Representative responds to editorial

GUEST EDITORIAL

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Appalachian News-Express for your editorial on March 6, 2008, regarding my filing House Bill 613, which would set up a pilot project of ATV trails or a trail at Fishtrap Lake. The best thing about the article is that we are discussing this great opportunity for all of Pike Countians to utilize a hidden treasure of property located in our back door! I would like to discuss and defend the reason for HB 613 and my desire to see such a trail come to Fishtrap.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE) manages and administers Fishtrap and has been opposed to ATV trails through the region. Let me provide you some history and facts about Fishtrap and the Corps. Fishtrap was created and constructed between 1961 and 1968. It took $56 million to construct, and the official dedication ceremony took place with President Lyndon Johnson present on October 26, 1968. It was constructed because of the severe flooding which took place during the Great Flood of 1957 throughout our region of Pike County. Fishtrap covers 15,429 acres and is one of 1,782 federally managed man-made lakes, 175 of which are managed by the Army Corps of Engineers. It is one of 18 lakes in Kentucky under COE jurisdiction and identified by the COE for "recreational use!" The COE currently allows ATV riding and administers popular and challenging off-road vehicle areas in Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, North Dakota, and Texas, just to name a few states. We, of the Fishtrap ATV Recreation Club, are not asking for all of the 15,000 acres. We are asking for just enough acreage to create a trail similar to the 120 mile trail at Land Between the Lakes, which is similar to their Turkey Bay ATV/OHV trail.

In the last paragraph of your editorial, you mentioned that this bill could delay or hamper the creation of a trail system like the Hatfield-McCoy trail in West Virginia. This piece of legislation is a companion bill that would go hand in hand with SB 196, the bill that would establish a trail system for ATV's in Kentucky and is the brain-child of Lt. Gov. Dan Mongiardo. I have already been asked to carry that piece of legislation in the House when it passes the Senate. One point I want to make about the Hatfield-McCoy Trail and the COE is the fact that the Army Corps. of Engineers did the actual study for the Hatfield-McCoy Recreation Area, which was then used to set up the trail system in West Virginia. It was the COE that estimated that 3,200 direct and indirect new jobs would be created by the trail system and estimated that an additional $100 million would be added to the economies of the seven southern West Virginia counties which implemented this trail system. All we are asking of the COE at Fishtrap and Kentucky is to help us create the same economic success and trail system in Kentucky, and to include Fishtrap in this equation. ...

You mentioned in your editorial that the "U.S. Forest Service called motorized vehicle abuse one of the greatest threats to country's public forests." Do you know who manages and implements the Western Kentucky Land Between the Lakes' Turkey Bay OHV/ATV Trails? The USDA Forest Service!

Members of the Fishtrap ATV Recreation Club are some of most outstanding citizens of Pike County. They include Sheriff Fuzzy Keesee, Jailor Rodney Scott, Judges Steve Combs and Kelsey Friend, Pike County Attorney Howard Keith Hall, Senator Ray Jones and State Representative Leslie Combs. Other members of the club include great citizens of our communities like Troy and Gerold James, Lonis Adams, Gary Bevins, and the many, many people who have signed the petition to allow ATV's on Fishtrap Property.

In closing, HB 613 did pass the committee unanimously last week, and now goes to the House floor for a vote. I respectfully disagree with your position about a trail at Fishtrap, especially since we now allow those who have a handicap permit to ride, the gas well employees in their trucks and ATV's, and county employees.

State Representative

W. Keith Hall of the 93rd District