Re: RC: American River Ride

[Lif Strand <fasterhorses@gilanet.com>]

At 11:20 AM 5/3/00 -0700, Katee wrote:
> park service(their rules sound
> like they are made to prevent vagrancy, not endurance rides)

Katee you are a sweet soul, but think about this:  For the entire
history of human kind campers have been sleeping out under the stars in
sleeping bags or less, in tents, in wagons, under wagons, etc. etc. 
"Self contained vehicles" are a pretty recent invention (I'm
guessing 50 or 60 years old at best).   How could it in any way
be considered vagrancy to want to camp out like this since everyone
involved was sleeping in - gasp! - a National Park where people go to
camp?  Sleeping in "self contained" vehicles is just that
- it's not camping in the time honored sense of the word.  People
who have paid entry fees for an endurance race AND a camping fee could
not be considered vagrants in any way shape or form

While the RM might have known and done something prior to the race is a
whole 'nother issue - what the Parks people did was still  out of
line.  AND - if RM had a whole year to know about this regulation,
the Parks dept. had a whole year to consider the fairness of requiring
"self contained" vehicles for a public event.   It is
absolutely NOT RIGHT for the Parks dept. to make such requirements, any
more than it would be for them to say that only people with Mercedes,
Ferraris, BMWs, etc., etc. could drive through park lands.  This is
NOT a fair policy, it is exclusionary and based on money, it is setting a
really REALLY bad precident , it makes parts of PUBLIC land (state or
fed, doesn't matter) inaccessible to the general population (most of whom
have paid for that very land with their tax dollars) and it's making me
madder and madder as I type so I will have to stop right away.

Paul was born in CA, I lived there for over 30 years.  Over the
course of time we've seen what comes of these kind of assnine
governmental restrictions, and it's not for the good.  

Lif  & Paul - teargassed at People's Park

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