Camping pictures up.. https://picasaweb.google.com/FoGMaN73/CougarButtes20110428#
Happy Easter :)
VICTORVILLE • People from throughout Southern California showed up Thursday at the Hilton Garden Inn to voice their concerns about a U.S. Marine Corps proposal that could close a large part of the Johnson Valley Off-Highway Vehicle Area.
The Marine Corps is considering several alternatives for expanding its Twentynine Palms Air Ground Combat Center training area.
Its preferred plan, Alternative 6, would permanently close most of the Johnson Valley OHV Area, with a smaller portion used by the Marines two months a year and another small portion permanently open to the public.
The plan was unpopular among many of the 180 people who showed up in the first 90 minutes of the open-house-style meeting, with more expected as the night went on. They ranged from out-of-town business owners to off-roading enthusiasts to High Desert residents wondering how it will affect their daily lives.
“The Johnson Valley OHV area is the premiere terrain in this country,” said Tony Pellegrino, co-owner of a Simi Valley-based company that produces after-market modifications for Jeeps. “All of our product testing is done there. It’s the single largest OHV area in the state and it’s also the closest adjacent to the greater Los Angeles area.”
Pellegrino said his business — and the off-roading industry as a whole — would take a huge hit if most of Johnson Valley was lost to Marine Corps training.
Jim Clements, of Barstow, is the president of MORE (Mojave Off-Road Racing Enthusiasts), which hosts three races a year at Johnson Valley OHV on courses that utilize much of the territory that the Marines would take over under Alternative 6.
“If this happens, I’m out of business,” Clements said, adding that it could also affect local businesses in places such as nearby Lucerne Valley. “It’s going to put people out of work.”
Like many in attendance Thursday night, Clements would like to see the Marines expand to the east of their Twentynine Palms facility rather than going west into Johnson Valley.
But the Marines have designated Alternative 6 as their preferred proposal.
U.S. Marine Corps Capt. Nicholas C. Mannweiler called it “a good-faith effort ... to develop what we thought was a compromise between our training needs and what’s best for the community.”
Mannweiler said the expansion would allow 15,000 Marines to safely train all at one time. He said the Marine Corps doesn’t currently have that capability at any of its bases.
To read more about the U.S. Marine Corps proposal, see the full story in Friday's Daily Press. Get complete stories every day with the "exactly as printed" Daily Press E-edition, only $5 per month! Click here to try it free for 7 days. To subscribe to the Daily Press in print or online, call (760) 241-7755, 1-800-553-2006 or click here.
Kris Reilly can be reached at kreilly@vvdailypress.com or at (760) 248-7878.
