By Fred Pittman

I suppose it all began with one of those "inspired" flashes of momentary lunacy for which I have become somewhat well known. It was probably while mowing the plush and well-watered lawn of the Full Moon Estate (I occasionally give the groundskeeper a weekend off and attend to the chore of mowing myself {attending to the chore personally; not actually mowing myself; you know what I mean!?}). Anyway, I seem to have those unexplainable inspirations quite often as I watch the rich green flora spew forth from the discharge chute of my well-tuned and immaculately detailed mowing machine. Bit I digress...

The basic purpose of today's literary offering is to enlighten those among us heretofore uninformed as to the details surrounding the decision to abandon plans for a second Mississippi Hi-Point Hare-Scramble for the 2003 Season. If you will allow me a few minutes of your time, I will attempt to convey the fundamental particulars relating to the unfortunate demise of our plans.

For well over ten years I have harbored a deep and abiding desire to put together a race in the general vicinity of my hometown. I believe that this latest failure brings the total number of failed attempts to four. For the record, this latest endeavor showed the most promise of any of the four undertakings (right up until the moment of spontaneous combustion). For one reason or another (or a few dozen more), there seems to be some unseen force that exists solely for the purpose of making sure that no off-road racing events of any kind under my "supervision" will ever come to pass in this neighborhood. On the brighter side, though, as witnessed in the past, typically I have always managed to find an alternate location at which to put on the event. The 1989 Beaver Dam Hare-Scramble originally was to have taken place about 2 miles from the very spot at which I presently sit. I suppose that, under different circumstances, it would have been possible to take this race elsewhere, but, alas, it was not to be.

The pre-race preparation was coming along nicely when it was discovered that a portion of the land which was to be used for the race-course is actually a parcel of "leased" property (owned by an agency of our state government) which, if used, would possibly jeopardize not only the future of the lease, but other property owned by the gentleman who had so graciously offered the use of the property before discovering the potential nightmarish possibility that could result from our using the parcel of state-owned land. I realize the preceding sentence is somewhat hard to follow, but it just seemed that the confusing structure fit nicely with the overall scheme of the way things have turned out.

As previously mentioned, the possibility of holding the proposed hare-scramble in another location was studied, but other considerations had to be weighed and, as it turns out, time constraints do not permit us to follow that plan.

At about the time that the decision was made to abandon the plans for a hare-scramble at the "Flying ‘F’ Off-Road Park ", I received news that my services would be needed in a much more important and far-ranging endeavor.

It seems that I have been selected to participate in a high-level covert operation in the ‘War On Terror’ and I will be "out of the office" (so to speak) during the time that we would have been involved in the hectic process of trail preparation for a September 28 race. While there probably would have been ample time to cut trail at a location a mere three miles from my home, there is no way that I could possibly devote the required amount of time to the project in a distant locale with the previously mentioned operation taking place. {Not that I would necessarily be the only individual involved, of course; I would not want to create the illusion that I would attempt to take credit for doing "everything" myself...}

I am entrusting all of you with this information and I would hope that you will all prove worthy of that trust. While I am still not certain why I was chosen for this mission, I must admit that I am proud to be in a position to be of service to my country in this time of need. Although I was but a mere child when he spoke them, I still remember well those famous words from President John Kennedy, "Ask not what your Country can do for you..."

For the life of me, though, I just can’t figure out why Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld would have thought of me when the Pentagon concocted a plan that calls for somebody to pose as Osama bin Ladin.

I hope to see you all when I get back from Orangatangastan...

"Rattlesnake Bay Trail Update..."

As many among us are aware, the Rattlesnake Bay OHV Trail has been closed since last April. In an effort to keep the ‘Riding Public’ informed, we offer the following information which is currently the latest word from the Forest Service (resulting from a meeting between Fred Pittman & District Ranger Judith Henry and a later phone conversation with Resources-Assistant Andy Hunter):

First and foremost, there are NO plans for the closure to be permanent; nor is there any plan for "relocating" the Riding Area.

The District Ranger (highest ranking official on the District) stated that there has been no announcement of a "target date" for reopening the trail because they do not want to set a scheduled date and (for some uncontrollable reason) not be able to meet the deadline, thus disappointing riders further.

The ‘good news’ is that, upon closer inspection after the closure went into effect, the damage to the ‘Designated Trail’ is not as severe as originally thought. The ‘bad news’ is that, over the years that the Designated Trail has been open, numerous "non-approved" trails have been "established" (mostly by uninformed 4-wheeler riders) in areas where, due to various reasons, no trail should have been put there. The most severe resource damage (soil erosion, endangered plant destruction and wetlands damage) is in areas where these non-approved trails exist. There are several miles of trail "outside" the Designated Trail System that have been established for the purpose of our club’s annual enduro and hare-scramble events that have been used at times when no riding was to have been taking place on these trails and there is some conspicuous erosion in several areas along these trails also which is cause for concern.

The Forest Service is currently working on a plan to secure funding to proceed with trail-rehab on both the Rattlesnake Bay and the Bethel OHV Trails.

Andy Hunter has been to Louisiana to discuss and observe the programs currently in place for managing National Forest Trails in the Kisatchie National Forest.

According to Andy Hunter, the ‘natural healing’ that is currently taking place as the Trail remains closed with no traffic is a positive effect of the waiting period we are going through as funding is sought for a more extensive rehab program.

While this is not the "Good News" that some of us would like to hear, I would hope that a certain degree of reassurance will come from knowing that our Trail has not been totally forgotten and ignored. I believe, after talking with the Ranger and Mr. Hunter, that we have conscientious people on our District and that we will see positive results from this experience.

I have offered volunteer labor for trail rehab when it gets underway and I would hope that there are many of you out there who will be interested in being a part of the project to get Rattlesnake Bay reopened.

E-mail us at FandBPittman@peoplepc.com if you would like to help; and check here for further developments as they take place.