ATV committee may be created

Local News

Discussion

PLEASE NOTE: There is a 150 word maximum for comments. All comments greater than 150 words in length will be deleted in their entirety.

ALSO NOTE: Derisive name-calling of an individual or group will result in the entire comment being deleted. This includes the terms "stupid" and "idiot" and similar references.

Welcome to our new online comments feature. Before you can join the discussion, you must first register with Disqus and verify your email address.

Once you do, your comments will post after they have been reviewed by a moderator.

We welcome your thoughts and your opinions, including unpopular ones. We ask only that you keep the conversation civil and clean.

Not all comments are deemed printable. Some are disqualified, at the newspaper’s discretion, for a number of reasons. Here are some typical practices to avoid in trying to get your comment printed:

There is a 150 word maximum for comments. All comments greater than 150 words in length will be deleted in their entirety.

Don’t state as a fact something that is unsubstantiated or that our editors wouldn't know to be true.

Don’t presume someone’s guilt in a case when it hasn't been established by a court.

Don’t assail or impugn an identifiable individual or group. If you have that kind of criticism, sign your name and submit it as a Letter to the Editor. (There is some leeway on this in connection with public officials, but it is not unconditional.)

Don’t use profanity. This includes the term “tea bagger.”

Don’t be incendiary or tasteless. Those qualities are subjective, of course, and our editors will be the arbiters.

Do not identify yourself in the main content area of the article content form. Only by enforcing this rule can the moderators prevent unscrupulous commenters from falsely identifying themselves as someone they are not.

Don't type in all caps. It is considered the Internet equivalent of shouting.

In sports articles, do not criticize officiating.

Remember, moderators are not allowed to edit any article comments. If an article comment fails any of the above criteria, the entire comment will be deleted.

We monitor comments Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. Approval of comments outside these times may be delayed.

comments powered by Disqus

August 25, 2009

Franklin County considers opening land to the vehicles

By DENISE A. RAYMO The Press Republican Tue Aug 25, 2009, 11:28 PM EDT

MALONE — Franklin County may form a committee to look at the merits and problems associated with opening land to all-terrain vehicles.

The County Legislature's Economic Development and Planning Committee will meet 10 a.m. Thursday in the fourth-floor chambers of the County Courthouse to discuss committee appointments and what the duties might be.

"We have to have the DEC involved," said Timothy Burpoe (D-Saranac Lake), referring to the State Department of Environmental Conservation.

DEC input
He wants DEC Region 5 Director Betsey Love to designate someone from her office to be her direct contact as the idea develops.

ATV owners and the DEC nearly had an agreement a number of years ago that would have opened several of its trails for ATV use, but talks fell through.

"It seems to me the DEC is the place to start," Burpoe said. "Hopefully working with the state, we'll see if we can't make it work."

The idea of creating more ATV-use trails resurfaced recently after Lewis County's recreational-trials coordinator Robert Diehl made a presentation sharing his experiences and success with legislators in both Franklin and St. Lawrence counties.

Grand plan
Backers envision a trail system that can someday take riders from as far east as Oswego and as far south as Booneville and carry them over trails through Cayuga, Jefferson, Lewis, St. Lawrence, Franklin and Clinton counties and into Vermont.

ATV riding is a $1 billion industry in New York, and Lewis County says it can capture $35 million of that a year with its trail system and the 720 full- and part-time jobs it spawns.

According to a 2005 opinion from the State Attorney General's Office, "municipal highways may be designated for use by ATVs only when necessary to provide access to adjacent trails.

"Highways previously designated for use by ATVs do not qualify as 'adjacent trails' for this purpose. Trails on private land that are open to the public for recreational ATV use may qualify as 'adjacent trails,'" the opinion states.

Critics say users are not following the law, and lawsuits have been filed.

In the Lewis County Town of Lyonsdale, Town Council member Nancy O'Brien Dailey sued her fellow board members to block a vote to open roads to ATVers.

A court decision is expected soon.

"There is another side to the ATV issue," said former Lewis County Legislator Bruce Krug of Constableville.

"The one-sided view from the proponents isn't telling the truth," he said in a recent e-mail.

"There really isn't a 'trail system.' It is many miles of public highways, illegally opened, connected to a few square miles of county reforestation land.

'Hoax'
"To call it a 'trail system' is a hoax," Krug said. "There is more, including some huge liability concerns.

"The economic claims are hype. The impact is minimal. In fact, since Lewis County has instituted its 'trail system', people report seeing fewer ATVs than in past years.

"This is a farce, and the press needs to look beyond Bob Diehl's self-serving promotion," he said.

E-mail Denise A. Raymo at: draymo@pressrepublican.com