In Defense of Off-Road Vehicle Users

Swell, another anti-off-road vehicle article (Times, Nov. 23). Just what we need.

What could have been a thought-provoking report on the condition of the San Gabriel Basin water system turns out to be an attack on the dreaded off-roaders.

You should get your facts straight and understand the difference between off-road vehicle users and the rowdies who are tearing up the San Gabriel Reservoir. We pay our sticker fees. We ride in designated areas and it would take a bloodhound to see where my group has been once we’ve left. In my 17 years of off-road riding, I’ve never left so much as a gum wrapper behind. There’s thousands of people just like me.

We contribute to local economies. We buy everything the campers and skiers buy and then some. We’re consumers with a capital C. We’re probably a lot like you, except we tire of the traffic and smog and enjoy a little wind in our faces on the weekend.

And about those fun-loving folks up in the reservoir. Why not arrest the drunks and fine the litter-bugs and polluters? The laws are on the books. Enforce them and we’ll have our clean water and recreation.

GERALD R. CLELAND

Inglewood