[posted and mailed]

For all offroad friends, in particular Minnesotans, time for you to stand up
for your rights.
Speak up now, or be silent on this topic forever.

And while it might seem to affect only Minnesota, please realize that this
could set a nasty precedent for other US-states.

Complete background story, first posted 20 march 2004, been running on
several (Land Cruiser related) mailinglists since:

http://www.a1.nl/phomepag/markerink/snorkel-ban_Minnesota_SF2793.txt

Below first the final plea, from Alex Woodmansee, the lady who has spend tons
of hours fighting this bill the polite way, to contact the senator who
created this lunacrous proposition:
(note that the last reactions from his office imply that the senator has NO
interest in changing the current wording at all (despite what he told before,
the bastard!), so the polite game has ended; not only contact his office by
all possible means, but Minnesotans should their own Minnesota senator, to
oppose this bill as strongly as possible)

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From: "woodmansee" <woodmansee@ll.net>
Subject: [DTLC] snorkel ban help
Date: Fri, 2 Apr 2004 08:19:12 -0600

all right, i am starting to get scared now, i am begging everyone, i
don't care where you are, to e-mail Senator Frederickson

sen.dennis.frederickson@senate.mn

or call and leave a voice mail (651) 296-8138

and ask that he do a line item delete on his snorkel ban language in SF
2793

thanks
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Last & most important message, falsifying the idea that it would affect only
non-road-legal ATV's:

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From: "woodmansee" <woodmansee@ll.net>
Subject: Re: (Fwd) Re: [80_usa] (Fwd) snorkel ban help / Minnesota
Date: Sat, 3 Apr 2004 11:47:32 -0600

okay, here's the whole deal

http://www.senate.leg.state.mn.us

senate file 2793 chief author frederickson in subdivision 1 section c
reads

"A person may not operate an off-highway vehicle off-road on public land
or public waters with an air intake pipe that is more than six inches
above the manufacturer's original air-intake pipe"

in MN an off highway vehicle is defined as an ATV (all terrain vehicle
i.e. a three or four wheeler like a Honda Foreman, etc.), an OHM
(off-highway motorcycle), and an ORV (off-road vehicle) which is what a
land cruiser would fall under.

now, the definition of an ORV is a vehicle licensed under MN statute blah
blah blah (which means a vehicle that is highway licensed) that is then
taken off road.  so, if there were a toyota corolla that wanted to go on a
"trail" (NOT a forest road) in a state forest say to go berry picking
(yes, in MN this is a reality), that corolla then becomes an ORV.

highway licensed vehicles are NOT exempt from this snorkel ban.

the proposed ban makes it illegal to operate an ATV, OHM, or ORV with a
snorkel while off road on state lands, not just state forests, but any
state lands.  there are exemptions for those doing utility, logging, or
farm work and such.

so, i can keep my snorkels on my trucks and be fine as long as i am never
off road on any state lands with them.  otherwise, to be in compliance
while off road on state lands, i would have to remove my safari snorkel
from my truck.  ya, right, like i can do that.

my three diesel cruisers are daily drivers for me.  i put snorkels on for
all the well known on road reasons.  and keep in mind water and wetland
crossings are already illegal here!  but my trucks are also my trail rigs
and do see trail time anywhere from 5% to 15% of the time.  this law would
force me to forgo a furture or undo a current modification that is really
designed and used for on road purposes only on trucks are on road the
majority of the time.  most of the trucks in MN that have snorkels are
also mostly road denizens (land rovers).  the only trucks that are truly
off road only trailer queens are some of the suzukis with the RPMs club.
so this law is really the biggest punishment to people who have highway
licensed vehicles with snorkels on them for the obvious smart on road
reasons who wish to take those particular trucks off road from time to
time on MN state lands.
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And NO, this is NOT a late April Fool's joke.