Saturday, November 17, 2007

Truth hurts

Truth hurts.

The rational rest of us are always entertained by the road rage rants in the local ATV rag on what currently bugs the Cook County ATV Club. But, I for one was hoping for something honest and new this week, like the price of gas making it so much more expensive to rampage. Or, rising outrage around the country about the number of children killed and injured in ATV accidents. Or, the fact that ATVs are getting banned in many parts of the country because of the damage they do to the landscape. Or, closer to home, about the difficulty of, on the one hand, proclaiming total abidance with the law by ATV owners everywhere (and especially here in Cook County), and on the other having to bear the ignominy of working with a club leader charged along with others for shooting from a moving vehicle. It has to be tough to declare just how law abiding the club leadership is, and how you are going to follow the rules and how you are going to police yourselves and know that no one believes a word you say. It is always the case that it’s not your enemies who eventually do you in, it is your friends. Well, the club did tell us the ranks of ATV enthusiasts include a lot of birders. But, let's get back on track.

No, none of those. What was the weekly rail directed at? ... The truth! At least the truth as reported in the recently distributed survey of Cook County residents regarding their attitudes toward ATV travel in the county. Thank you Sustainable Recreation Coalition!

The rag's reaction to the report on the survey was the usual knee jerk, but rather than ride along on the calumnious scribbles of the ATV club's literary wingette, get a copy of the report and have a look at the facts behind it - decide for yourself. The report was clearly based on a professionally conducted blind survey of the opinions of a random sample of Cook County residents. From what I read, the survey was conducted in a totally scientific manner and by a well respected researcher who the ATV industry itself has used, and it was done under the auspices of the University of Minnesota. The bottom line is that it is totally credible.

And, the report itself was, as they say, a fair and balanced presentation of the data contained in the survey. What the report showed is that, contrary to what the ATV club would have us all believe, a significant portion of Cook County residents do not want ATVs running rampant on county roads, etc. The ATV club has often been heard to profess that the majority of county residents favor them in their quest for wide open riding. The survey clearly demonstrates that is absolutely false. Most folks want reasonable restrictions on ATVs and, unlike the ATV club, no one wants the county turned in to an ATV destination. There is a litany of very rational and reasonable opinion on related concerns quantified in the survey and presented in the report, and it is clear that the facts are four square against the mis-information that the ATV club has been spreading. The bottom line is that the ATV club does not have the support they profess. The kind thing to say is that they are delusional.

What seems to particularly jamb the club's carburetors is that the Sustainable Recreation Coalition, the group that paid for the survey, had the temerity to report on it and to do so in a clear, fair and factual manner rather than obscure or distort the facts. Wow. Those four wheeling purveyors of fact and stalwarts of truth just don't get it that the world is not like them and that most of the county does not especially appreciate ATVs.

Not all the results of the survey benefit those who oppose the ATV club's position, but I am sure we all knew that the county is not of one mind on this issue. What we do now know, however, is that the majority of us have not fully inhaled the ATV club's exhaust. For over a year they have been spewing their noxious fantasies about overwhelming support for their pipe dreams of ATVs gone wild. Well, it just ain't so. The clear message from county residents is you can mess up your own yard, but we don't want you to ruin the neighborhood in the process. Hopefully the county commissioners come to the same conclusion. The ATV task force has not served the county well, and this whole issue should never have been given the consideration it has received. The board should not waste any more time on it.

1 comment:

fastjerry said...

Rhonda, Rhonda,Rhonda! I thought you were trying to be a newspaper, instead here you go again with the latest "Cook County StarATV" weekly giveaway. But then it is often said that most products are worth the price you pay for them. Certainly as editor/secretary you are well within bounds to comment, but your comments are without context: could you not at least show your readers what you are talking about? Do you so distrust your readership as to not let them make their own judgment? I am suspicious that even if you wrote the summary you would reject the results. The survey was scientifically performed by a respected professional at the UofM, the methodology should hardly be in question, the results are scientifically valid. But because those results didn't support the conclusions you would like, hide it from your readership and have them see only your word on it! Not my idea of "fair and objective" reporting, such a loss.