![]() ![]() Returning reasonable access is a common sense approach. Not surprisingly, there's no evidence of anyone being injured trying to cross a railroad track to access public lands.Īs Governor, Tony will work with conservation leaders in the Legislature to address the issue. I don't mean to trivialize the issue, but if we can trust hunters to walk around safely with loaded weapons, I think we can trust them to look both ways when they get to a railroad track. ![]() The railroad lobby fought hard for the law you are referencing under the auspices of limiting their hypothetical liability. ![]() I am a policy advisor to Tony and received your inquiry regarding the railroad track issue. This morning I checked emails and received this, apparently yesterday: Each time I gave them my name, phone number, address and email address. So I called their number posted on the internet and put the question about crossing the tracks to access public lands and waters to hunt, fish and trap. Hang in there, at least read this post to the end. Where the speed limit is posted at 55 mph, do you drive over that speed limit? If/when you do, are you breaking the law? Are you placing yourself and others in danger by your reckless speeding? Or do you assume you know what you're doing and that law is for others? I would wager my crossing the tracks after looking both ways is much less dangerous than you driving over the speed limit on our highways, and faster than the posted speed limit on the freeways. ![]() To those of you who insist this is a safety issue and the law should be followed just because our governor decided so, I ask you to reflect on your driving habits. There will come a day when I am no longer able to trap, and I hope that when the day comes I can look back at my life and say at least I tried. I continue to cross where necessary to access public lands and waters and will choose jail time over paying any fines. Some of us have given up on accessing these areas and some of us continue to do so. The public meeting in Stoddard I attended two years ago sure didn't make it look like the railroad would allow a simple crossing of the tracks where there was no crossing. There have been threats of tickets and from what I've heard tickets have been issued. Back when the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee okayed a provision in the 2015-17 budget to safely cross the tracks in its budget review awhile back, most of us thought our governor would accept its recommendations. Amongst all the other issues we face as trappers, hunters and fishermen, this one is a particular thorn in my side and many others as well. ![]()
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