Question for those that are much more involved then I.

As an American I accept certain restrictions on my rights to live in society. I do not accept attacks against me for my beliefs, or the legal hobbies I enjoy. I feel as though the pro-eco organizations are attacking my choice of recreation and as a whole are targeting the OHV community. There fore I and others that enjoy this sport should have some legal recourse. If it where not for the fact that the first course of action is to close an area rather then work through the chain of command then there would not be a valid claim.

So with that said is there any snowball chance in hell that we possibly be able to form a class action against the pro-eco organizations? Any lawyers out there that can tell me if I am way off base?

I feel it is time to go on the attack and force the pro-eco orgs to try and work with those that use OHV areas.

Joe

The problem is way more people donate money to the organizations like sierra club, ect. Those organizatins are
extremely rich and have alot of high paid lawyers.
The OHV comunity does not like to donate enough money to
be able to fight the eco-nazi organizations. They also have most of the mainstream public beleiving that they are there to
"SAVE THE ENVIROMENT" from the horrible atv's destroying
spotted owls, lizards, causing Lake Tahoe to get murky from all the silt run off from the vehicles on dirt roads. :mad3: :mad3:

This has been brought up many times at many different meetings... the general concensus is that we don't have the money to fight them as mentioned above. We are working on using our money to "counter-sue" (lacking a better term right now) against land closures that are being done through lawsuits....

IMO, our best bet is to keep donating as much as we can to the pro-OHV organizations - but the biggest thing we need to do is self police and improve our image to the public while at the same time expose any and all lies the greens spread as "facts"... I think the public is slowly beginning to realize that these people are extreme and only want control, and they don't care what they have to do to get it....


:usa:

Money talks. In 1998 alone, look at these donations to the Center for Biological Diversity:

1998 Homeland Foundation $30,000 Center for Biological Diversity
1998 Pew Charitable Trusts $200,000 Center for Biological Diversity
1998 Turner Foundation $85,000 Center for Biological Diversity

And that is nothing compared to what the Sierra Club or Nature Conservancy pull in.

Here are some money facts from Environment, Inc. (http://www.crowley-offroad.com/environment_inc.htm) - SacBee:

"Money is flowing to conservation in unprecedented amounts, reaching $3.5 billion in 1999, up 94 percent from 1992."

"During the 1990s, the U.S. Treasury paid $31.6 million in legal fees for environmental cases filed against the government." That's you and me PAYING for these wackos to close down access to OUR land!

"In 1999, individuals, companies and foundations gave an average of $9.6 million a day to environmental groups, according to the National Center for Charitable Statistics, which monitors nonprofit fund raising."

"The richest is The Nature Conservancy, an Arlington, Va., group that focuses on purchasing land to protect the diversity of species. In 1999, The Nature Conservancy received $403 million, as much as its six nearest rivals combined: Trust for Public Land, Ducks Unlimited, World Wildlife Fund, Conservation International, National Wildlife Federation and Natural Resources Defense Council."

"In 1999, top salaries at the 10 largest environmental groups averaged $235,918, according to IRS tax forms." Professional Eco-Activist's Salaries (http://www.klamathbasincrisis.org/ecoactivistsalaries.htm)

Taxpayer dollars help fund many environmental groups (http://www.crowley-offroad.com/taxpayer_dollars_fund_environmentalist.htm)

All of this money pouring into these wacko organization, and most off-roaders won't even chip in $20 a year to organizations that fight for public access. How much do you spend on beer alone for one weekend? If you don't donate to help the fight, you'll be drinking that beer in your garage.

Crowdog

I don't think it would take too much money to get it started. Might be enough to get their attention and bring them to the table for discussions. We need to show them that we are not going to sit around and react to the lawsuits and closures. If we can gain some publicity that we are willing to try and work on the problem through meetings and cooperation, but they refuse to negotiate and resort to court action, then they have the black eye. America is tired of everything being settled in court. We need to fire a shot back, you can only kick a dog so many times before it bites, it's time to bite.

Joe

Originally posted by jdjanda
If we can gain some publicity that we are willing to try and work on the problem through meetings and cooperation, but they refuse to negotiate and resort to court action, then they have the black eye.

This couldn't be closer to the truth....the problem is the overwhelming publicity we get is negative, thanks mostly in part to the liberal media.... We need to get more positive publicity...


:usa: