Greetings Kev!

I read and reread Mr. Perrys response. Now who exactly is he? From
reading his email I assume he is a local politician. I only assume
this due to his reasons why boarding is not allowed.

Maybe I am just a simple guy and am actually seeing this in the
wrong light. Let me try and dissect the reasons real quick.

Safety:

Safety is being prepared for the task set forth… I just don't get
the safety issue one bit. All swift/white water rescue craft are
riverboards by design…I have yet to see a rescue kayak. We must all
remember safety is the key to most sports…If the edge can't be
reached safely why bother.

Resource Impact:

I know that anything and anyone could cause a Resource Impact in a
legal manner of speaking (vacationing snowbird perches on a rock
said rock dislodges and rolls into the river now we have a resource
impact).

Now looking at this in a logical manner we need to look at what is
needed to kayak/raft versus riverboarding. Obviously if we look at
the sheer mass of items needed to do either of the three
riverbaording would prevail due to less mass.

I guess we should also look at which sport would be less intrusive
and cause less resource impact. Once again riverboards prevail due
to the fact that we swim the river whereas the boaters use a paddle
and many times use the riverbed as a point of leverage.

Administrative Load:

I assume another way to say Administrative Load is to simply say "I
am to busy and over worked to deal w/ your request".


Monitoring of the event :

I read up on the Tallulah and never once noticed any mention of
monitoring any other type boaters…. We did not ride the short bus
and do not require special attention do we?

Budget:

I am not certain how a handful of Boarders could impact the budget.
But if this is the case can we get a $ value of such an impact.

Staffing:

Once again….Why would this factor in…does this request actually
increase the work load of the staff? If so can we boarders do some
volunteer work to help offset the staffing issues?

Overall Management Issues of the park:

I can't really comment on this one….Is Mr. Perry stating that state
park management has issues w/ boarders? If this is the case….
someone needs to start thinking outside the box and remember who
writes their paychecks.


W/ one word I can sum up what I see at the Tallulah "Prejudice" .



prej·u·dice
An adverse judgment or opinion formed beforehand or without
knowledge or examination of the facts.

b. A preconceived preference or idea.

2. The act or state of holding unreasonable preconceived
judgments or convictions. See Synonyms at predilection.

3. Irrational suspicion or hatred of a particular group, race,
or religion.

4. Detriment or injury caused to a person by the preconceived,
unfavorable conviction of another or others.

Oh heck folks....sorry for the ramble....

Peace,
Ken Taylor