STATE SENATOR ADAM KLINE LASHES OUT AT SNOWMOBILERS return to top - State Senator Adam Kline, (37th District, Seattle), lashed out at snowmobilers and all OHV users with an e-mail comment sent on February 27th. In responding to an e-mail asking why he had signed on to SB 5544, a very restrictive OHV noise bill, the Senator replied:
"Dear Mr. (Name removed),
I signed on because I have been annoyed, endangered, and angered one too many times by people riding motorized dirt-bikes and other off-road vehicles that have no damn business anywhere. To me, this bill is narrow--it doesn't include those "personal watercraft," seemingly jet-powered little missiles whose only apparent purpose is to risk death and dismemberment for boaters and swimmers, for the amusement of spoiled drunk teenagers.
Yes, I am sure there is the occasional responsible person who rides one of these machines on land or water. And yes, like every human being I have been pleasantly surprized to find my stereotypes broken. But why, why, why, do folks insist on motorized "sports"? Those two words are an oxymoron. There is nothing sporting--athletic, physically demanding--about riding any machine anywhere. And it's a damned annoyance to folks who see the outdoors as a place to go for quiet and solitude and self-exploration. I would be happy to ban the use of the internal combustion engine off-road, by anyone without a handicapped sticker, subject to a stiff fine. Maybe we could call this an anti-obesity measure.
Please circulate this to all motorized sports enthusiasts, so they can remember never to vote for me.
Adam Kline"
Senator Kline later told Seattle Times reporter Elliott Wilson that snowmobilers have ruined ski trips for him and his daughter, they make noise and pollute.
The Senator has since acknowledged he sent the e-mail while "angry", but went on to say "...there is no statement of fact I want to take back. Anger aside, it's true."
You can reach Senator Kline via his website or e-mail kline_ad@leg.wa.gov.
