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The Hi-Desert Star's View: State thwarts public need by pulling grant
The standoff between lawbreakers who use their off-highway vehicles to trespass and intimidate and homeowners enraged at their antics is teetering on the brink of violence.
And what does the state government do? Reject the Morongo Basin Sheriff's Station's application for grant money to enforce off-highway laws.
First the grant was denied for technical errors.
Then the Off Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Commission voted to give the sheriff's station $67,000 to fight off-road abuses.
The money would pay for officers' patrol time as well as education and signs. It was just the chance the sheriff's station needed to establish some order in the Basin's more rural areas.
Now, the money has been yanked out from under our noses.
Sheriff's Capt. Jim Williams' frightening reaction: “If we lose this money, we lose all our resources for addressing OHV complaints in the Basin.”
The problem, again, is technical difficulties.
Apparently, the commission that awarded the grant in the first place failed to document that its strict selection criteria had been properly followed.
That's the explanation from the State Parks Off Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Division, which pulled the grant approval.
Now the entire Hi-Desert is caught in the middle of a complex process in the political shark cage of Sacramento.
The parks division and the off-road commission each claims the other needs to submit to reforms.
It sounds to us they both need reform. The commission that approved the grant must apply its criteria evenly and document that it does so. The division that pulled the grant must consider the great public need it is thwarting when it takes away the Hi-Desert's money.
They both must acknowledge that the real victims here are the law-abiding citizens of the Morongo Basin.
And what does the state government do? Reject the Morongo Basin Sheriff's Station's application for grant money to enforce off-highway laws.
First the grant was denied for technical errors.
Then the Off Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Commission voted to give the sheriff's station $67,000 to fight off-road abuses.
The money would pay for officers' patrol time as well as education and signs. It was just the chance the sheriff's station needed to establish some order in the Basin's more rural areas.
Now, the money has been yanked out from under our noses.
Sheriff's Capt. Jim Williams' frightening reaction: “If we lose this money, we lose all our resources for addressing OHV complaints in the Basin.”
The problem, again, is technical difficulties.
Apparently, the commission that awarded the grant in the first place failed to document that its strict selection criteria had been properly followed.
That's the explanation from the State Parks Off Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Division, which pulled the grant approval.
Now the entire Hi-Desert is caught in the middle of a complex process in the political shark cage of Sacramento.
The parks division and the off-road commission each claims the other needs to submit to reforms.
It sounds to us they both need reform. The commission that approved the grant must apply its criteria evenly and document that it does so. The division that pulled the grant must consider the great public need it is thwarting when it takes away the Hi-Desert's money.
They both must acknowledge that the real victims here are the law-abiding citizens of the Morongo Basin.
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