Show " " "2-- J&m aAfrJusg AA4 The Salt Lake Tribute OPINION Sunday March 15 1998 w Good Old Days Are Gone Bikers Need Helmets Now POINT OF LAW t' edward McDonough From my parents home just off 15th East Emigration Canyon was a few minutes away On a hot Summer evening in the 1860s I could hop on my Honda 250 Dream motorcycle and head for the cool of the ! Canyon lessness incapacity or neglect I think that the Legislature has every nght to make special laws and regulations for motorcycle riders because they present special public safety problems Every time a mandatory helmet law is proposed the motorcycle troops rally to protest this restriction on their freedom I think the protesters are living In the past with my Honda 250 Dream Most of us travel at high speed d on freeways to get to our destination in modern automobiles The is technology of the from the 1830s when the country was crisscrossed with winding countfy roads and traffic congestion was limited to the occasional downtown city street Those days are gone boys You cant fly your radioless wood and lmen Piper Cub into the airspace at the airport and you shouldnt expect to be free to play leapfrog through the freeway traffic on your thundering big bike just so you can feel the wind dry your hair I miss the old days too In fact unlike most naers today I can actually remember the old days But todays traffic environment requires that safety be the foremost consideration It is right that a special drivers license is required to operate a motorcycle It would also be nght for the Legislature to require full safety equipment for riders including heavyweight clothing gloves and yes a helmet on your head to protect us all from what happens when one of our freeway high-spee- eered The canyon was a rural backwawas light On a pioonlit night I could coast uphill geared down to third both cylinders loafing until it seemed like the Dream and I were floating and the breeze we created froze my face and fingers and made me pull over to snap up my old high school jacket with the raglan leather sleeves I did not wear a helmet I was unaware that helmets were used by anyone but police and the motorcycle racers The Honda 250 Dream was a light motorcycle with a relatively small engme full black fenders and tank a long red naugahyde seat and yes wide whitewall tires I have been told if I had kept it all these years it would now be a classic Motorcycles are not the same as automobiles The fact that they reconstruction gravel rocks have only two wheels instead of punches ithrough your forehead four requires that you ride them with the extra sensory dimension Edward J McDonough pracneeded to pilot an airplane There tices law in Sag Lake City is no physical reason why a motorcycle should remain upright when it is not cruising or accelerating so an emergency stop means youre going down As with an airplane pilot when the engine quits the question isnt whether but where is the best place to put it : ter then traffic Dont Waste Money on Gypsy Moth Eradication BY WILLIAM KLEIN According to recent newspaper articles the gypsy moth is to be eradicated from Utah again Curiously we were told that it had already been eradicated During a four-yea- r period from 1889 to 1993 some 20000 acres of national forest and private lands were serially sprayed many areas two or three times In 1895 the eradication program was deemed successful since no gypsy moths were found Later in 1998 and again in 1997 the discovery of moths m two areas (both of them in or near the former spray area) gave rise to the 1998 eradication project Interestingly the word used to describe these efforts is eradication To a biologist eradication means only one thing the permanent extermination of an organism from a specific area In a practical sense biologists concerned with combating a pest use the word suppression which means to reduce pest numbers to a tolerable andor an economic level The rationale behind the eradication attempt is that the gypsy moth is a dangerous insect not only to native vegetation but to humans as well If left unchecked according to the recent Environmental Assessment direct and indirect effects of gypsy moth feed- ing will result in severe defoliation tree mortality increased fire hazard soil erosion reduced water quality impaired wildlife habitat and a public nuisance to mention a few If the conditions for gypsy moth establishment along the Wasatch Front are favorable it will never be eradicated Attempts to eradicate it or at best to slow it down will be a resource-consumin- g exercise in futility So as to better evaluate these comments a look into the history of the gypsy moth in the United States and the attempts to eradicate it is in order The gypsy moth native to Europe was accidentally introduced into the wild in Massachusetts in 1887 Since it had no natural enemies it quickly spread and caused significant defoliation of broad leaf trees throughout New England For many years sporadic and localized control measures were taken but it was not until after World War II with the production of DDT and the availability of surplus aircraft to deliver it that large-scal- e eradication efforts were attempted For almost two decades millions of gallons of DDT and other chemicals were aerially sprayed over the Northeast in an attempt to eliminate local populations and prevent their spread into uninfested areas These efforts evoke memories of a speech delivered by a director of the gypsy moth program sometime during the early 1960s at a national meeting of the Entomological Society of America He remarked that the gypsy moth program would push the insect into the ocean He was right but instead of toward the Atlantic which was intended it was pushed toward the Pacific Currently the gypsy moth is permanently established in the Northeast and has spiead along the Eastern seaboard to North Carolina and west into the Lake States Spot infestations have cropped up in 15 states (including California) outside of the main infestation zone and an Asian strain of the gypsy moth presumably stowaways has shown up in the Northwest Now the battle against the gypsy moth is being waged on two fronts Although initially an introduced pest many entomologists regard the gypsy moth as a native insect since it has not only adapted itself to the environment but has become prey to many native parasites and predators What is the threat by the gypsy moth to local vegetation? The En- vironmental Assessment lists many native and introduced tree species susceptible to gypsy moth damages The native trees include oak brush (Gambel oak) aspen and several other deciduous trees (riparian) in the canyon bottoms Many of the more common shade and fruit trees found in suburban areas are also listed some more preferred than others The concern over the fate of native plants is understandable but certainly not justified since no feeding tests in their native environment have been done Almost nothing is known of the capabilities of the gypsy moth in this environment or its effects short or long term on native vegetation How did the gypsy moth arrive here in the first place? Most likely it was introduced by pupae or eggs attached to vehicles and other articles transported from infested areas into the state These hitchhikers are a constant source of infestation As the infestation source and vehicle (autos trucks motor homes trailers etc) traffic increase the probability of introduction and increase manyfold The truth is that it cant be stopped short of embargoes and quarantines imposed on infested states and communities and enforced through roadblocks and inspection stations at state borders Just how threatening is the gypsy moth in the first place even if the insect became established in Utah The local newspapers described it as a deadly threat to many trees a notorious hitchhiker a voracious e insect and a pesky little foreign critter non-nativ- How do the folks in the Northeast feel about it? The majority of people are indifferent to it or cant understand what the fuss is all about and regard the gypsy moth as no more destructive than other tree pests Others more conscious of it as a nuisance factor than anything else simply take it in stride The failed eradication programs in the northeastern states ended in 1960 Especially noteworthy is the fact that the Northeast is mors heavily forested today than before the gypsy moth introduction Much farther west transition along the boundary Michigan and Wisconsin have opted for suppression as needed and rejected eradication as too costly and futile The major threat of gypsy moth feeding is to some shade and fruit (apple) trees in residential areas but defoliation can be minimized using a wide range of suppression methods not practical or environmentally suitable in natural areas In the forested areas a e attitude is the only logical alternative The gypsy moth may or may not be a serious problem presently we dont know that If in fact it does pose a problem there is no way it can be stopped At best it can be slowed but this would simply be throwing good money after bad The gypsy moth will be eradicated again in Utah in 1998 and and beyond but it will eventually the piper will have to be paid When that day comes think of the accrued interest! wait-and-se- William Klein of North Ogden is a retired US Forest Service entomologist and former associate professor offorestry at Stephen F Austin State University Nacogdoches Texass down Motorcycle riders who ride while wearing shorts are asking for skin grafts and helmetless riders have become I understand a main source of supply for healthy organs for medical transplant In fact the medical community refers to the new bullet bikes as donor bikes To paraphrase an aviation poster I once saw motorcycle riding is not inherently dangerous but it can be terribly unforgiving of any care- Advertisement - Mortgage Rates Hit 22 Month Low - Should You Refinance? 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