2003Summit
Active VIP Member
I have been running a poll under another thread for a little while now and some questions are being asked about whether real and actual tax dollars are going in to police setting up stings to trick illegal riders in to stopping and offer assistance on a staged broken looking sled.
I decided to respond because I thought more people new about this and I wanted to answer the questions.
All of this information is either based on second had information (ie. Reports being given in our club meetings) or my own first hand experiences. Treat this as I am telling you what I know of the situation, and what I understand it to be:
Last year Strathcona county (AKA the county Sherwood park is in) budgeted about $160K (I can't quite remember the exact figure) for two special constables complete with two sleds, and I think two quads. I have heard second hand that their job, as they see it, is to shut off-roading down in the county for good. From what I understand they have no other responsibilities besides off-roading but I could be wrong, they could be by-law officers with a special focus on off-roading.
To give you some more back ground on this (and this is based on my understanding of the situation as I have observed it for the last 18 months or so): Strathcona did this because of an overwhelming sentiment form county citizens that they did not want illegal off roading to happen any more in the county. From my discussions with them they thought the message they were getting was unilateral. Recently though there has been a lot of hostility regarding these constables. At the moment Strathcona is looking into why people would be upset by them, they understand many of the people that are upset are their own county citizens. Presently county council is trying to gather more information.
In addition, other more minor things have been happening like when people are encountered, the constables have been telling them they can ride an established trail system up there in Fort Saskatchewan, which is completely approved for snowmobile use. The constables (from what I heard this week) do not understand how the trail pass works and they have –not- been telling sleders there is a cost and that they should have a trail pass.
This has been greatly annoying the Snow Angels as their trail system is funded by the ASA trail pass. Without pass funding they can't afford to groom for the new increased traffic, I have read in a few posts that Angles members are getting frustrated with the number of riders on their system that do not have a trial pass. I was called by a council administrative assistant and asked why Snow Angles members are getting upset with the constables sending illegal riders with no trail pass to ride the Fort Sask trail system. I explained the ASA trail pass and how it works and why it’s important and suggested the constables really need to understand the pass system and how it works as part of their jobs so they can stop upsetting the Snow Angles – I told them Tri-County would be pretty mad too if someone did this to us. I don’t know if that info will get back to where it needs to be but I tried.
And further more, getting back to the whole public money thing. As much as this might fuel some anger in those that might not like the fact Strathcona put up a budget for special constables I want to let people know about something else as well; since what we are talking about is really a public matter I don't see why I should not pass what I know on. Keep in mind here I am not trying to create a mob, but I want you to more fully understand the different facets of what has been happening and then do rational/constructive things with the info:
For more than a year now, the Tri-County snowmobile club has been trying to raise funding for a large groomer machine to properly groom Ministik and future trail systems. Our budget for this is quite large, somewhere around $150K. We have gotten approval for funding from the two MLA's from the other county’s around Ministik, but since Ministik boarders on Strathcona, the other MLA's have asked us to also get an equal contribution from Strathcona before they give us their portion of the money. At this point we have been un-able to get Strathcona to approve it. We are still working on it, I don't know if this will change, but this is the state we are at. It's also important that you know our grant application is contingent on the fact that grooming in Ministik will help all users of Ministik (there are about a dozen other user groups), so while this volume of money will seam like a lot to give to a snowmobile group, the reason it is being considered is because it will benefit all users of Ministik - we just happen to be the ones that will do the work (the work of getting the money, getting and maintaining the equipment, and operating the equipment).
Draw your own conclusions based on this limited information. But allow me now to share mine:
As an organized club what we try to do is create more organized trail systems and riding areas. By doing that we are working towards the goal of getting sleds out of other peoples hair so to speak and into an area where it’s accepted (and safer). In effect we help the problem by creating a good alternative to illegal riding. Our challenges are that there are not yet enough trail systems in enough places to keep the majority of riders content with sticking just to a trail system. Our other challenge is that we suffer from very low enrollment, I feel that only 1 out of 10 riders are in a club, maybe less. We need a lot more manpower to create more trail systems – fact is we need almost everyone interested in sledding period if we are to succeed in a truly large and general way, but that is another subject. My point is, we work heard to improve the state for snowmobiling, and are providing a way to get sleders out of peoples hair. And we get help from some municipalities but I feel that up to now at least, this one has not been interested in helping, just eliminating. I really wish that were not so, but I’m not a resident of Strathcona so I don’t get a vote there.
If you are, please think about all of this.
Thank you and please feel free to post any response related to what you read above.
I decided to respond because I thought more people new about this and I wanted to answer the questions.
All of this information is either based on second had information (ie. Reports being given in our club meetings) or my own first hand experiences. Treat this as I am telling you what I know of the situation, and what I understand it to be:
Last year Strathcona county (AKA the county Sherwood park is in) budgeted about $160K (I can't quite remember the exact figure) for two special constables complete with two sleds, and I think two quads. I have heard second hand that their job, as they see it, is to shut off-roading down in the county for good. From what I understand they have no other responsibilities besides off-roading but I could be wrong, they could be by-law officers with a special focus on off-roading.
To give you some more back ground on this (and this is based on my understanding of the situation as I have observed it for the last 18 months or so): Strathcona did this because of an overwhelming sentiment form county citizens that they did not want illegal off roading to happen any more in the county. From my discussions with them they thought the message they were getting was unilateral. Recently though there has been a lot of hostility regarding these constables. At the moment Strathcona is looking into why people would be upset by them, they understand many of the people that are upset are their own county citizens. Presently county council is trying to gather more information.
In addition, other more minor things have been happening like when people are encountered, the constables have been telling them they can ride an established trail system up there in Fort Saskatchewan, which is completely approved for snowmobile use. The constables (from what I heard this week) do not understand how the trail pass works and they have –not- been telling sleders there is a cost and that they should have a trail pass.
This has been greatly annoying the Snow Angels as their trail system is funded by the ASA trail pass. Without pass funding they can't afford to groom for the new increased traffic, I have read in a few posts that Angles members are getting frustrated with the number of riders on their system that do not have a trial pass. I was called by a council administrative assistant and asked why Snow Angles members are getting upset with the constables sending illegal riders with no trail pass to ride the Fort Sask trail system. I explained the ASA trail pass and how it works and why it’s important and suggested the constables really need to understand the pass system and how it works as part of their jobs so they can stop upsetting the Snow Angles – I told them Tri-County would be pretty mad too if someone did this to us. I don’t know if that info will get back to where it needs to be but I tried.
And further more, getting back to the whole public money thing. As much as this might fuel some anger in those that might not like the fact Strathcona put up a budget for special constables I want to let people know about something else as well; since what we are talking about is really a public matter I don't see why I should not pass what I know on. Keep in mind here I am not trying to create a mob, but I want you to more fully understand the different facets of what has been happening and then do rational/constructive things with the info:
For more than a year now, the Tri-County snowmobile club has been trying to raise funding for a large groomer machine to properly groom Ministik and future trail systems. Our budget for this is quite large, somewhere around $150K. We have gotten approval for funding from the two MLA's from the other county’s around Ministik, but since Ministik boarders on Strathcona, the other MLA's have asked us to also get an equal contribution from Strathcona before they give us their portion of the money. At this point we have been un-able to get Strathcona to approve it. We are still working on it, I don't know if this will change, but this is the state we are at. It's also important that you know our grant application is contingent on the fact that grooming in Ministik will help all users of Ministik (there are about a dozen other user groups), so while this volume of money will seam like a lot to give to a snowmobile group, the reason it is being considered is because it will benefit all users of Ministik - we just happen to be the ones that will do the work (the work of getting the money, getting and maintaining the equipment, and operating the equipment).
Draw your own conclusions based on this limited information. But allow me now to share mine:
As an organized club what we try to do is create more organized trail systems and riding areas. By doing that we are working towards the goal of getting sleds out of other peoples hair so to speak and into an area where it’s accepted (and safer). In effect we help the problem by creating a good alternative to illegal riding. Our challenges are that there are not yet enough trail systems in enough places to keep the majority of riders content with sticking just to a trail system. Our other challenge is that we suffer from very low enrollment, I feel that only 1 out of 10 riders are in a club, maybe less. We need a lot more manpower to create more trail systems – fact is we need almost everyone interested in sledding period if we are to succeed in a truly large and general way, but that is another subject. My point is, we work heard to improve the state for snowmobiling, and are providing a way to get sleders out of peoples hair. And we get help from some municipalities but I feel that up to now at least, this one has not been interested in helping, just eliminating. I really wish that were not so, but I’m not a resident of Strathcona so I don’t get a vote there.
If you are, please think about all of this.
Thank you and please feel free to post any response related to what you read above.
