I’m not sure why we, the OHV community, aren’t getting any media time, but it’s maddening. I admit I don’t watch much television, but I haven’t heard or seen a single word of coverage about the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) ban on Lead over 600 PPM (parts per million). Maybe I just haven’t seen it, which is possible.
I did hear that Rush Limbaugh did a piece on it 2 times over the last couple days, which is awesome, but I don’t think it’s going to cut it. What about television spots to inform the general public? I know this stuff doesn’t just happen. It takes money to make it happen, but aren’t we a large enough group to make some noise and raise some funds to save our sport? Maybe it’s just not important enough to us? Maybe it’s a good thing our government is allowing an already hurting industry to be kicked while it’s down.
So now, because of goverment oversite (or maybe it’s on purpose) I now can no longer buy many replacement parts for my son’s (I have more than one) XR50, PW50, and KX65… Nor can my brother-in-law buy parts for his son’s YZ85, or Polaris 50 quad — don’t event think about buying a new one.
I can go on and on about how this is affecting me, my family, my friends, and the industry — but unless we get involved by donating time and money to those on the front lines (see A Message from AMA President, Rob Dingman for a listing of those involved and their respective websites where you can donate), sign the petitions (see Exempt Motorcycles & ATVs from lead testing), and send letters to your state and local representatives (see State Representative Tom Self of Missouri — his kids ride too, and he is taking a major role in stopping this. You can also send a letter to your representative from his website), than nothing is going to change.
A very good article about this was written on CycleNews by Paul Carruthers titled: Stop The Insanity: Updated — take the time to read it, it will help paint the pictures of how this is affecting the sport of riding OHVs.
Please I urge you — don’t sit by and do nothing. Even if you don’t ride OHVs (motorcycles, ATV’s, etc).
I leave you with this quote of a quote as I think it applies:
(The Henrik Hudson School District Library Media Centre provides a model essay for students which ends with the words — http://tartarus.org/~martin/essays/burkequote.html)
- Perpetrators, collaborators, bystanders, victims: we can be clear about three of these categories. The bystander, however, is the fulcrum. If there are enough notable exceptions, then protest reaches a critical mass. We don’t usually think of history as being shaped by silence, but, as English philosopher Edmund Burke said, ‘The only thing necessary for the triumph [of evil] is for good men to do nothing.’
