very unhappy camper...

[honda guy250]

I went to Rodman Dam today i hopes to relieve some stress and have some fun but instead left more frustrated. When I pulled to the end of the pavement there was an FWC officer informing everyone that they must have their ATV's registered to ride them. So I was not able to ride my new 300 ex that i bought tuesday.I brought m little sister and her friend too so that meant we would have to share my kymco and take turns. I figured no big deal, we would just stay in the pit and I could keep an eye on them. Well I decided to go for a spin and as I got to the far side of the pit I was stopped by an officer and told the pit is now CLOSED TO ALL MOTOR VEHICLES and starting tomorrow you will be fined $147 if found in there and fined $495 for doing donuts or any such behavior. So we can all thank our forestry service for another Ocala closure. I'm also glad to see the money I paid to join ONFA is keeping our riding area open or so I thought it was supposed to.

[honda guy250]

Also on my way back up 19, there were cops at the entrances to Mondex keeping anyone from entering.

[MedicMudder]

The pit is closed from now own??? Did the Game warden say what the
fine was for not haveing the sticker on the atvs. You would know
 The minute I found out about the Mondex it would close. I
rode out there the other day to check it out,looked really cool.
 It was my understanding that people have been rideing out there
4 ever?? I belive that is the reason they made the trails one way in
one way out,so as to controll riders and check atvs out In the ONF Thanks
State of FLA.This sucks   Can someone that lives near Palatka
find out what in the world is going on

[honda guy250]

yea i was hoping to ride mondex and try it out. i just read the palce was legal, fun and people ave been going there for years too. he did not state anything about fines but i did notice the officer that stopped me in the pit eyeing it to make sure i have it. they wouldnt even let me unload the other one.

[MadMudder]

Jeeze I am so sick of people screwing us over. I have been reading about land closures down south but nothing big here. But since we live in Jacksonville there arent any places to ride to begin with so people like me and honda guy have to go down to places like Ocala to ride. But now these @** holes are creeping up north and messing with us. Me and my dad (medicmudder) just rode at rodman like 2 weeks ago and last saturday checked out the mondex area. Now they have shut down both places. Do these people have nothing to do except screw us over. What purpose are they serving anyone? The government has to pay these rent a cops to drive around and we get our land took away. So who are they helping out here? Did they give any reason why they were closing down the pit? Or why they had the mondex area blocked off. GOD THIS TICKS ME OFF. I have been reading about this kind of thing happening to other people here but when I read that these two were closed it really hit hard...

[kuma]

 :'(Wow  I can't believe it Mondex closed and the pit it wasn't but 2 weeks ago we were out at the pit. And then went to Mondex. I will try to find out what is going on.

[honda guy250]

yes i cant agree more, it is a shame and i didnt expect the pit to be closed down at all. i think i was stated before that florida sells the second most amount of atv's and we have the least geographical amount of legal riding areas. im going to try and do the number crunching and write our senator and some other impacting officials and show them how much money they are makig on us(sales tax, registraion, etc.) and let them know what they could be losing. this almost makes me want to sell my stuff, or move. i guess ill have to try durhamtown and broad river now. nothing against these places considering ive heard great things but i dont want to have to drive five hours to ride, nor do i have the finances to do so every weekend either. well i guess we still have the few local tracks but i dont know about others but i am not a supercross star and i dont like the tracks so much as i either hold up the faster paced riders or get run over by them. hopefully tony pitts can make the thing hes trying for happen, i know i wil definately contribute whatever possible. sorry for all the ranting but this is so frustratig, when you have $20,000+ invested in atv's/bikes and have limited places to ride and more and more are closed every day thats pretty frustrating.

[qt314nfla]

Talk to lsjwth, thrumud, or muddygirl.  They probably already have the stats on this.

[kuma]

Unreal hard to believe this junk

[viper]

Wasn't there another thread about the ONFA, uhmm didn't mr. president state - that the ONFA was going to keep the trails open that are already open, i thought that was in a different thread. Wasn't the pit already open, so much for keeping our trails open.

I am glad I didn't travel 2 hours to get there, and find it closed. The ONFA should know why it is closed, they should have posted something.

[indianjoe]

This was posted on Jan. 12th..in the Ocala Forest Section


"As of today, posts are in all along the east side of the pit, seperating it from FR 88.  DO NOT ride on FR 88. Putham County Sheriff's deputies would love to give tickets, along with Forest Service LEO's.  Also, be very careful in the pit,  there are some very big donut holes all over it, and last weekend, someone who was racing in the pit was seriously injured.  Remember, this pit is not really open, as the environmentalists would not let it be included in phase I as they do not want any problems if they ever get the dam torn down and need to use the pit to put the material in.  Any excuse could lead to its closing"


It does say it really isn't legal and says the enviro's wanted it closed.

[tekhanto]

  more and more areas closing down 

[1FasterBlaster]

   Ocala sucks now.This is why we have protest people.Complaining does nothing, show up and support the cause.I don't know how many times I've seen request for support and noone shows.
   There are people fighting, but it helps...when you help.QT gave you some people to contact...do the math, or give up riding!!

[honda guy250]

i will do the math and talk to these people but i as many here work and can not attend all these meetings they schedule at the most innapropriate times for the normal working class that support this sport

[1FasterBlaster]

   I know they schedule it so we can't make it.Sometimes you have to make more effort to keep them from doing what there trying to do.If you don't find a way on the days of protest, your saturday's will have nothing.
   I sacrifice a work day any day to keep my riding days in the future!!!

[zippo201]

I heard somebody got stabbed at Mondex this past weekend, that's why the cop's were blocking it off. I drove past there Sunday and there was a cop car parked at the entrance.Since it is private property I would imagine that it will now be permanently closed due to these a**holes knife fight. I'm sure the property owner will probably gety sued. As I continued down 19 I passed the exit to the Delancy Loops Trail where I saw a  fascist forest service ranger harassing a group of dirt bikers who had ventured off the trail. I guess these a**holes must sit in the woods off the trails looking to nab you. All up and down 19 you can see signs posted closing off trails. You try to do the right thing and ride the wooped out/lame/inadequate/dangerous one-way trails they set aside for you and they still harass you. It's all about $$$$. At Rodman you have to go through a "gauntlet" of these fascist rangers just to get on the trails. They are not there to make you feel welcome. Our tax dollars at work.

[viper]

We are getting f@@@@ with our own tax dollars. Nobody wants this to work, including the famous ONFA.

[zippo201]

We are getting f@@@@ with our own tax dollars. Nobody wants this to work, including the famous ONFA.

True. However the Forest Service is laughing all the way to the bank by the sheer volume of tickets they're writing and the outrageous fine amounts. This is all about finding alternate ways to enrich their coffers as their funding from Washington is reduced and we're their sacrificial lambs.They could give a sh*t about protecting the land. Look at all the clear cutting they're doing. They do more damage to the ecosystem with their clear cutting than we do (responsible riders)  with our ATV's.

[Loven It]

Is the pit that is being spoke about different than the Rodham Trialhead?

[1FasterBlaster]

   I think we should all set a weekend to go there and protest their behavior towards us, who are paying their salaries!!

[novadave]

http://www.atvflorida.com/forum/index.php/topic,20169.0.html
join us and rally

[lisa]

  If ya'll are serious about a rally, it should take place where you are actually protesting the closings. Lakeland is a long way from ONF. ONF won't be impressed that ya'll are having a rally in a commercial riding area. In fact, they would love to see ya'll there, because then ya'll won't be here.

   Don't get me wrong, a rally is a great idea; but as they say, location, location, location! I am sure Quick Track is going to love the income generated from this, but don't you think that putting that entry fee into a group or organization that is actually working to keep things open would be a better way to get your point across?

   I wish ya'll luck at the rally. I hope that everyone who talks to any press that might show up would remember that the press, no matter how friendly they seem, will twist what you say and turn it into a sound bite or quote that might not be exactly what you had in mind.

   I wanted to say this on the Rally thread, but I didn't want to wade through the 7-pages to see if someone else had said it, and I didn't want it to sound like I didn't support ya'll. Just before you get excited and think this is going to make a difference to the OHV committee or to ONF, take a reality check first so you are not too disappointed! 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

   Rodman Dam was going to be closed down due to the lawsuit that Wildlaw brought against the USFS. ONFA Board member Linda Duever is vice-pres. of Save our Big Scrub. Here is a snippet from a letter written from Wildlaw about the Rodman Dam suit;

“This decision affirms our commitment to restrict motorized vehicles to designated trails in our
National Forests,” said WildLaw Staff Attorney, Brett Paben, who filed the appeal on behalf of Save Our Big Scrub, Inc. and Wild South.

   I had heard that ONFA worked to keep the "pit" open. I should have remembered myself that Linda Duever is a Board Member and would never allow ONFA to work against her agenda! Sorry Grizz and Ida_Man, that is just a fact.

   Ya'll need to read more of the threads on here about the Forest service and what is being done. They are working  hard on ANF too!

[1FasterBlaster]

   I say screw ONF.They haven't been working towards our needs, and it's too far away!!
   I'm hoping this rally will get us a local riding area.

[renmus]

I thnk a rally anywhere is a great thing.  I appreciate all the work that has gone into it and would never consider criticizing the effort.  Locatioin location location is just another cliche.  You could consider another cliche, a squeaky wheel gets the grease.  I would love to see a day that had rallys all across the state, every county would stand at the same time and say, Listen to us.