Has anyone read the report in the Newport Vt Paper of the Farmer posting a bunch of land and making it off limits to VAST and rec use. He was mad at the City.

hadn't heard anything about this

I'm going to move this into VT forum so it doesn't get lost

Rob,
I was in Derby this weekend and read the article. From what I understand the City of Newport is trying to tell this farmer what to do with some older buildings on his property and he is P###ed. If I remember right he has approximately 1400 acres of land that he has shut down and according to what he is saying there are miles and miles of VAST trails that go thru it. He owns the Mead Farm. I hope the city backs off and he lets us back on. There is going to be a hearing in Sept might be a good idea to show support for the farmers.

It's newport town,not newport city.He pissed and has a right to be.Vast should get involved ASAP and try to mediate this situation.Lots of trails will be lost if nothing is done.

That's a bummer, I love riding that area

paper i saw said no tractors on town roads and no cutting corn after dark, was in newport paper

If all the people that were whining about the farmer using tractors on roads and cutting corn after dark had to make a living farming,they might have a better idea of what a farmer has to do to keep his farm and provide people with milk,beef etc..... Don't live in farm country if you are used to living in the city! OK thats my 2 cents.

Anyone know what club his land is in? Anyone know the farmers name?

I'm sure the club knows about whats going on and have to know the farmer, cause all land owners sign a release waiver. I'll bet ya he's pissed cause he got his tax bill and saw the 33% increase. I've heard of people bitchen about hayen & cutting corn at night, but tractors on roads thats freaken bul sht. If any farm area starts that crap you might as well sell the farm, you can't get to your fields without roads.

I'll be on the question path around town and find out exactly whats going on and what trail it effects.

ya i heard about that... i was made aware because i am a director for Derby Drift Dusters, but the good part is that it is not our section of trail so there is not much that we can do... its all in Country Riders Hands now...

Anyone who does not want to see tractors on the roads or cries about the noise agriculture creates should be careful what they wish for. That farm will be sold and there will be either a huge developement or industrial park with a ton of traffic and noise. They are gonna drive out the farmer and the rural area they moved to Vermont for in the first place is gonna be gone. :banghead:

hey degre where are you located??? Anywhere near derby?

Any one know when the hearing is going to be, or any update on this?

This is the sos(same "ol story). the farm was there long before the town existed. If people don't like tractors and cow sh-t, they should move back to the city where they probably came from in the first place! i come from the era where farmers outnumbered all other land owners. i'm sorry this happened, but what recourse does the farmer have? it gets a lot of peoples attention! "make hay while the sunshines" and if there's not enough sunlight in the day, work after dark!!! :beerchug:

Oh boy. Here's a story thats only gonna be repeated almost everywhere in VT in the following decade. Let's see, New York, New Jersey, Connecticuit so called blue bloods buy up VT. land at a rapid pace, and put up massive trophy houses. You know the ones I'm talking about. Then of course, that drives up property values, which of course drives up taxes. The poor farmer, already squeezed by skimpy milk checks, high fuel costs, high fertilizer costs, now gets his land assessed at this inflated rate, and faints when he sees the tax bill. Probably has to get a job in town to make ends meet, and can't afford the hired help anymore, so he has to chop corn and bale hay at night. To get to the field
he of course drives over the road. The same roads he drove his tractor on for years. Probably the same road his great granfather helped build for god's sakes. Now, Muffy(probably staying at her trophy house to gawk at the pretty leaves) is totally inconvienced by this slow moving tractor driven by this dreadful unwashed farmer, so she calls the local official who of course is intimidated by her apparent wealth and incessant complaining, so they go to the poor farmer and say, hey, you can't do that in this busy metropolis of Newport. Farmer is now fed up, sees that a lot of snowmobilers are out of towners anymore, so he gets a hair across his ass, informs VAST the land is shut down, no more snowmobilers. Of course the "new" residents are delighted, cause most of them don't like snomobiles anyway(just look at how many buy up the land and then close it down). This story has no happy ending, because after a while the farmer quits farming, sells his land to a big greedy land developer(wrecker), more McMansions go up, taxes go up because more infrastructure is needed. And the sad tale goes on....
There will be no happy ending to this. I believe snowmobiling as we know it now, will be gone in ten years.

Well it looks like if the town doesn't back off from making him clean up an old farm that burn't then he's not allowing any type of use of his land. Thats 4 wheelers too. I don't blame him one bit. He bought it burn't to use the land, not the burn't building. The farmers I talked to would do the samething.

My opinion is if the town wants it cleaned up, let them pay for it. Only if the owner agrees.

Any word from Country Riders?

hey dgree, sorry i didnt make it up on saturday, will catch up to you sometime...

Hey! here's another solution, maybe all the people that want the old farm cleaned up could amass a barn "raising"(as in tear it down and dispose of it). if they worked with the farmer, maybe everyone could come out on the positive side! Also, if they look at the time of year, the guy doesn't have a spare moment to clean up the mess. :cn:

This SUCKS!...............if anyone hears more on this let us know............

Hi yo momma how are ya? Gonna sled this year?

So I just emailed county riders and vast, heres what it has to say

Hello, my name is Don ???? and an avid snowmobiler from Orleans County, actually Holland, VT.

The words out that the land owner of Mead Farm (1,500 acres) has closed his land off to vast and any other use. This is due to the town wanting or demanding he clean up an old burnt barn? I'm not exactly sure of the details. But thought he bought that farm for land use only, the burnt structure was existing. Like I say I'm not sure of the land owners opinion or the town. But is there some type of compromise hear.

Other land owners / farmers are talken about taken his side and closing there land off to vast, which would be a disaster. Can we nip this in the butt before it gets out of hand.

Can we "the volunteers" help the land owner and come up with a compromise? This is making National News, which is not good for the sport.

Please keep me posted on this issue.

Thank you,
Don Green
dgreen@-------
Think Snow Think Snowmobiling
Wrench & Ride
2,895 miles last season

Heres VAST reply????


Don,
Thank you for your concern and suggestions regarding the issue. I know that Brian Cook and the local club have been working with both the landowner and town officials to hopefully resolve the problem. Unfortunately, once again we (VAST) are held as hostage between two conflicting sides and/or opinions. This also happened not too long ago with POST if you'll recall. Volunteering to help clean up the burnt building would seem like a feasible solution; however, the landowner is attempting to make a stand/point to the town officials so I'm afraid that would not help from what I've heard. I would suggest that you give Brian Cook a call -------------- to further discuss the details as I only know the outline.
Thanks again for your concern and enthusiam towards the sport.
Think snow.
Ann

Well all I know is farmers / people can be stubburn. Its like a snowflake, theres no 2 alike.

I believe I have spent my last snowmobile dollar in Newport. Normally that is a gas/food stop for us. I guess we can now do both in another town. Does anyone know who/where in Newport I, and others of like mind, migth e-mail my postion?

Doin great! How ya been?! Didn't sell the sled so I'll be ridin and marking the trails around Walden! :div20:

:augen41: POLITICS aSTEP BACKWARDS,It's hard to say we own our land when Big Brother taxes us and controls what we then do with our land.We have the same problems in our state, but the rate is much higher.Know your polititions before you vote for them.

So I've been working on this a little bit and have heard back from the trail coridinator of the Country Trail Riders. I was a little tough on him as you'll see. Heres what he has to say. The out come is they are working on it.

Hello Don,
yes, i am the trail coordinator and we are aware of this and on the surface there may not appear to be much going on but this is high on the priority list, very high. i do not know the gentleman but many board members do. they are acutely aware of this. if asked i am willing to assist in any way as it appears you are. i was not aware of the national news. is there a website or something i could look at? i also know many fellow farmers and extended family members watching what goes on, as are the snowmobilers. you will probably know the outcome about the time i do. i will save you email and keep you in mind if needed.
talk later,
jeff ballou
trail coordinator
country riders
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My response

Hi Jeff, nice to meet you.
Here's the site, The post is under U.S. Snomobile, forums. Look under VT.
http://www.hardcoresledder.com/index.php
Please notice how many views this post has.

I'm not on the board of any clubs so not sure of the politics.

Why are you waiting til your asked for help.
Who is the person thats goes to you for your assitance? or to ask for your help?

You can consider my email asking for your help.

I don't know the land owner myself but was going to visit the owner myself and show him the web site. Just so he can see our concern.
I'll hold off... but ready and willing.

Thank you
Don Green
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Don,
the club had a board meeting, assigned emissaries, ... we'll see in time
talk later, jeff.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks Jeff, sounds like a plan. Good luck to them
I talked with some Holland farmers this past weekend and we discussed the Meads. I guess they can be pretty tough in there ways. I think all farmers are tough anyway, its a hard buisness.

Thanks for the update and the best of luck.
Don

Hey gaderx, I'll catch up with ya some time, deffintly plan a ride for this year.

Hey Yo momma, does that mean you'll make the HCS ride this year? Maybe we should ride toward your area, instead of the NEK? Just a thought.

Nah...........the trails are better up there...............I hope to be there this year for the ride! :banana:

This trail issue was resolved and the trails will be open. :banana:

There you go!...............That's a great idea. would be a great gesture. This guy must be a republican, he offers a solution instead of whining. I don't even ride in Vt but I'd chip in a couple days for the cause.

I'm sure if you googled the town of Newport, you could find an address to try. Start there they will tell you if you're talkin to the right peeps.

Town Clerk: Denise Daigle, 802-334-6442, PO Box 85 Newport Center, VT 05857
Sound like a nice girl :banana:

How was it resolved?

If this is the farmer I think it is,he deserves a tremendous amount of respect. This guy has allowed us to pass through his land for YEARS... What can we we do to help him..
Is this guy a french canadien decent? If so.. this farmer is the the most fantastic land-owner I have encountered . Please Respond.
I have a tale to tell

Im not sure but I talked to the club president and he told me that things were all set. I maintain a section of trail that leads up to a part of the closure. The signs and stakes were up on the part near me also. The season is coming soon but there is still alot of blowdowns in the trail from the October storm.

Cat 600 I cannot agree with you more man. Todays farming is an uphill battle.