Re: [Paddlewise] Kayak Registration

 "Michael Lampman" <mlampman_at_solitaireboats.com> wrote:

> [snip] I recently proposed on a local mailing list in Florida that if the 
> paddling community in the state proactively wrote, proposed and lobbied for 
> its own registration bill, we could ensure that the idiots in the 
> legislature would not eventually impose a nonsensical one of their own on 
> us and that in this way we might even be able to limit the cost and ensure 
> that we would get some actual benefits from it.

> The result was that the entire statewide paddling community, (at least so 
> it seemed), rose up in arms against me. [snip]

Michael, in the end, it is becoming more and more difficult to get the 
average voter to make a connection between fees he/she pays and benefits 
received.  The disconnection often occurs in a morass of invective and 
rhetoric about waste in government, an easy target, and a correct one at 
times.  But, when local voters (as in my area) fail to support money for 
roads and then rail about the poor condition of the roads, what can you do?

I regret you got pasted.  Some who have contributed here on Paddlewise to the 
debate about the (now defunct) Maine registration bill seem to have 
over-reacted to the __concept__ of a registration fee instead of focusing on 
the practicalities of making sure the money gets spent for paddlers' needs. 
Some of the horror stories, such as what happened in Pennsylvania, fuel the 
fire for such rhetoric. I abhor what happened there as much as anyone.

I'm with you, Michael, and Florida may be a poster child for access problems, 
if my short stay in the Sanibel/Captiva area a few years back is 
representative.  In Oregon, we do not have the population pressures you do, 
and we have a relatively enlightened body of legislators (he says __very__ 
quietly), so that access is not bad, most rivers and lakes, but we also need 
to band together to keep what we've got.  Your proposal to have paddlers 
initiate a bill is a good one, albeit one which made you a target.

Remember, as a lead dog, your view is always changing ... unlike the view of 
those behind you.

--
Dave Kruger
Astoria, OR 
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