Hutchinson Leader - Outdoors - Comments

Hey terri, what about the

jamiemarxa — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 11:55:32 -0600

Hey terri, what about the over-size loads that cannot make it thru the round a bouts anymore? Big waste of diesel and manpower to be routed around just because they were built to small, i also never said there were any major accidents or anything, I just said they needed to be fixed, How many times have people had to slam on their brakes just to avoid a accident because someone coming into the round a bouts never bothered to yield to traffic already in the round a bout? What about the winter times when they have to go round and round with sanders just to make sure they are perfect to prevent accidents from ice on them? It seems to be a waste of man and materials when a stop light would have done the job so much better and cheaper for that matter.
I agree with you on the 7/15 interection and the bluff/7 crossing, they make signs that have flashing yellow litghs that warn of lights changing, they could do longer yellows, Who knows what else they could do. But they are both deadly intersections, that is for sure. Maybe they should try traffic cameras that send out tickets at those intersections, they are well known to stop people from running the yellow and red lights.

Minnesota, along with many

star-ann — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 19:48:33 -0600

Minnesota, along with many other states, is having financial problems. Yet, there will be bonding money designated for trails? Could this "money for trails" be redirected so it can be used for more practical purposes? Spending the money just because "it's there" isn't going to help balance the state's budget. I believe this is how states got into financial problems. "Special projects", such as the Luce Line Trail, should be put on the back-burner until our economy improves.

I agree with the concern of

anneneedsmorecowbell — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 18:29:23 -0600

I agree with the concern of moving trees on the trail. The trail is quite nice as it is, a parallel trail would be problematic in a lot of spots. I think if it is not a practical option, then the trail should remain as it is so that everyone can use it. I am not sure how many stables are along or in close proximity of the trail, but there are several from my understanding. I have talked to a lot of horse people that use the trail often, and even selected their property because of the close proximity. A lot of people would be unable to use a paved trail. As is, only rollerbladers are unable to use the trail, as someone said previously. Paving it and not having a parallel trail would close it off to too many other users.

My concern is that adding a

itsjustme — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:51:16 -0600

My concern is that adding a second parallel trail will require removing a lot of trees. The stretch between Hutchinson and Winsted is surrounded by trees on both sides creating an canopy effect. It would be a shame to see this taken away.

Are there many stables on

Terry Davis — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:53:03 -0600

Are there many stables on the section of trail from Winsted west to Cedar Mills targeted for the paving, or are most of them east of Winsted in the Watertown area that would not be paved?

I can think of a couple of residents near the trail west of Hutchinson that have horses, but I don't think they are commercial stables like the ones east of Watertown.

(Terry Davis is a Hutchinson Leader staff writer. E-mail him at davis@hutchinsonleader.com.)

My worry is where the

anneneedsmorecowbell — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:22:08 -0600

My worry is where the parallel trail will go. There is a lot of low land near Silver Lake. I used to support the paving, but at the meetings I went to it sounded to me that the parallel trail would not be made right away, and in some places would not be possible to make. In that case, I would hate to see the trail paved and the number of people able to use it would decrease. Several stables are built along the Luce Line, and the trail would become inaccessible to them, affecting their business. I would like to see more details about the parallel trail and when it will be built before I would support paving the trail. I'm all for sharing the trail and making it accessible to as many enthusiasts as possible, but not at the cost of making it inaccessible to many of us who have used it for years.

Part of the paving plan is

Raymond Norton — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:30:30 -0600

Part of the paving plan is to run a parallel unpaved trail.

http://www.hutchinsonleader.com/news/opinion/editorial-luce-line-upgrade...

Is paving the luce line

fishman20 — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:13:19 -0600

Is paving the luce line going to "stimulate the economy?" I bet people from Silver Lake and Cedar Mills will be coming in droves to Hutchinson. There are a lot of businesses along the trail which depend on snowmobilers and if the trail is paved, many will not use it. It is already paved in town which I have no problem with, but leave the trail alone outside of town

What's to fix on the

Terry Davis — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 08:45:00 -0600

What's to fix on the roundabouts? I don't have exact numbers for the one on Highway 15 in Hutchinson, but anecdotally (and since I usually get the police reports on all crashes within city limits) I don't recall any major injury accidents in the past 12-18 months it has been in place.

While at the same time, we continue to have serious, and potentially serious, crashes at signaled intersections such as Highway 7/15, Highway 7/Bluff (there have been crashes at both this year in which a car was flipped), Highway 15/South Grade, several at Highway 15/Edmonton, and just Monday at Highway 15 and South Grade. Most have been dangerous T-bone-type crashes in which someone has run a red light or failed to yield while making left turns.

A recent one at Highway 15 and Edmonton could have been deadly had the elderly couple, who allegedly turned left on a red arrow, not been wearing their seatbelts and driving a new vehicle with a full complement of front and side airbags. They essentially walked away from it.

So what is the price of saving a life?

(Terry Davis is a Hutchinson Leader staff writer. E-mail him at davis@hutchinsonleader.com.)

Imagine that, PORK projects

jamiemarxa — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:18:14 -0600

Imagine that, PORK projects at a time when there is no extra money to be had. Maybe they should try to take that money and fix the "dam" they just had to have in hutchinson or maybe they should try and fix those round a bouts they thought would be so good. There is so much more they could do with the money BUT that will never happen, squeaky wheel gets the grease.

Wow, $2.5 million to pave a

fishman20 — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:56:59 -0600

Wow, $2.5 million to pave a trail that does not need any attention. Isn't there something better to spend $2.5 million on? The only people who can not currently use the trail are rollerbladers. Bicyclists, horse back riders, snowmobilers, and walkers can already use this trail as is. I do not see how this could pass.

There should be a MANDATORY

tms — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 09:19:28 -0500

There should be a MANDATORY helmet law for ALL motorcyclists!!! The 16 deaths could probably have been prevented if they had been wearing helmets. That's just the few that hit deer, there are more that die every day from other traffic accidents. We have a mandatory seat belt law, why not a mandatory helmet law? It's about time our law-makers woke up and passed one. Or, maybe they are thinking..."Hey, cyclists make great organ donors"!!!

I personaly think it is a

jrmikey31 — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 12:40:47 -0500

I personaly think it is a waste of money to pave the trail outside of town, and I ride bike. There are not enuf people outside of town to justify the money spent to pave the trail. People don't even use the trails we have in town, they still prefer to ride in the street. Why don't we spend some money for other trails like ATV trails that are not in the ditch. The old Dakota rail bed would be nice. I think more people would use the trails if that were the case. Instead we have to pay trail fees to ride in a public ditch. Look at Wisconson and see how ATV's generate money for towns and businesses in the summer. We have 2 local dealers that would gain from that type of exposure, Fun Sports Hutch and Yahmaha on Hwy. 7. Not to mention local resturants and campgrounds. Sure people think ATV's destroy the enviroment, but hey lets build some more housing developments on another wetland. Lets cut down some more 75 year old trees to widen the road. Why don't we build a new dam so fish can swim up stream....oops we have that already.

Another well thought out

snowman — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 09:02:33 -0500

Another well thought out plan by Mayor Cook and the City of Hutchinson on how to spend more people's money on a project that does NOT need to be done.

The trail does NOT need to be tarred.

Nice article. Really

RobertW — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 13:43:35 -0500

Nice article. Really informative.

Comments on BT:

BT is used by organic farmers, but if you do extensive research you will find that it contains a bacteria and a number of organic farmers have noticed symptoms after prolonged use that are impossible to 100% prove related to BT, but it seems like it. BT is a bacteria found in the soil, but when handled, be extra careful and follow all instructions for use.

BT is also used as an aerial spray in the name Foray8B, I believe manufactured by Dow Chemical Co. Be particularly careful of this aerial spray. Bacteria found in the soil that humans have evolved with would not under natural conditions be sprayed into the air that people breathe. Also, the commercial BT product, Foray8B adds a dozen or more additional chemicals that are called proprietary. That is they are kept secret by the Chemical Manufacturer.

This is what follows:
The Chemical Manufacturer does their own tests on rats or mice, etc on the active BT ingredient. The tests are under limited conditions and only test limited acute (immediate) affects. Even though abnormalities may show in the test subjects, so long as within some range, the product is identified as safe and warnings are printed on the label. The proprietary ingredients (one dozen or more additional chemicals) are NOT tested nor revealed; yet they too are aerially sprayed along with the active BT ingredient. Also NO tests at all are done for chronic (long-term) exposure of the BT or the secret ingredients. No tests are done for cancer, tumors or any other diseases of this nature.

State agencies, county agriculture commissioners, health departments, media do NOT do their own tests. Yet, we find that all of these organizations report "Safe" with confidence. And almost invariably if ever challenged, they demand scientific tests that prove it is NOT safe. And the manufacturer is NOT required to provide a sample of the entire chemical product (including the proprietary secret ingredients) that is sprayed on people from airplanes.

Then county and state agencies criticize anyone who questions the safety of the aerial spray products and they reference the information that has come forward from the manufacturer of the product as though a trusted independent laboratory gave their approval. Also remember that the manufacturer never revealed or tested most of the ingredients that are in it.

The illnesses and devastation of a community in New Zealand (search "People's Inquiry New Zealand") where the community and independent scientists came together to demonstrate that ForayBT had made so many people ill is ignored. Some number of people, in almost every BT aerial spray, have been affected badly. But because the official word is safe and because these sick people and sick children do not have professional publicists and because it is difficult to tell your story when you are sick, very few people find out about what has happened to them. Though inaccurate, the agencies continue to repeat "No illness from BT Reported." Those injured who do make an effort to report are treated as hysterical, not taken seriously and then they withdraw. This pattern repeats itself over and over again with BT aerial sprays.

This same pattern of repeating information that was inaccurate and incomplete initially was found with DDT, Malathion, Lead, Mercury and Cigarettes. It is hard to believe today, but they were all represented as "Perfectly safe," just as BT is today by the manufacturer, government agencies and the media.

Here is one example of state agencies telling people that exposure to an aerial spray is safe and a press release that contradicts it. Take a look and decide for yourself:

http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_17393.cfm