites who are killing our troops every day in Iraq....Reckon we would all have bought quadruple orders of Japanese sushi in the weeks following Pearl Harbor, knowing that the profits would insure that Japan developed the atomic bomb before we could? Pass the wasabi, man, and hook up the RV and the giant boat and the trailer full of ATVs, and fill ‘er up, fill ‘er up...we’re off to chase the wily walleye. Ever get spooked that we might deserve what it looks like we’re going to get?” (Hal Herring)
“What his group (American Recreation Coalition) and ours, SUV Owners of America, are opposing is the CAFE provision already passed in the Senate that, according to a Lehman Brothers study, would require Detroit to discontinue 60% of their light trucks. The remaining tow vehicles left would cost thousands of dollars more. That’s why many other groups including the American Farm Bureau Federation, The National Grange, Associated Builders and Contractors and many other recreation-related groups are in our camp.” (Bob Defore)
“I’m glad you touched up the ‘can-do’ attitude. How many SUV/truck commercials have we seen with burly men in hardhats and flannel getting ‘r done? The whiney little-girl screaming we hear from Detroit about fuel efficiency standards are a flaming contrast to our country’s entrepreneurial spirit--and their own ad campaigns.” (Jon Schwedler)
Forest Service Wins Next Round on Mount Lemmon Case
“In a word....YIKES.” (GP)
Creating Quiet Trails Doesn’t Need to be Noisy
“I am a mountain biker and IMBA does not represent me. I, like Bill, would give up cycling if it meant we could achieve the protection that our last roadless lands deserve. I don’t agree with Bill that the Wilderness Act doesn’t actually ban bicycles, but I do lament the fact that the dispute of the wording in the Wilderness Act has seemed to cause a rift not only within the mountain biking community but between groups like IMBA and conservation groups.” (Matt Bullard)
“From what I have seen, our (Forest Service) loves us to fight one another, that way they don’t have to do their jobs, performing maintenance for any of us. They just sit back and point their fingers at us arguing, and say see, where do we put our efforts this group wants A and this group wants B, and until you all agree we don’t have to do a thing. Which is exactly what I have seen occurring. I wish we as users could command our strengths get by our differences and work together to make the land usable by many with recognition of our differences and respect for one another.” (Michael L. Mallory)
“I am a mountain biker and I think IMBA does a good job representing mountain bikers. I would not give up mountain biking, because it is not needed to preserve areas. Would you give up hiking?” (Chris Cook)
“Good article Bill. More people should be utilizing this resourse but I feel I should point out that the limit for Whitefish in the western fishing district is 100 per day AND IN POSSESION. I really wish you would have pointed out that this (people throwing whitefish up on shore) is also illegal and is called waste of game and is a misdemeanor offense.” (C. Scott)
“Cyclists: Morally (as in mores), if not legally speaking, once your butt is on the saddle and your feet are off the ground and you are moving, you are a vehicle. You give up the rights you have as a pedestrian and you take on the responsibilities you have as a driver.” (matguy)
“We as cyclists do need to work on our image. If we want more bike lanes and want to be recognized as a legitimate user group, it is time to start behaving like vehicles.” (Jotamon)
Montana, Don’t Be Another Wyoming
“I think it is so interesting to see the reaction to our license plate on our truck “DEADWLF”. We get a lot of nods, waves, smiles and thumbs up. There is a reason why they were hunted to hard by our forefathers. Have we lost all wisdom? This country has become a melting pot of stupidity over the last 25 years. And this is just the northern Rockies example.” (Julia)
Are We Ready for Wilderness Lite?
“I sense that the camel’s nose is rather large on this issue!” (TZ)
“As Wild Bill wrote, the best and quickest way to protect more land would be a united front from MPVs (isn’t that a Mazda?).” (Clancy)
“It’s the horse droppings that really get to mountain bikers, and the perception that horse riders are exempt from cleaning up after themselves. I am pretty tired of having fresh droppings flipped up into my face and chest while riding. I would like to hear a reasonable discourse on why, on public trails, can’t horses wear diapers like the mounted police horses do in the cities. It’s common courtesy--you clean up after your dog, why can’t they clean up after their horse?” (Sinjin)
“You’re urging that pragmatism replace ideology, and that’s the right approach….May federal agency rules soon conform to the Wilderness Act of 1964 and allow mountain biking under reasonable conditions in Wilderness so that we can all concentrate on what unites us rather than what divides us.” (Ted Stroll)
“‘I have to wonder how the Nez Perce would have reacted to some hikers bitching about their horse muffins on the trail,” (bearbait)
“Bill, Bill, Bill—you are being taken in by yet another mountain biker ruse. MPV’s? My foot!” (Forest Guardian)
“Why can’t bicyclists just walk? Because they’d be called hikers.” (Wade)
“I’m afraid that, with this essay, you honestly do forfeit any genuine right to your pseudonym. From now on, no more ‘Wild Bill;’ you have now earned the title ‘Not Really Too Wild Bill’ and, when I think of you, I won’t again be able to imagine you in honorable flannel, oiled canvas, and boots. I’m horrified to say that my mind’s eye will see you shaving your body hair and wriggling into those clingy little spandex tights in preparation for your next jaunt through the woodlands and meadows.” (Mike)
“We already have designated areas for motor vehicles. They are called roads.” (Tom Kilmer)
“Wilderness recreation has become almost obscenely fashionable. because it is good for the recreation industry that it be fashionable, and that it be about consuming, not about our spiritual lives, because our spiritual lives don’t need new and better gear, gps systems, cell phones, and Lycra.” (Alice Oliver)
“Wilderness Lite will get a lot more people out there and thus provide much greater political support for wilderness in general. I like it.” (David Sucher)
New Group Carries on the Legacy of Theodore Roosevelt
“I am a kinda old codger, 83 years, and spent most of my life in Wyoming. I have seen and experienced a lot and would have to say Teddy Roosevelt is one of my heroes. Now, to have a group patterning themselves after him is encouraging. I say more power to them. And I would like to say hello to Bill Schneider from way back in High Country News days.” (Tom Bell)
“I’m a 70 year old lifelong westerner. I’ve hunted and fished most of my life. I’ve watched the bulldozers and chainsaws and ATVs ruin more land than I’ve seen preserved. My generation did it’s damnedest to finish off the slaughter, clear-cut the last acre, and subdivide the remaining meadows. I hope to hell it gets saved, and if the so-called ‘Wise Use’ folks take offense, they can go join Larry Craig at the nearest airport.” (Peter Webster)
If you want even more of the best, check out the Comments Worth Repeating Chronology.
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