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roninthorne
Aug 26, 2012, 6:39 PM
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Next year, many of America's senior and disabled citizens, as well as our veterans and active military, will no longer be given free access to our public lands and facilities. Some concessionaires operating federal Recreation Areas and maintaining facilities on Public Lands will no longer accept Gold Age, Access, or Military passes for entrance and/or use of the public lands created and supported by taxpayers, despite the fact that most of these concessionaires operate those facilities at 40-50% pure profit, amounting to hundreds of thousands, even millions of dollars a year.
My wife is an MS patient living on a fixed income of less than $1,100 per month. We are currently homeless, due to her illness and the fact that my 30-year career as a carpenter went under with the Great Recession. Without her Access Pass, there are any number of America's landmarks we would never have been able to see, much of our own heritage we would never have experienced.
America's Public Lands were created for the education, edification, and spiritual enrichment of the taxpayers.
Why are multi-million-dollar-earning corporations and government bureaucrats taking away access for the elderly, the disabled, and for our brave fighting men and women? Tell the Federal government, the NFS and the concessionaires that Interagency Passes should be accepted on ALL public lands, for entry and/or day-use fees.
http://signon.org/...fwd&r_by=5400572
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Gmburns2000
Aug 26, 2012, 6:44 PM
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roninthorne wrote: Next year, many of America's senior and disabled citizens, as well as our veterans and active military, will no longer be given free access to our public lands and facilities. Some concessionaires operating federal Recreation Areas and maintaining facilities on Public Lands will no longer accept Gold Age, Access, or Military passes for entrance and/or use of the public lands created and supported by taxpayers, despite the fact that most of these concessionaires operate those facilities at 40-50% pure profit, amounting to hundreds of thousands, even millions of dollars a year. My wife is an MS patient living on a fixed income of less than $1,100 per month. We are currently homeless, due to her illness and the fact that my 30-year career as a carpenter went under with the Great Recession. Without her Access Pass, there are any number of America's landmarks we would never have been able to see, much of our own heritage we would never have experienced. America's Public Lands were created for the education, edification, and spiritual enrichment of the taxpayers. Why are multi-million-dollar-earning corporations and government bureaucrats taking away access for the elderly, the disabled, and for our brave fighting men and women? Tell the Federal government, the NFS and the concessionaires that Interagency Passes should be accepted on ALL public lands, for entry and/or day-use fees. http://signon.org/...fwd&r_by=5400572
Signed. Not sure if this affects National Parks, but if it does then I know a lot of people who would not be able to enjoy the beauty of my and their hometown.
edit: fixed cheesetit
(This post was edited by Gmburns2000 on Aug 26, 2012, 6:47 PM)
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knubs
Aug 26, 2012, 8:29 PM
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signed it. i've got a pass because of my missing hand. i love that thing!
(This post was edited by knubs on Aug 26, 2012, 8:30 PM)
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sonso45
Aug 27, 2012, 7:49 PM
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Signed
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roninthorne
Aug 28, 2012, 6:29 PM
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bumped
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roughster
Aug 28, 2012, 6:45 PM
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If you vote republican, you are reaping what you sow...
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ninepointeight
Aug 28, 2012, 6:45 PM
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You don't mention a specific bill or provision. Without that, this is a waste of time for you and everyone else.
I'm very sorry to here of your situation. You mention that your are homeless and that you and your wife live on a fixed income. What does that have to do with the proposed legislation that you a fighting?
Also, you are only seeking 50 signatures? It is unlikely that will get the attention of even one assemblymen unless they are all in his district.
I hope things turn around for you and your wife.
(This post was edited by ninepointeight on Aug 28, 2012, 6:48 PM)
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roninthorne
Sep 5, 2012, 4:24 AM
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ninepointeight wrote: You don't mention a specific bill or provision. Without that, this is a waste of time for you and everyone else.
Really? So if I can gather a few thousand signatures to bring to a political candidate who espouses a position of "fighting for your rights", couldn't THAT candidate introduce a bill to preserve these rights?
Or should I just sit here on my thumb until there is a spontaneously-generated bill and then jump on the bandwagon to support it?
Here's your link to the proposal from 2009:
http://www.regulations.gov/...;D=FS-2009-0001-0001
Here's a link to the fight against it on the western slope:
http://www.westernslopenofee.org/...sues_White_Paper.pdf
Note that while this paper says the proposal has been withdrawn, that Mister Werner of American Land and Leisure has issued instructions to AL&L area managers and employees that facilities managed by this concessionaire will no longer give a day-use discount for interagency passes as of 2013.
As of this date, no matter how much smoke the operators at Public Relations may blow up your ductwork, employees at concessionaire facilities STILL don't have any information on whether NF visitors who hold Golden Age, Disabled Access, active or veteran military ID will still be given discounts or free entry, at which facilities, at which public lands, and when this change will take effect. And no word which other concessionaires may or may not change policy (read: deny access) without either public comment or government approval.
ninepointeight wrote: I'm very sorry to here (hear?) of your situation. You mention that your are homeless and that you and your wife live on a fixed income. What does that have to do with the proposed legislation that you a fighting?
Ummmm... because my wife, who has Multiple Sclerosis, also has a Disability Access Pass, which means she doesn't need to decide between groceries or enjoying the public lands her tax dollars paid for, tax dollars she continued to pay in even after a stroke and diagnosis with MS.
Long periods at high altitudes seem to balance Cindy's red and white blood cell production, one of the problems of MS. Balanced blood cell production means no need for medications to regulate that function.
Physical excercise in a wilderness or outdoor setting has helped her more than all the pharmaceuticals and narcotics she was once prescribed by doctors, meds that cost Medicare/Medicaid over $3,000/month, as opposed to the $70 (maximum) of discounts on entrance fees and campsites the concessionaire (and, theoretically, the government) "loses" by affording her a discount. By my math, that's a net gain of $2,930 every month for the government.
And that's just for Cindy, one citizen on SSDD.
But hold on..... while that saves the U.S. Government $2,930 every month, it costs the companies who make her meds the same amount. Of course, a citizen's rights shouldn't be affected by the profits of a corporation, should they? Certainly not when we are talking about SAVING the country money in a time when we are desperately running out of revenue... right?
http://roninsroad.blogspot.com/2012/06/no-value.html
You'll need to skip down to the middle to get to the part where it relates to this number, but open minds will find the data and calculations there.
ninepointeight wrote: Also, you are only seeking 50 signatures? It is unlikely that will get the attention of even one assemblymen unless they are all in his district.
The longest journey begins with a single step. I was trying for 50... and I got 84, in a matter of days. Now I'm trying for 500, and if we get there, 5,000. I intend to keep pushing this petition until October, and see where we are then... so plan on seeing it on RC.com until then, and maybe for a few days after.
Long and the short of it, folks- if the NFS/NPS Law Enforcement Division would simply write and enforce fines for dogs off leash in wilderness and/or recreation facilities, fires during a ban, failure to pay entry, speeding, and parking on top of wildflowers, it would cover any "losses" from Interagency, Senior, and Access discounts for the entire country.
And any government that can afford to spend 10 billion dollars a month for a decade, to fight a war over the price of oil, can afford to let the people who were boots on the ground into the mountains and forests for free, forever.
We'll see if America still gives a damn about its senior citizens, the disabled among us who fight for respect and quality of life every day, or the brave men and women who fight and bleed in distant lands for political agendas most of them do not support, and come home with wounds most civilians cannot see.
Since most people deal with access issues by writing a check or posting armchair mountaineer commentary on RC.com, I don't expect much from climbers... It's the climbing vets and their partners, the disabled alpinists and rockrats, and the families of the old folks I'm trying to stir to life.
Now, go for derailing this thread with another assinine string of "why my voted-best-crag-dog shouldn't have to be on a leash" posts.
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roninthorne
Sep 5, 2012, 4:32 AM
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roughster wrote: If you vote republican, you are reaping what you sow...
This proposal was offered in 2009... you know, before the Republicans had any real power in the Congress? It was an attempt to sneak this in before the 2010 elections... an attempt by a Democratic administration.
Don't try to frame this in the convenient terms of the sock puppets you like to identify with. BOTH PARTIES WILL LIE TO YOU FOR A VOTE... that's what politicians do, by and large. Clinton did more damage to environmental legislation than Bush, and Al Gore is the biggest double-standard idiot who ever preached pollution while living in a mansion and flying solo on a jumbo jet.
Lesson of the last half century: IF YOU VOTE AND PAY YOUR TAXES AND DON'T SPEAK OUT, JUST COLOR BETWEEN THE LINES LIKE A GOOD LITTLE TOOL, CORRUPT POLITICIANS, INVASIVE GOVERNMENT AND CORPORATE SHARKS WILL REAP WHAT YOU SOW.
SPEAK OUT, ACT UP, AND MAKE A DIFFERENCE.
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roninthorne
Sep 6, 2012, 12:57 PM
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bumpity bump
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