to the concerned citizen

jjamesbar · January 22, 2005, 06:33:12 PM

to the concerned citizen (who ever you are) that notified the authorities about our ride id like to say thanks. in you pitifull attemts to spoil our day i'll have to say your plan back fired. we broke no laws today as was surely noted from the start. no one was asked to leave or ticketed to my knowelge. all the local authorities were kind and helpfull and i am glad to have met them today. they came out expecting a bunch of senseless idiots but they found out we are a group of really good people that respected their concerns. if we were guilty of anything today it was promoting safety and family togetherness. this is what its all about! well we may have been guilty of not having a permit for so many people but they let that slide as they knew themselves that was no big deal. i believe by the conduct of everyone today it opened up a few eyes in a positive way. thanks to all that showed up and conducted themselves in a responsible manner.

jeff barnes

o4250 · January 22, 2005, 06:40:42 PM

Was it someone from the site that called

did the cops say the reason for the person calling?

jjamesbar · January 22, 2005, 06:53:23 PM

QuoteWas it someone from the site that called did the cops say the reason for the person calling?

i have no idea who the person is. i got some e-mail from some guy saying he was with the greenways division and he was tipped by a "concerned citizen". the guy said it was illegal to ride at rodman dam and we were giving our sport a black eye. he is very misinformed as we've been riding roman for several years with no problems. i tried to respond in a good way but its hard to be nice when someone is trying to bluff you. its only a matter of time before they have us riding in little circles on marked trails in ocala anyway. untill that time comes i plan on riding everywhere i can legally ride.

jeff

Qdawg76 · January 23, 2005, 05:21:14 AM

I agree with you Jeff, I am glad everything went smooth and I am glad the rangers and the Law saw that this is a good family sport. And for who ever tipped them off "Please leave the site if your gonna be that immature to try and spoil this sport for everyone" instead buy a quad and give the sport a try, who knows you might like it

dreth · January 23, 2005, 11:14:33 AM

IT WAS ME ! i called them cause i knew we would prove them wrong

just kidding,

but whoever you are, THANKS

big-daddy · January 23, 2005, 11:39:47 AM

is this togetherness, or what.

big-daddy · January 23, 2005, 11:45:52 AM

This is the Best Ranger in Ocala, Gary Campbell....Thank You for all your help from all the members of ATVFlorida.

Da_Mtg_Man · January 23, 2005, 01:01:16 PM

I first want to say thank you to everyone on this site. We all had a fabulous time this weekend. I enjoyed meeting eveyone of you and to the ones that I didn't get to shake hands with then I'll catch you on the next ride.
I got feedback from the authorites in Ocala that they were VERY impressed with how organized, respectful and well behaved that 275 people could be. My hats off to everyone from this site.We all showed that we're not a bunch of misfits.
A few of us met a ranger on Friday by the name of Marla Pence. Marla was the most pleasant ranger that I have ever met. She's known about our group ride for some time now and met us at our riding spot off of 314 to explain to us the rules and regulations. I will be in close contact with Marla on future group rides. We also had a brief conversation about organizing a clean up ride.
Thanks again to everyone for showing up and helping me to have one of the best weekends I've ever had.

jackinthebox23 · January 23, 2005, 01:06:18 PM

I second that Mike. It was real impressive to see such a large group behave so well. Equally impressive, it is great to see such a great family atmosphere out there. Had a great time!
thanks for the ride on friday also.

Tony

customrubicon · January 23, 2005, 01:20:25 PM

It was nice to see so many people show up and enjoy themselves. The law enforcement were extremely friendly and helpfull.

J.D. · January 23, 2005, 02:03:34 PM

I spoke with those same officers about 5:30 and they said they were very impressed , only a few unlucky souls caught on the road but overall [smiley=ThumbsUp.gif]

Thrasher · January 23, 2005, 02:47:49 PM

good job everyone!

jbbj220 · January 23, 2005, 03:01:45 PM

Great time [smiley=ThumbsUp.gif]great day with some really great people [smiley=ThumbsUp.gif] To the concerned citizen: Thanks for your help in getting the law there as it showed them how good ATV's can be. [smiley=ThumbsUp.gif]to all that were there great job.

Concerned citizen: It is obvious that you visit this site, so get a quad, get a life, wich is come join us, find out how much fun we have and you will have a different outlook on our sport. The old saying don't knock it until you have tryed it would probley work here.

Jim, [smiley=BigSmile.gif]

DBHam · January 23, 2005, 04:17:05 PM

Great job Mtg man, only next time some out of towner says he won't watch out for our kids, he's going down. I
m DBHam and was there along side of you when you put that clown in his place. I'm the guy that said to pick one and I'll take care of the other, I.m Yamahonda41,aka Dave's buddy. Your a great spokesman for our sport. Take care and see ya again, Dan.

Chuck_Norris · January 23, 2005, 04:25:26 PM

awsome display of unity, and abilty to police ourselves with respect and comon diginty. I enjoyed meeting those I did hope to meet others next time, Give me at least 6 weeks though, ouch I hurt time to go lay down

J.D. · January 23, 2005, 04:43:25 PM

Was it a whoop in a turn Chuck ?

Ida_Mann · January 24, 2005, 04:59:06 AM

hehehe, thanks to the "concerned citizen".

and thanks to Jeff for originally starting the thread that lead to this large bunch of people seeing each other at the same place ;-)

Id@

SkyHighT100 · January 24, 2005, 08:19:00 AM

THANK YOU CONCERNED CITIZEN!! You helped us out more then you could even imagine! Seriously you guys... this ride was amazing! I was totally impressed with how smoothly things went. I knew everyone on this site was responsible and mature enough to realize that this ride was more important then any of the others. At the same time, 200+ people all in one spot is a lot, and definately had me worried. You guys are awesome! I was shocked to see how organized everything turned out to be (the parking lot, lol). There were a couple people that were kind of pushing it in the pit, but I am unsure if they were part of AtvFlorida or not. I send out a big cyber hug (Those hurt less, lol) to Chuck_Norris, that was one heck of a spill... get well soon! As sorry as I am that he got hurt... think about it guys... 1 person hurt out of all that were there.. that is a miricle in itself. This ride was great! The Law enforcers were great as well. They even let us keep the jump up in the pit (As long as we didnt make it over yay high, lol).

I truely hope we can get together a cleanup ride by teaming up with the Ocala officials. This would be another HUGE step in the right direction.

I had a blast you guys!

-Ashley

Bush Hog · January 24, 2005, 10:29:05 AM

I've often thought a clean up ride would be a good way to get on the good side of the LEO's. I bet we can arrange it with them to have dumpsters in places that we can bring the bagged trash to. I've thought about trying to arrange a clean up ride over here by St Francis Trail.

Ida_Mann · January 24, 2005, 10:58:28 AM

I don't think that dumpsters would be needed at all.

since I'm a resident of the parts, I have access to the garbage bins on 88 by the 88 store and the ones in Ft. McCoy, and I have a rather large trailer that we can pile stuff on and drive over to the garbage bins.

Id@

Bush Hog · January 24, 2005, 11:32:06 AM

I can hook my utility trailer to the four wheeler. I was thinking everyone bring the trash out to one main road, then have it picked up by utility trailer and hauled to a dumpster.

Da_Mtg_Man · January 24, 2005, 11:34:06 AM

QuoteI can hook my utility trailer to the four wheeler. I was thinking everyone bring the trash out to one main road, then have it picked up by utility trailer and hauled to a dumpster.

Good idea. I can do the same with my little 4x8 on my daughters Recon.

Ida_Mann · January 24, 2005, 11:40:50 AM

QuoteGood idea. I can do the same with my little 4x8 on my daughters Recon.

both excellent.

with a sport quad, and a manual clutch, I can't really pick up the small stuff, but I'd be willing to find tires and stuff and drag it out.

Id@

jbbj220 · January 24, 2005, 12:02:07 PM

Quoteboth excellent.

with a sport quad, and a manual clutch, I can't really pick up the small stuff, but I'd be willing to find tires and stuff and drag it out.

Id@

What Ida_Mann said, me too.

to the concerned citizen

dreth

Chuck_Norris