Pine Mountain Trail State Park Legislat ion in KY

“Hello,

My name is Tim and I have been volunteering time to the Pine Mountain Trail Conference. The Pine Mountain Trail is 28 miles long currently, running from the Breaks Interstate Park to Pound Gap on the KY - VA Border. When Completed the trail will run 120 miles from the Breaks to Cumberland Gap.

The KY state legislature is considering two bills that would make the trail and surrounding land a state park 120 miles long and 1000 ft wide.

Of course not everyone is for it. Some members of the Coal and Timber interests in the area are concerned and have voiced their opisition to the plan.

If you support a state park with a new long trail in Kentucky, please sign the petition at the web address below. Even if you are from out of the state, let our legislators know that if there was a state park like that in kentucky, you would hike it, and spend money in the area.

Thanks,

Tim

The link for the petition is:

http://www.petitiononline.com/pmtc01/petition.html”

“For all those who participated in the long threads on politics, government and "what is wrong with this country", this is the best I have seen yet where you can go and voice your opinion where it might do some good. Talk is cheap. Now is the time to take action if you have any interest in this project. I am signing the petition.”

“Thanks Chili! I was kinda hoping for a little more excitement out of others being that it is an entirely new opportunity to create a long trail......”

“I checked the signatures on the petition. I know at least one other from this board signed the petition. Thanks to that person and you know who you are.

For all the others,,,,,I certainly hope that we will get past all of the whining and b!tching of "how the conservatives are ruining the county.....or how the liberals are @ssholes,,,or how the democrats spend too much money,,,,or how the republicans dont listen".

Someone comes in here, politely requests support on an issue that at least should be near and dear to everyone on this board and get two or three people to even respond??? WTF???

How will anyone ever have an impact on our system of government or upon the things we expect from government if we cannot, or will not stand up and voice our opinion in a place where it might do some difference.

It gripes me to no end to listen to people trash our judicial system, our legislative system and/or our executive system when they refuse to get involved. When is the last time anyone here wrote their congressman, or state senator, or alderman with ideas as to how we can make government better? It is easy to take the approach that "Nobody listens to the little people"......but it is a certainty that no one will hear the mute people.

It is not the idea of the State Park in Kentucky that prompts me to make this post. It is the concept that I have walked through some livid discussions on social welfare, military spending, and other social-economic concerns on this board where everyone put in their two cents and some ponied up a buck or more. Now, when you have an opportunity to act instead of whimper, where is everybody?

If you think the park is a bad idea, then so be it. If you think it is a good idea, then why not take time to express your support?”

“I posted.. somewhere.. and signed the link.. come on guys.. silence is evidence of either your apathy or your rejection of this..

Do something.. sign.. or at least speak out why you are not.”

“i know number 15. i know number 15.
and number 5.
i am number 17.”

“I'm in, tell your friends.
Everybody petition to make the trail LONGER!”

“and tim brothers is a regular here pretty much.. this ain't no scam.”

“I did!!!!!

:)”

“I am 21.”

“I'm in!”

“all right, which one of you is the mayor of atlanta?”

“hmmmm, that link just takes me to a search page...I tried searching on that site but nothing came up.
anyne got a direct link to the petition”

“the page.
click on the icon to sign.”

“Thanks for the link, I am # 32 on the list”

“I just got my Tenn. Trails newsletter for March and there is a article on this trail. The Pine Mountain Trail will eventually connect with the 280 mile Cumberland Trail in Tenn. This would make a trail of 400 miles which could provide an alternative experience to the AT.
There is a web site for The Pine Mt. Trail Conference
http://www.pinemountaintrailconference.org/”

“We have 37 people so far.

C'MON SIGN IT, get a friend to sign it!!”

“38 need so many more!”

“First of all THANK YOU to everyone who has signed so far. This petition will be delivered to our state legislators before they vote on the bills. The more who sign, the more powerful it will be. I'm sure that there are oppisition groups who will be doing the same, though I don't know that for a fact.

I lurk here more than I post unless I'm asking for information about destinations where I am unfamiliar. I really got hooked up in November when I hiked in the Grand Canyon. Generally I try to avoid the hot button items on the site, 'cause you folks aren't afraid to take the gloves off (so I usually just sit on the sidelines and watch)! This time I figured if I said something that could be hotly contested and got verbally blasted it would be worth it.

I also have never done anything like this before. I have never really been compelled to DO anything political other than discuss and vote. This whole thing just struck me as a once in a lifetime chance to improve the place where I live. Not only by saving a beautiful area, with arches, cool views, civil war history, abandoned moonshine operations, and the like but it also just might have a beneficial impact on the local economy if sometime in the future, things take off and the long trail becomes place where hikers and vacationers frequent.

BTW - pinemountrailconference.org cannot be accessed by the conference anymore. It is owned by someone privately and they dissappeared. There is more information at www.pinemountaintrail.com (The folks in Georgia have the .org extension)

Thanks to everyone who has signed so far!


Finally, if anyone out there complains about the crowds in Red River Gorge, or Mt. Rogers, and is willing to drive 2 more hours further east (or west of Mt Rogers), there is a really cool 28 mile section of trail I can tell you about......Email me if you want pictures.

Tim”

“#42”

“I see many names from this site on the list of signatures but 44 is not enough. We need more! This isn't over yet, continue to sign on. And those of us from Kentucky can do more. Copy and paste the petition into an email or letter, change it so that it reads I or my instead of we or our, sign it, and send it to our state representatives. Find your state reps here. ”

“I want to see some more TT'ers names on this petition.”

“MORE PEOPLE NEED TO SIGN THIS!!!!!!!!!!!

NOW....:O”

“I just don't understand why people are not signing this????”

“Back to the top.

More signatures please.”

“I would be really interested in knowing if the TT "political activists" have signed this. All the p!ssing and moaning over every form of government and when it comes time to step to the plate, some people run like rats when the lights come on.”

“In 3 days the Savage Gulf pics that I posted have gotten 335 hits, but this petition has only gotten 57 signatures? WTF!!!? I want to see each person who looked at those pictures signing on with this petition. If you don't support the trails, they won't be there for you to hike. It's that simple.”

“Thanks everyone!

Keep stokin' the fire!

Tim”

“ here's then link again. Now get to it and sign!”

“ Here are some pictures of the area that will fall under the protection of the park.”

“timbros,

thanks for your passion, i too am active in a variety of trail organizations here in PA. In the summer of 98 i lived in KY and thought it was a beautiful state. I liked the big south fork, cumberland gap, and the sheltowee trace trail, a favorite place of mine is van hook falls. i'll make sure to sign, good luck.”

“Thanks for bringing this to my attention.

Political whiners do sux!!

Now serving #60.....”

“Come on PEOPLE YOU BETTER SIGN IT OR I AM GOING TO START KICKING SOME AS#!!!!!!!

Around here...8)”

“Signed. Hadn't read this thread before now.”

“Just signed. A suggestion.. Post this link in a thread with a subject line that would grab everybody's attention?

Like many people here, I don't open every thread, and intitially the subject line didn't interest me. Jmitch's "PA HIKERS UNITE!!" subject line sure caught my attention to it though.

Good luck Kentucky!”

“Sign on dambit!”

“I am # 69 !!! That is also our house # ! What a lucky # !”

“Congratulations adventurist! And thank you.

; )


.”

“More people please!

8)”

“Yes everyone sign....This trail will connect right here in my town of Cumberland Gap,TN........ would be a great long trail for all of you who think you have done and seen it all. This will be a tough trail not for the weak of heart...LOL
If you don't believe come on out and do some of it.....Pine Mountain Trail and Cumberland Trail.”