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october coalfest?


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we're working on CF II .

 

Here the latest devleopments.

 

The strippins can be broken down into two sections, the west end\Treverton end and the east end\Shamokin end

 

The coal company is planning to drain the big lake named "the mile", they say there is a vein of coal under the water that is worth going after. The "mile" is located at the Shamokin end of the strippins, about 6 miles east of where we had the first Coalfest camp. Last week the Reading Coal Company ran an ad in the Shamokin paper stating they will be patrolling for trespassers and anyone caught on the land will be prosacuted. And they are serious, they have been patrolling the east end\Mile area daily and I have talked to a half dozen people who have been stopped and told to get the hell outta there. They bulldozed my path that leads from my house to the main access road through the strippins. They bulldozed the trails leading to the "Mile" and put up fresh Posted signs. Once you get past the "Mile" and get to the middle of the "strippins", you don't see any signs of Coal Cops, they are only worried about "the mile" area. I was out riding during the week and once I got past the "mile" I seen alot of people riding in peace. There were 5-8 vehicles parked at Camp Coalfest area, there was another 5-8 trucks and trailers parked across the canyon from camp, as I rode towards Coal Hill I seen 5 more vehicles\trailers parked near the first bend in the highway\back where those abandon coal trucks and coal equipment are.... Getting closer to Coal Hill, I see 3 or 4 more trucks parked. Im aproxx 1 mile from Coal Hill and see more vehicals parked..... once I got to Coal Hill there were 10 trucks parked at Coal Hill and I counted 38 people riding on quads and bikes. There was one big group of riders all together, about 20 of em..... so I rode over to em and they were watchin a few of thier crew climb some of the lower big hills..... they had two nice Banshee with em that were running paddles and they were shooting roost 3\4 of the way down the hill from the top. I asked the guys if they were locals(i knew they we'rent) and they told me they drove up from West Virginia !!! Told me they've been here 3 times before and they love it up here. There was atleast 20 in thier crew and they were riding all weekend and didnt have any run-ins with the coal cops, but.... they stayed away from the Shamokin end and only rode the land near Coal Hill and camp Coalfest.

 

Moral of the story... the coal cops ARE crackin' down.... but only near the Shamokin end of the strippins, the "mile" area.... the "green grassys" area..... and once you get 3 miles deep\out of Shamokin you don't have any problems with coal cops. I seen aproxx 70 riders total last weekend and everyone was having fun and no one seemed like they were nervous about parking.

 

Yesterday\Saturday..... they lifeflighted someone off of Coal Hill. I don't know what the story is yet, but Josh\xcracer has been up here riding all weekend, maybe he can tell us the story. So.. they lifeflighted two people out of the Coal Hill area in two months time. Don't know how much more the coal companies can take of that. Whenever the copter comes, the coal companies crack down. we'll see what happens.

 

 

Got more story to tell..... but I'll post that tomorrow night. This news I have is good news. Great news in fact. :)

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we'll see what happens.

 

 

Got more story to tell..... but I'll post that tomorrow night. This news I have is good news. Great news in fact. :)

Please meat, if you made a deal with the coal company/local law, i would love you forever. well you know what i mean. I read from the top and thought "crap, we might have to postpone/cancel CFII, and i was getting all sad, then i read the great news and i went from :cry: to :D:D:D:D:D

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Last weekend I went to a hairscramble race held at Rausch Creek, they held the HS very close to the Tower City Trail Riders land, in fact you drove right past the entrance to TCTR to get to the course. Well the Tower City TR security gaurds were driving around the area\checkin' out the race, and I got to talking to one of these TCTR security gaurds.

 

First of all, the Tower City Trail Riders lease land from the Reading coal company. Their land looks very similar to our coal strip mine lands in Treverton\Shamokin.

 

I told the security gaurd that I was from Treverton and asked if ever heard of it. He said 'hell yea, he used to ride a cr500 on the big coal hills at the end of Treverton, refferring to Coal Hill. I said.. "Id love to see our strip mine land open to offroaders like how they have it setup at Tower City. This security gaurd told me "they(reading coal company) is currently looking into opening up the strippins behind Treverton and Shamokin just like they have done at Tower City" and "They are looking for local help in getting the project off the ground" and he told me to contact the "Rich brothers" at Reading coal for more info on how I can help. He reassured me they are trying to get the land open, just a lot of red tape before it happens.

 

so... maybe in a year or 3 the land will be legal to ride. bad news is your going to have to pay a fee to get in just like everywhere else, but what the hell atleast its legal riding. If the land opens up, the local economy will go up, hotel will have bookings, resturants will get more business, bike shops will spring up and Shamokin and Treverton will have a future. Plus...... maybe I could score a job there riding quads for a living !!

 

Well its been a week now since Iv heard this news, and we havent contacted Reading Coal yet.... but I'll try to get some dialog with em as soon as I have the time to drive to thier headquarters..... about 40 miles away.

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awesome i like to see when land is givin to riders instead of taking away like it is more and more these days, that would be the shit if you got a job as a tour guide or something in there, keep us posted, id like to know how everything turns out :headbang:

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Hey Meat,

I work for CAT and my father does also. He knows the Rich's, his branch does work on there cat equipment day in and day out. I could ask him how to contact/or who to contact there. I know when I lived in the Gap I leased land off of reading for my garage and that lady that was in charge her name was Donna Comfort, she worked out of the Pottsville office. :cheers:

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Posted: Aug 3 2004, 10:23 AM 

Hey Meat,

I work for CAT and my father does also. He knows the Rich's, his branch does work on there cat equipment day in and day out. I could ask him how to contact/or who to contact there. I know when I lived in the Gap I leased land off of reading for my garage and that lady that was in charge her name was Donna Comfort, she worked out of the Pottsville office.

 

yea the security guard at Tower City sure seemed confident that Reading was going to do something with our strippins. You know Del at Gap Racing ? Me and Del will be the ones contacting the Rich bros. I just have to fit it into my schedule. I also heard that the Rich bros' don't work out of the Pottsville offices, they are headquartered in...... oh hell I forget..... Ashland maybe, Girardsville maybe. Del know's where to go. I'd love to be involved with opening up the land. I know alot of locals might get pissed because they had free riding for 50 years and if they open it up there will be ton's of people and rules. I know thats gonna piss people off. Iv been riding up there for 20+ years now, since about '82. Iv never rode the Mt.Carmel strippins but I hear there's alot of land there too.

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Yep I know Del from Gap racing. He told me about you guys on here and about coalfest. If you do it willl be huge. Mt Carmel is ok there isn't many big hill there. Ashland now they are the biggest around I think. Right behind Goulds pump Meat, they are really crazy! I am not sure where they are located I am sure Del can figure that out...If not can ask. Just let me know. :cheers:

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Yep I know Del from Gap racing. He told me about you guys on here and about coalfest. If you do it willl be huge. Mt Carmel is ok there isn't many big hill there. Ashland now they are the biggest around I think. Right behind Goulds pump Meat, they are really crazy! I am not sure where they are located I am sure Del can figure that out...If not can ask. Just let me know. :cheers:

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thats very cool that the coal company is deciding to do that. I dont see why they wouldnt, and actually meat, you might want to talk to govt/park officials and such and see if the coal company wouldnt even be willing to sell the land instead of just lease it. I just read in the paper you can get grants up to like 80% of the cost of opening a place for recreation purposes I believe they put it under.

 

Just something to think about, instead of working for the place, you might be able to own the place. You and 2 or 3 other guys go in on a business loan to cover the other 20%. Maybe have a clause for the next 20 years the coal company gets 5% of the profits or something to sweeten the deal.

 

I know Tower City is 250 bucks for a family membership a year that includes a tiny campsite. I dont know how many memberships tower has but if you have 1000 memberships that 250 grand, not to mention the 20 (tower charges 35 or 40 now for the weekend) bucks a day/weekend for all the other friends of members.

 

 

And to all those people that have been riding it for free for the last 50 years that are gonna bitch, at least they will still be able to ride it. I've seen areas up your way, and basically all of NJ get completely shut down that the moment you ride onto the property you're running. And if you're from the direct area, maybe you get a 50 dollar discount or something.

 

It's cool that theres towns close by that will be able to boom from it if it does happen. Tower is kinda out of the way from anything and its basically bring what you need or your driving for a little bit to get something. Besides the gas station thats down the road from there.

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