[JimW]

Hi, I have a question for everyone. We have a US Army Corps of Engineers failure in my area. Not anyones fault really just the work of fate I guess. It was a lake project that was drawn out during the 1930s and postponed until the 60s. It took them until the late 1970s to complete the damn and all camping facilities. I did a lot of the welding myself for the project so I know the area very well. Well, the streams that fed it dried up and during the past 30yrs the government has gradually pulled out just leaving it open to vandals who have done thier best to destroy whats left. Its a major fine if you get caught riding any OHV there. It consists of 3500acres of gov land and 4500 acres of state land. I and several others have tried to get them to open it up to OHVs or at least atvs and bikes but they've been reluctant to even talk about it. They keep insisting on turning it back to the original land owners. I guess thier reasoning is to keep from spending any more money on it. Several of us have even offered to volunteer our free time with no avail. Well, it appears someone with the gov has finally listened because they're calling a town meeting next week to discuss what to do with it. Personally, I'm not a big public speaker but several of my family members are as well as others so what I'm looking for is opinions from anyone to help get the area opened up to atvs and orms. In my area people have to drive 50 to 100 miles to have ANY outdoor rec other than hunting since the dried up lake is open to hunting only. That mileage includes even a simple fishing trip believe it or not. Any help would be much appreciated. JimW