Guys, please take the 4+ minutes to watch this report that aired on CBS 2 Chicago news last night. It's a report on titled "Deadly Culture Of Speed, Alcohol And Snowmobiling: Wisconsin Snowmobile Deaths On An Upswing". You can see and read about the report here: http://cbs2chicago.com/investigations/snow...n.2.645922.html

I know there will be many comments about this piece, but we, as snowmobilers, need to spread the word that NOT ALL people in the sport are this irrisponsbile. This accident has already received HUGE media attention and an influx of DNR patrols in the state. If we don't do something soon, we will regret it in the future. Please join a club and support any local lawmakers and make it noticed that snowmobilers are responsible. Also, it would be helpful to contact CBS Channel 2 news just like Snoseekr2 did. Just make your point known and don't point fingers. Just let them know you are responsible. I know my letter will be sent today.

Ok guys....I'm off my soapbox!

Nick

So they don't realize that these exact same guys that drink and ride a sled will drink and drive a car??? Duh. They think they are different than snowmobilers, but should realize these are the same drunks they share the highway with.

Snowmobilers are still the same people. Those same people still will drink even without a sled.

That wasnt a real flattering piece on snowmobiling. Once again its the media driving the point the wrong way just as they do on every subject. THEY GUY WAS DRUNK TWO TIMES PAST THE LIMIT!!!!! What part of that dont they understand.

Channel 7 in the WAUSAU area will broadcast that segment tonight as well. Our local paper had a few things to say too...

Drunken sledding report tonight on Channel 7 - Colleague of TV anchor killed in crash calls for stiffer laws
http://www.wausaudailyherald.com/apps/pbcs.../802050486/1981

Official: Snowmobile trails here are safer
http://www.wausaudailyherald.com/apps/pbcs.../802050516/1981


On a side note, I find it odd that the media does not keep a tally of motorcycle riders or automobile drivers who have perished.

a little responsibility goes along ways. unless you walk to the bar, you're going to be driving some sort of vechicle home when your all fucked up. someone tell me how your going to prevent that?

regardless, their beloved news anchor and his friend are guilty of it as well. they can point all the fingers they want, but they've still got 3 pointing back at them. nobodys being forced to go to the bars and drink. its a personal choice, and some pay the price.

http://www.wausaudailyherald.com/apps/pbcs.../802050516/1981

wow, thats crazy. ^

" Snowmobilers first drink is always free! "

And I cannot believe Wisconsin hasn't tied the snowmobile and drivers license together.... weird.

Great, another story generalizing us all as a bunch of irresponsible drunks. You know, its too bad that their anchor died, but driving 2 up with a guy that is shitfaced doesn't seem like the best idea to me. So, I would consider that to be his own fault. He was an adult and made his own decisions.

One part of that vid caught my eye.... They gave him a trail map that went to the bars, saloons and restaurants when he rented the sled. Its a trail map, not an invitation for drunk driving. And it goes to those PUBLIC places so people can warm up, eat and drink. I think thats pretty lame that he said it like the guy gave it to him just to go get drunk.

I like the way they highlight the Driver carrying his buddy's casket.

There always will be a few that take things to the extreme but please don't lump us all in that category. I think it would be nice if channel 2 would do a story on their own people. It seems that Illinois lost 3 snowmobiler's this past weekend. That's not a very good percentage when you figure how many sleds and miles are traveled on the trails in Wisconsin vs. Illinois.

I for one think they should tie the OWI of a snowmobile to your drivers license. I have never found it difficult to keep off the booze until I get home with the sled.

I agree with you on this.
Snowmobilers do not need anymore bad publicity...
The media never talks about the good snowmobilers do like donate money to charities and the work we put into the trail system to keep them going along.
Just my .02 cents worth

All it seems to me is the TV station is running this as some sort of grief striken form of retaliation towards the sport when it's not the sports fault that they lost there news anchor. It's his own damn drunken fault! Riding drunk two up on a single up sled?
Way to go channel 2 news! Thanks for catagorizing us all the same!

Typical!

Just remember, "it is everyone elses fault but their own" if you get drunk & stupid-er and get injured or killed while operating a motorized vehicle!

They really need to look at the choices their little golden-boy had made in the first place by deciding to drink & ride!

People make bad choices all the time. This time, it was a friend of channel 2. While I regret what happened, those of us who ride know that you don't put a 6'5 person on the back of a sled made for 1 person, you don't drive like an idiot, you definately have to slow down when you are lost, and you don't let the driver of 2 people have a BAC of over 2.2. This was a terrible incident, and many bad choices let to the outcome. Channel 2 news, I feel for your loss, but don't blame us. Never gonna watch them again

I love to frequent the establishments along the Wisconsin trails! I have done it for years. I may even have a drink or 2. But that is it. Then we head to the cabin, light a fire, and relax. Then we can let the hooch flow. I have seen more irresponsibility than ever before. I hate to stereotype, but I will. It seems like the younger generation is a huge portion of this. I am also seeing huge groups of sleds together. Most of them do not know how to use hand signals. So I think a large part of the problem is a newer less experienced group of riders. So is the answer to increase enforcements or let the dumb shits kill themselves?

My email to CBS

{"What a really poor and biased report on snowmobiling, CBS completely missed the reasons people love to snowmobile. Just because you lost Randy for making poor judgments does not give you the right to run such one sided story.

My wife and i just got back from the U.P. of Mi. from a Make A Wish ride for charity.
150 people and none of the crap that that you reported was going on. 280 trouble free miles of great trail riding in 2 days.

Really a shame the way you portrayed snowmobiling and riders. One more reason my family will no longer watch CBS...."}

trackstand

Trackstand that is a great email please post the address and maybe we can send a couple thousand like it

Nice!

Randy DID make a poor choice. He let a drunk drive. What was worse is that he hopped on. It is a tragedy and I am sorry for his families loss. BUT the media is always so biased. If I lived in that market I too would send an E-mail in. I would definitley not wathc that affiliate.

Please do...

tips@cbs2chicago.com


trackstand

Randy was even more drunk from what i hear, and he was driving drunk for a while before his sled broke down. but i don't think it makes much difference any more. hes dead and his lifelong friend has to live with it and spend some time in jail.

ITS A CHOICE THEY MADE AND DEATH IS ENOUGH. glad no one else was hurt.

trackstand

G2O,

Well we at least agree on this issue for sure.

Obviously when my wife and I saw this coming up we knew it was not going to be good. I had to laugh at the guy who was interviewed from that fateful trip. He was saying that nobody was drinking, maybe a couple, but nobody was visibly drunk. His buddy the driver had blood drawn almost 4 hours after the accident and it was .228, a second blood draw taken after that was .188. So this guy has akmost 4 hours to sober up and he still posted more than .2 on the BAC meter, and his friends said he did not appear drunk, yeah right.

Then of course they get into how the trail map goes to all the bars. What they failed to mention is that when you go into ANY establishment you are not required to drink alcohol, that is a choice you as an individual make.

The infortunate consequence that stem from the choice these two men made on that day will cause two families children to grow up without Fathers, and probably ever know the tremendous joy that snowmobiling can provide. That also goes to all of those people who saw that news piece too. They wanted to try snowmobiling, but now after seeing that irresponsible segment that was termed news, they won't.

Ride safe this weekend, Cruiserfest is in town.

Thanks for the support Nick. The wife and I were stirring after that piece last night, I felt the need to do something!

HCS'rs keep flooding that email that TRACKSTAND put up!

The crash happened on the sled Randy rented. The guy who was driving, sled wouldn't start so that's why they were riding double. So if Randy wasn't drunk why wasn't he driving? How come we haven't heard what his bac was? That fxxking whole news thing last night pissed me off. As they portray every snowmobiler to be a drunk. Fxxx CBS 2 news! Another email has been sent by me as well.

too drunk to figure out how to start a sled? here drive mine.

Please mind your manners when you send the message to CBS 2. If everyone goes off and sounds like a raving lunatic they will use that against us too. Be professional, get to the point, and be cool. I am sure they will get the message in a bigger way. If we just send in nasty messages they will just blow those off. Use the first one from the guy in the Illinois forum as a model, it was a good one.

Ride Safe,

I really don't think it's the younger guys comming into the sport, it's that the sleds have gotten way more powerful. It's a lot easier to lose control of a sled that'll lift the skis for 100 feet than it is on say a 76 Scorpion Brute! Back then you had all you could do to hang on at 50, with all of 3" suspension travel. Young people have always gone to bars and drink, as their toy to get there get faster, the deaths will rise right along with it.

Did all those gore filled crash movies shown to all of us in drivers-ed stop anyone from getting a drivers license? or even think twice about it?

I do not think that news segment will stop anyone from entering the sport, Maybe this is what it will take to get the DNR to grow some teeth (And some balls) to agressively attack drunken riding.

But then they will agressively attack anyone on a sled worse then they already do. and try to get an emergency order to get the speed limit lowered even more and 24/7!

This little incident should make cruiserfest interesting to say the least. look at the crap the DNR pulled last year by marking headlights on sleds outside of the whale and then stopping them while trying to exit that bay.
The special enforcement trailer is already in town, I saw it getting towed down HWY J on Sunday morning heading towards the DNR service center.

And my thoughts on a dram-shop law, all it does is try to remove personal responsibility from the person making the idiotic choice to drink & ride even more, the news made it look like it was the bartenders fault, the trail system's fault by not having bright red neon landing lights down the center of it, and the 'Snowmobiling Culture" as they put it!
Nobody forced those 2 idiots to get all shit-faced and try to operate a sled. they made that choice all by themselves and paid the ultimate price!

because what poeple do on a sled has nothing to do with a drivers license dumb idea

Operating while intoxicated is operating while intoxicated whether it be a snowmobile, motorcycle, car, pick-up, dumptruck, etc. You are operating a motor vehicle on a road/trail/path where other people are operating, therefore endangering THEIR lives too. Not just yours.

This is the attitude that perpetuates the problem in the first place.

Well at least the TV station was good enough to publish some of our comments to that baised article.Chalk won up for responsibe
sledders

for anyone that has not spent the time to read the mailed in comments, please do so! it is about a 50/50 mix blaming the "Culture" or sport itself, and others placing blame where it belongs, the choices those guys made by drinking & riding!

And next time up here Please go into "Slo's Pub" in arbor vitae and thank Sue for speaking up in such an intelligent manner for her reply

this one in particular stood out! Does anyone know this ass-clown??

"We have a vacation home in Eagle River (and lived there full time for 3 years) ... drinking is literally part of the culture. It isn't limited to snowmobiles, although that component is truly frightening. Review The Vilas County News Review court reports. I was constantly amazed at the DUIs...people who had 5,6,7 and were still driving and drinking. All the roads are two lanes. It's a very dangerous situation year-round. I have dozens of stories. Schools turn their backs, etc. Many examples of that. (Look into the drinking laws, I was told that in Wisconsin a parent can literally buy a child a drink if they choose to, I wonder if this is so.)
A bit of research will really show the clout of the bars as far as the connection to the snowmobile trails. When a bridge connecting St. Germain to Eagle River was possibly not going to be rebuilt because of the cost there was such a flap from the bars that, guess what, "funds were raised." It's a very boozy, macho environment. Don't even get me started on drinking and hunting...."
--Mary Babich
I wonder if that last name is originally spelled Ba-Bitch like it is pronounced

Part of the northwoods culture? Hmm, I grew up in the northwoods, Moved away for 20 years and ended up coming back, You never see me in any bars or liquor stores!

I've crossed paths a few times over the years with Sue (Slowinski) and her husband...Their good people and good ambassadors for the sport...Was surprised when they picked up roots in Germantown A few years ago and bought the bar in Arbor Vitae...Her and I got shitfaced together in a bar a few years ago in Iron Mt,Mi. AFTER THE SLEDS WERE PARKED.

im just wondering if the manufacturers are as considered as the all of us. if so why dont they start doing their part and chip in to help i think it would go a long way. .02

I heard threw the grape-vine that it was his first time snowmobiling????? When riding a snowmobile single the sled handles totaly different when you have a passenger on the back!! It says on the back of my sled no passengers!

Well the local channel just aired the clip about this and of course portrayed the sport to be a big drunk fest and failed to mention he chose to ride behind the driver. This being said the worst things for this sport are done by us and alcohol is heaviely involved in it to the point its to much. For those that have to sit in a bar getting all shit faced and then have to ride home they know the consiquences and if they have to pay them its their own fault.

It seems that all the things that the TV stations talk about snowmobiling these days is all negitive about our sport! Our culture is NOT snowmobiling to the local bar to get all drunk! Have I driven to a bar on a snowmobile? Yes I have. Did I drink alcohol, NO! I stopped to warm-up or I get something to eat. Next time I'm at a club meeting maybe I should talk about making a trail to the local walmart so I can go shopping someday. Trails link to (gas stations, hotels, snowmobile dealers, restaurants/bars and many other places). The only positive things that they talk about our sport is when the trails open for the season.

Sent my e-mail as well to those unbiased ass-clowns.

Here is what I wrote:

"I would like to take the time to let you know of my displeasure over your recent so called news story you ran about snowmobiling called "Deadly Culture Of Speed, Alcohol And Snowmobiling: Wisconsin Snowmobile Deaths On An Upswing".

Thank you for catagorizing us all as a bunch of drunken crazy fools who can't control our machines or our drinking!

Your so called news story was completely biased and one sided. All your reporters manged to do was go from bar to bar interviewing a selected few individuals who happened to be inebriated.

They could have easily done this story driving a car, truck, or motorcycle from bar to bar any were in the country and come up with the same exact story.

I am truely sorry to hear of the loss of Randy's life due to an accident while snowmobiling and do understand that you have the right to grieve over his loss as well as the right to free speech. But like many others I feel that you are attacking the sport of snowmobiling unfairly and with out bias.

In your so called news story I didn't see any interviews done out on the trails with responsible riders? How come?

In defense of the sport of snowmobiling there are far more responsible riders in the sport than there are irresponsible ones.

Unfortunate as it may have been the loss of Randy's life was due to a series of poor decisions made on his part and on the part his freind that are soley to blame for his death and not the sport of snowmobiling.

As a part of the responsible snowmobiling public I will speak for us all by saying we would like you to recant your story! At the very least run another story that is biased and fair!

Thank you for your time,
Jay"

Great email!

no it still has nothing to do with driving a car

Hey guys, I just wrote the station a nice long letter and I sugest you all do to. I for one am sick of hearing this shit year after year and getting more laws slapped on us. Wow big suprise theire buddy was hammered and him and his freind hit a tree. Im sorry one of them had to die but this shit happens. Boy I got an idea dont drink and ride and your chances of staying alive are better. Der gee Goerge howd ya figure that out.

X2

well said!

You better go after all the boaters as well.

Hopefully ATV's too.

Wisconsin is at 16 deaths so far this year. Minnesota and Michigan are at 7 each. Both states tie OWI to Drivers Licenses. It works, like it or not.

bullshit

Your the one that said the speed limit would save us from all the fatalities. Now you have another answer. Why do you want so many restrictions on our sport.

Here's what I emailed. I wrote it in about 2 minutes when I got time to do so here at work.



I just saw your report "Deadly Culture of speed, Alcohol and snowmobiling". I am truly disappointed in this extremely biased and blanketed report, that all snowmobilers are drunken speed demons looking to hurt/kill them selves or someone else. Most of us are nature lovers and family oriented. Feel free to visit anyone of the dozens of snowmobile chat forums and find out what really motivates the average snowmobiler. You will be surprised to find that we, as a whole, frown on drunk riding and careless riding. I deeply sorry for the loss of one of your crew members, but it is not an open invitation to belittle and trivialize a sport that is supported and loved by millions. As well a sport/recreation that on average, generates 100's of millions in revenue. It is reports like this that do nothing but put a black eye on the snowmobiling and is mostly inaccurate. We understand the risk involved with snowmobiling as well as the benefits. I think you fail miserably to understand the benefits.

Good e-mail. We to flood them with intelligent e-mails.

guys we can all say what we think and it's just not going to happen. i dont want this in effect (law) cause our local news channel said that the team that is trying to get these into some steps so doyle passess it is saying " we need to step up enforcement" how many times have any of u seen a dnr out at 2:30 in the morning? or after dark for that matter? Me thats a big Goose EGG. i havent seen any dnr out after dark and this year i got over 2,000 miles on locally and i would guess 1,500 was at night cause i like riding at night. its all personal preference just like what kind of sled u drive. if u want to drink and drive go ahead. i am so frustrad with the media they only put the people on the news that die or it causes alcohol on these accidents and now it got to some peoples heads and said lets fix this. the dnr here in central wisconsin dont enforce the 55 speed limit so why are they goin to enforce this alcohol law???? there to busy sleeping when we are out having fun geting "fu^ked UP". i personally dont drink and drive a sled never have never plan on it. but all im trying to say here is that the dnr here dont enforce the 55 speed limit cause they are "off duty" so if they pass this law its just more money from us snowmobilers one way or another and it won't be enforced. so why have something in place if they dont enforce it???????? JUST MY OPINION SORRY GUYS I HAD TO VENT i have been reading on different websites for over an hour about this crap and am a bit upset.

I have end of last season me and 4 others where road blocked leaving little st germain lake at about 2 am. what funny is when they interviewed 2 dnr on cbs one of the was the twig pig that cornered us. Obviously looking for drunk riders what the sad part about it was the reason we were stopped (as to their opnion) we rolled the stop sign. came arround the the second bend and blam there was 2 suv's blocking the road. we complied, but the cops were all up in our faces trying to see if we smelled like booze. which we didnt. One stop sign violation and we were on our way. But with this randy thing, this crap is going to get alot worse. People are going to get targeted for minor or opionated reasons, and all we can do is deal with it........................... thanks randy.

Oh heah his bac was .033 (randy that is) maybe hes the one who should have been in controll !

I have been riding for several years. The first time I ventured to the U.P. and Northern Wisconsin I had a great time and have been back several times. I just look at the history of snowmobiling. What do people think is going to happen when we are on the same trails for years and sleds are faster than ever and a small percentage of people are stupid.