A little Bridge Day History and Com

[guest]

When the bridge was finally opened in 1977, then Gov John D Rockefeller IV,
invited everyone to an open house. He had 2 of the 4 lanes of traffic
blocked off so
that the states residents could walk out onto the deck and enjoy a view that
otherwise they would never be able to see while traveling 55 mph across the
bridge in their cars. This actually was the "Grand Opening" ceremony and
was never meant to be a regular event. For one thing, it's technically
illegal to close off any part of a roadway such as this. And even though
the law was very plain concerning this fact, enough people clammered for
the event that most every official looked the other way when it was decided
that Bridge Day would become a yearly event. Actually it was never written
in stone that there would BE a "Bridge Day". It just managed to happen
year to year somehow. Of course when we finally got permission to legally
jump the bridge, then it was a matter of turning a relatively small affair
into the monster we know today. Every year it grew bigger, and hundreds of
thousands of dollars were being made for the vendors (who by now had set-up)
and the hotels/restaurants etc. However, due to the fact that technically
it's still unlawful to close the bridge, this
is the reason that we only have a 6 hour "window" to do our thing. It's
also the reason that Bridge Day never became a 2 day event. Nothing would
make the
people of Fayette County happier (not to mention the jumpers) than to have
Bridge Day over an entire weekend. And the way I see it, if the officials
can "look the other way" for one day...they can do it for two days right?
Well anyway, guess we're lucky to have the one day.
( From The Official Bridge Day History
ttp://members.citynet.net/skydiver/ )

As you can see, this is a tricky situation, especially now since the
National Park Service has it's grubby little hands on it also. A rumor has
circulated that a request from Washington to the Park Service to vote for
closing the bridge this year cant be substantiated. What we DO know is that
it would have taken extra money for security, and now Fayette County Fingers
are pointing all over the place. (Especially towards Gov Bob Wise, who just
hired a former Band Director to head up the states Economic Development
Office to the tune of $175.000 a year!)

I was all over the news media concerning that fact. The guy wasnt worth
more than $75,000 tops and some of the savings could have gone towards
security for Bridge Day, and REALLY helped the economy!

Blues

Coolbreeze

[guest]

Sorry, subject title was supposed to be
"A little Bridge Day History and comment"

[Tree]

Actually, Bridge Day exists because of state legislation and has since it's inception. The NPS actually has very little to do with Bridge Day and they issue the permit for jumping based on who the Bridge Day Comission (BDC) selects. The NPS has a member on the BDC, but the are not by and means the leaders of the organisers. The BDC's budget is tiny, somthing like $25K. I'm not exactly sure why the state's largest one day event, an event that brings $20M of economic activity to the area would be cancelled because of $20K worth of security. But I am certain that it had nothing to do with the NPS.

It is much more likely that the BDC did not have the time to do the additional security planning, or simply did not want to risk having Bridge Day become another tragic memory for generations to come. Yes, it sucks, no, it has nothing to do with the jumpers.

Be very careful jumping out there. If anyone sees you climbing a tower or carrying a stash bag into a building or under a bridge you can be guaranteed that they will drop a dime and the authorities will be on you pronto.

Stay cool,

Tree

Now in DC.:+

[guest]

TREE wrote:
Actually, Bridge Day exists because of state legislation and has since it's inception.




Sorry mister know-it-all, that statement is inaccurate.

The "inception" of Bridge Day was the celebration of its' (NRGB) opening. There is a SENATE BILL regarding Bridge Day, circa 1990. There was no Legislation at the "inception".
Bridge Day exists because of participation (imho).






TREE also wrote:
But I am certain that it had nothing to do with the NPS.

THE NPS VOTED AGAINST THIS BRIDGE DAY.

[Tree]

Well, one moronic unsubstantiated comment deserves another.

The NPS voted against this BD being held and it MUST HAVE BEEN because they HATE JUMPERS, but only ##### as$hole ones like you who are afraid to post who they are!

I read the entire bridge day history and it states that it is through legislation that it exists and this is backed up by conversations with the Bridge Day Comission. If you have something different I suggest we meet sometime to compare data. I sure hope you live around here so we can meet up. Jackass!

Tree:*

[guest]

My comment was neither moronic nor unsubstantiated.
That legislation you write of is circa 1990, not the "inception".
That is just a simple fact.

And it "is my humble opinion" that Bridge Day exists because people desire to participate,
not because of State Legislation that says we must party and jump, ha ha.

I post who I am just as you do, with a "handle".
I don't need the NPS, who may hate me as you suggest, to know my name.
Probably the same reason you don't sign on as -A-- --SS---?
I live closer to you than you might think, maybe we'll meet.

[guest]

stop fighting stop fighting!!!!

you're not my real mom and dad!!!!!

[guest]

Hey Tree -

Regardless of the past, from our conversations in a smoke filled room in a white house far, far away, it can be inferred that you may have had something to do with the cancellation of BD 2001. I'm just not sure if the terrorists are the only ones responsible for the cancellation of BD - maybe the BD commission became aware of a few "problems" with the way BD has been organized in the past, or maybe the NPS was made aware of these travesties...

Do you agree - Tree??? :-)

[guest]

Jim, are you saying Mark Kissner had something
to do with Bridge Day getting cancelled?

[Tree]

No such luck J.J. This one unfortunately is a victory for the terror attacks and the overall change the world is going through. Freedom is not free and the freedom to jump was already fragile.

&-)

Luv your work

[guest]

NPS TWICE voted against holding the event this year: First on the vote whether to continue the planning, and again when they voted to do it at all or cancel it.

The State Police also voted no TWICE and the state division of highways became the swing vote the second time around.

Rumor has it the locals are bery aggravated with the NPS twits for basically ripping them off for millions of dollars just so they can completely cleanse the park system of all base jumping in any form (as it continues to pressure BLM to stop allowing jumping in BLM areas ...).

So Tree and Logger, regardless of what state law does or does not say and when it did or did not say it, the real fight here continues to be with the NPS, which has now demonstrated that it will steal millions of dollars from the good people of west virginia to pursue its longstanding and well-documented bigotry and hatred against base jumpers.

[Tree]

My understanding of the early vote was due to the road being washed out by a very big flood early this spring. At the time the flood damage occured they weren't sure if the road could be repaired in time, and as recently as last weekend the road was not completed and much work was still under way.

In my opinion, you are way to paranoid about the NPS. Do you also suspsect that they rigged the flood to wash out the road just to stop base jumping? As certain as you are of your facts I am just as certain that the NPS did not and could not have prevented BD. It does not work that way and since all information is public you can research it, or you could call the bridge day comission.

I look forward to meeting you in person, but since I've never seen anyone post as logger before I doubt you will be around.

The "war" is in your head!

:*

Tree

[guest]

Tree baby,

The NPS "2001 Management Policies" document specifically prohibits BASE jumping in "national park areas" in any way, shape or form because it is an "inappropriate activity" (NPS language).

Consequently, the continued existence of BD contradicts this document -- and makes it very hard for NPS to explain how it continues to allow this activity at BD when it has declared the activity to be inappropriate in ALL NPS areas.

The absolute fact of the matter is: NPS _DID_ prevent BD from happening this year because it voted twice to NOT hold it this year.

Your "understanding" of the early vote is flawed. The early vote was whether to continue planning BD or cancel at that time. The flood-damaged roads were the NPS excuse for its "no" vote, but not the focus or purpose of the first vote.

The highway department was the swing vote between the first vote and second vote, but without the NPS vote against it, and its continuing lobbying to stop it, BD would still be going forward.

So it isn't a war inside Logger's head, Tree.

It is a little thing called R E A L I T Y.

[base311]

HEAR HEAR!

I am quite certain that there was a HUGE SIGH OF RELIEF from the NPS on this one. Fact of the matter is, had Bridge Day gone forward, there would have been a HUGE conflict between the "2001 Management Guidelines" recently published by the NPS and the issuance of the Bridge Day permit to Avery. Had the NPS issued the permit and had Bridge Day gone forward, then the NPS would have VIOLATED its own SERVICE-WIDE policy which prohibits BASE jumping in National Parks. I don't know if you people have read the policy but it says, and I quote,

"8.2.2.7 BASE Jumping

BASE (Buildings, Antennae, Spans, Earth forms) jumping also known as fixed object jumping involves an individual wearing a parachute jumping from buildings, antennae, spans (bridges), and earth forms (cliffs). This is not an appropriate public use activity within national park areas, and is prohibited by 36 CFR 2. 17( 3).. "

you can read it here:

http://www.nps.gov/refdesk/mp/
(click on chapter 8)

Frankly, I don't know what exactly the NPS thought it was going to do on this one. I mean, you can't have it BOTH WAYS (unless you're the NPS or you're eating at burger king)... you can't just write a service-wide management policy prohibiting something EVERYWHERE and then ARBITRARILY issue a permit for it to happen at Bridge Day... just 'cause you can.

Now, many of the other 'park use' sections in the 2001 NPS Management Guidelines have provisions whereby a superintendent can exercise discretion in meeting his own park's visitor's needs, etc. NOT SO with section 8.2.2.7 BASE Jumping... Let me say this one more time. The NATIONAL PARK SERVICE'S SERVICE-WIDE POLICY STATES THAT BASE Jumping is not an appropriate public use activity within national park areas, and is prohibited by 36 CFR 2. 17( 3)..

No room for discretion, no room for discussion, there is no option, the point is NOT MOOT. BASE jumping has been banned in the national parks without due process of law - by misapplication of an antiquated and totally unrelated federal regulation followed by a circumventing of the legislative process by publication of a management guideline to seal the deal. The whole legislative/regulatory/rulemaking process has been BASTARDIZED by your NATIONAL PARK SERVICE. I hope all you NEWS WEASELS ARE READING THIS. I hold the National Park Service in very low regard. SHAME ON THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE!!!

Also, in response to robin's mention of the park service's lobbying its sister agencies to thwart base jumping... there was a multi-agency task force dealing with all of this "Wilderness Initiative" touchy-feely stuff... I can guarantee you that the NPS representative(s) on that task force was/were trying to convince the other agencies involved to do something about base jumping. That's why you saw the BLM and the Forestry Service (even though forestry is dept. of Agriculture and not Interior) recently adopt regulations prohibiting extreme sports in wilderness areas. Bit by bit, little by little... the erosion of our liberties.

THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE SUCKS!

Sincerely,
K. Gardner Sapp
BASE 311
Atlanta, Georgia

[Tree]

Gardner,

I am aware of the changes made by the NPS because someone posted them when it happened. It sucks that it happened and I fully agree that the change was made outside the boundries that this type of change would normally occur. I've read all of your posts over the last several years and I respect what you say since you've been doing this stuff a long time.

In this particular case "logger" makes clain that Bridge Day was cancelled because of the NPS. The NPS did vote against having BD, but nobody knows, including Loghead, what the thought process behind this vote was. My personal conversations with NPS personel at the New indicate that they support bridge day and also that they have very little to do with bridge day. They are one vote on the BDC. and they told me that NPS issues the permit to land on NPS land to whoever the BDC selects. NPS does not own the bridge or they highway where 90 percent of BridgeDay takes place. Their job is crowd cpntrol on their property, and anything else they agree to do to help the BDC make the event possible.

Yes, there are people in the NPS who don't like base jumpers, but it's not like every person the NPS hires goes through brainwashing and mind control to eradicate base jumping. Bridge Day was a casualty of the new world order that started Sept 11 with the WTC. If you were on the BDC and responsible for the lives of 200,000 people who come to your event, I think you would have had to consider all the possibilites of terrorist attacks and may have come to the same conclusion.

Again, yes it sucks that BD was cancelled, and it sucks that the NPS does have anti-base employees at high levels, but the cancellation of BD seems to me to be the result of the uncertainty of the public's safety.

Tree