Quote:
Originally Posted by Yosemite Sam
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Whomever it is, does not matter. It was a well-written letter, and I can find agreements with some of my own opinions in there. But..... there has to be a butt, everyone has one
1) "Last summer was the most enjoyable, comfortable, quietest and most recreational on Lake Winnipesaukee in many years. The visibility of marked patrol boats floating in open water, with officers in uniform pointing radar guns around, caused boaters to reconsider their speed."
That is possibly true, it certainly is on the road. But this letter was written in January, 2008. Most diehard SL supporters, including our own Mr. Chase, have commented that this year (2009), and last, 2008, were so much better than the mayhem and chaos before. So it looks like 2007 was a great summer on the lake as well? Hmmmm, sometimes it's hard to remember the stories you told before isn;t it?
1) "On a calm summer evening in 2002, an elderly Meredith man was out slowly boating with his family when he was run over and killed by a speeding 8,000 pound, 1,200 HP cigarette boat. The cigarette boat operator appealed his conviction to the state Supreme Court, where one of the Justices asked in amazement: "Isn't there a speed limit?" Why can everyone seem to recognize this omission except our Legislature?"
My personal pet peeve is this. I can't blame the SL supporters entirely, they seem to have little recourse other than to use this incident. I have absolutely no support for Littlefield here. He was apparently leaving the same docks that Mr. Hartman had left before him. He was so very obviously drunk to virtually everyone, but nobody stopped him from getting in his boat and leaving, and nobody stopped serving him drinks either.
The Justice did ask about the speed limits. But in each and every written statement, Littlefield's boat was said to be going 25 to 28 mph that night. Maybe it was 30, or even 35. Those that continually cite the Hartman tragedy always try to give everyone the perception it was a higher number. I have no magical powers to know, I wasn't there. But I do know this. The fact that Littlefield's family sold HP boats, Littlefield was in a Baja at the time, is reason enough for them to continually misrepresent what happened.
He was drunk. There may have been other possible reasons for this tragedy to occur, most of which are never, ever mentioned. Bottom line, Littlefield was sent to jail.
About 95% of my disagreement with the SL supporters is that they cannot, ever, engage in a legitimate discussion of safety, dealing with facts. El (or whomever), has written a splendid post recently. The vindictive writing style is gone, and now he loves the go fast boats, just not some of the drivers. I could agree with that statement about a multitude of craft on any lake, even some sailors.
But the fact remains, he and others already showed their true colors. They have already written about how they feel about these boats, drivers, supporters. El called SL opponents Felons for God's sake. Disingenuous does not even begin to describe a few of these people.
The true test for people like this was offered up some time ago in safety discussions. Since the SL agenda was their only focus, it would be impossible for them to discuss anything else. Even the weather was off limits. You be the judge.