Meeting Minutes

November 22, 2013

I. General Announcements

The end of the year meeting/potluck turned out to be bigger than expected (27 people total!), which included 11 members and 16 guests & supporters! James cooked up some crockpot shredded chicken tacos, and guests brought many side dishes and booze – there was grilled jalapenos and onions, Mexican salad, salsa, guacamole, rice, beans, tequila, rum, and beer.

· Club members and guests said a final thank you and farwell to our 2013 President – Abe (aka: “Fro,” “Mammoth Fro,” “GoFro” “SnoFro”). After a positive and successful year of leading our club, Fro is stepping down, and moving on to bigger & brighter things. “We had a good run,” said Fro. There’s no doubt that we had a gem of a person at the reins in 2013.

It was an emotional and bittersweet farewell, and some members were left wondering how we’ll ever fill his shoes…

Talk of the new presidential position ensued, and Joe Parrino was the first to speak up – aggressively nominating extreme skier and moto singletrack guru, Johnny Rotten for president in 2014. Johnny is a notorious figure in the mammoth lakes and Tahoe region, and Joe’s push for his 2014 MMC presidency came at no surprise. A few members on Joe’s side of the isle supported this bold power grab as well.

John C followed up with a nomination of 2013 presidential “runner up,” Jason. Surprisingly, Jason agreed to run again, stating “this is the band I’ve always wanted to be in!” Russ and Kim were also nominated, but refused to accept it, turning their backs on the club for yet another year… Weird was nominated too (not sure why).

· A highlight of the meeting was when John C (MMC Secretary and founding member) was presented with a “man of the year” plaque. The plaque read: “In grateful recognition of your dedication and commitment to the Community of Mammoth Lakes (or something along those lines)…” The idea for this award, which has little to do with dirtbike riding, was dreamt up by Mammoth local Guy M… during a late night happy hour rant at the Outlaw Saloon.

Mr. Jason presented the award, and congratulated and thanked John for his continued service to our community, saying “You’ve been taking care of Mammoth Lakes my entire life (or something like that).” John responded by saying, “Thanks to all for the prestigious "man of the year" award. Caught me by surprise - but made me feel like the Duke of New York, and A-number-1. The owner/editor of The Sheet newspaper told me that as long as I never receive a "man of the year" award my position within the town government would be safe.”

The club would like to thank Jason and Steph for taking the time to create this custom award.

· We also passed out some old “first run blem” t-shirts, and some members purchased new “second run” T-shirts as well.

· Other topics of discussion included: D37 LAB2V 2013 preparations (pictured right), future Mammoth M/C Baja ride ideas, E. Sierra singletrack – some new & some old, Squaw Tit Coyote hunting, and semi-auto firearms (and bolt guns). Lucky for us, Friends of the Inyo was unavailable for comment.

Land Manager Report

· The following rant was written by Daniel Pritchett, and originally posted on the interweb, here: http://www.sierrawave.net/27740/disturbing-the-peace/#comments

Daniel Pritchett is a former Board Member that oversaw “Conservation efforts” within the Bristlecone Chapter of the California Native Plant Society. Just like our enemies over at the “Friends” of the Inyo Co., Daniel and his buddies at California Native Plant Society advocate for a heavily regulated motorized vehicle experience (less is more), and for a favorable tax handout (in theirs of course).

I inserted a dirtbike roosting picture to liven up the read as it’s convoluted and extremely difficult to follow. Enjoy.

Disturbing the Peace:

Dirt bikes may be coming to your neighborhood soon!

by Daniel Pritchett

In December 2011 I called attention to a proposal to use Bishop City Park as a staging area for Off- Highway Vehicles (OHVs) under the new Adventure Trails program. This proposal was so bad I had hoped it would not be taken seriously. Silly me!

Some Inyo County Supervisors not only take this proposal seriously, they recently decided to initiate work on an Environmental Impact Report for for it. Under the Adventure Trails program certain county roads and (Bishop) city streets will be opened up for Green Sticker (dirt bikes, quads, ATV’s etc…) vehicle use. There are many proposed routes and several go through residential areas in Bishop (including my own). One proposed route would use the Bishop Chamber of Commerce as a staging area. This means after disturbing people in their homes in residential areas, Green Sticker dirt bikers could proceed to disturb people at Bishop City Park. What a great idea!

County supervisors shouldn’t need need an EIR to recognize this proposal for what it is: bad planning, pure and simple. The purpose of residential zoning is to preserve the residential character and quality of life of a neighborhood. Turning residential streets into corridors for dirt bike through-traffic defeats the purpose of residential zoning. Turning Bishop City Park into an OHV staging area defeats the purpose of a city park. If the proposal is implemented a few businesses will profit at the expense of the peace and quiet of many of their neighbors and users of Bishop City Park. The fact that such an unfair idea is taken seriously is testimony to the disproportionate influence of OHV enthusiasts at all levels of government.

OHV enthusiasts already have access to many miles of off-highway routes accessible without driving through residential neighborhoods. The Adventure Trails program won’t open any new back-country areas — it will simply allow Green Sticker drivers to disturb people they would not otherwise be able to disturb: people in their own homes and at Bishop City Park. I can’t think of a better way for OHV enthusiasts to generate ill-will toward their activities.

If there are any people left who share the old fashioned view that residential neighborhoods should maintain their residential character, and Bishop City Park should remain a park, I suggest they contact Inyo County Supervisors and Bishop City Council-members immediately.

Daniel Pritchett Bishop, CA

Click here: http://www.inyoregister.com/node/2900 to learn more about the proposed project and why all the “activists” are hating.

Darren Klimek

1959 - 2013

Darren was the essence of “Minnesota Nice.” Constantly smiling, laughing, overly nice, and always down to drop everything he was doing just to chat about dirtbikes & racing dirtibikes. Even though I didn’t have the chance to know him for too long, the time I did spend with the man, and memories I have, I won’t soon forget.

Darren understood why we go to Baja, and why we come back.

It didn’t matter how we finished (or didn’t) either, what really mattered was that we were there – roosting

RIP my friend, you will be missed.

Sorry I abandoned your tractor in the field; I think it ran out of gas…