Off-Roaders Deserve Their Own Space

The article discussing problems associated with finding a suitable site for an off-road park missed a point:

Off-road vehicle registration was enacted during the ‘70s with the intent that the funds collected would be used to buy and maintain land for such parks. Little of these funds have actually been spent. Thus, regardless of the state budget deficit, off-road taxpayers have already paid for such a park.

But the State Department of Parks and Recreation staffed the off-highway vehicle commission, which is charged with overseeing the use of these funds, with environmentalists (kind of like hiring the fox to guard the chicken house).

The environmentalists have allowed the resulting surplus funds to become a favorite raiding ground for other state departments looking for monies to offset their deficits. For example, $3.5 million was recently taken from the fund by the Department of Fish and Game.

Regardless of where the county decides to put the park, there will be attempts by environmental and other groups to stop it. What is needed is for government officials to stop spending vast sums of money on endless studies and to make a decision and implement it.

GARY E. McCARTER, Burbank