Snowmobile debate shifts into gear

Regarding “A Line in the Snow” [Feb. 15]: As times and circumstances have changed, activities that were once considered acceptable have been banned because of their deleterious effects.

Sheep grazing has been forbidden in the San Bernardino National Forest since the early 1900s. Duck hunting was allowed on Lake Arrowhead until the 1950s. The keeping of pigs in the lower part of Manhattan was outlawed in the 1840s over the strong objections of the poor, who valued the animals for food and garbage disposal.

In the article, a snowmobiler says he’s entitled to engage in an obnoxious and environmentally damaging pastime. It would only seem fair that if the rights of the poor can be limited for the betterment of society and the environment, so can the rights of the nasty, uncaring rich.

Tom Walsh

Blue Jay

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More and more snowmobiles every winter. More and more four-wheel-drive vehicles, ATVs, dirt bikes and mountain bikes every spring, summer and fall. Just makes you wonder how wildlife might adapt to these escalating assaults on the only home they have.

Ron Romanosky

Tustin

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Diana Deering has “no idea” why people are attracted to snowmobiles, but I do. I was raised in northern Michigan, where winter snows were deep and long lasting. I was overjoyed when snowmobiles came around. While they weren’t perfect, they made getting about in the winter so much easier.

Running at night under a full moon, traveling vast distances was like a dream come true. Snowmobiling was the most fun anyone could have with their clothes on.

There have always been people who prefer peace and quiet and a slower pace to their enjoyment of the winter outdoors. I have no problem, except that most of them want to be the only ones allowed into an area, or they want everyone else to do things exactly the same way they do.

Joe Doremire

Bakersfield