Police Officer Admits Mountain Biking Illegally!

http://www.metromodemedia.com/devnew...rail0093.aspx:

Volunteers hack away at Sterling Heights mountain bike trail

metromode, 11/13/2008
Aaron Burgess has been breaking the law... by riding his mountain bike
in Sterling Heights. What makes it ironic is that Burgess is a
sergeant with the Sterling Heights Police Department and he was riding
on a trail he is now improving and making legitimate.

Burgess is heading up a group of local volunteers that are improving a
mountain bike trail that starts in Sterling Heights and stretches nine
miles through northern Macomb County.

"I have been riding what is an illegal trail for the last 13 years,"
Burgess says. "I have wanted to do the project for last 10 years."

During most of that time, the path was little more than a deer trail
that locals used to get their mountain bike fix. During that time,
vegetation had been destroyed by riders using it and erosion spread as
people strayed beyond the informal path's boundaries.

Burgess and his fellow volunteers are creating a permanent trail to
help stop the erosion and close off rogue paths. The idea is to create
a greenway that will help enhance the recreation options in Sterling
Heights. They are bringing in the Michigan Mountain Bike Association
to help make the whole thing legit.

"This will be the first sanctioned mountain bike trail in Macomb
County," Burgess says. "I want it to be the nicest mountain bike trail
in Michigan."

The first leg will be 2.5 miles between Jaycee Park (near Henry Ford
II High School) and Dodge Park. More than 60 people showed up to help
improve the trail earlier this month.

Burgess hopes to finish that first section this fall. Next spring they
plan to start tacking a 6.5 mile section between Dodge Park and the
Edison corridor. The plan is to have it done within two years.

"We're just starting with baby steps," Burgess says.

For information on the trail and the efforts to improve it, send an
email to Burgess at .

Source: Aaron Burgess, sergeant with the Sterling Heights Police
Department
Writer: Jon Zemke
--
I am working on creating wildlife habitat that is off-limits to
humans ("pure habitat"). Want to help? (I spent the previous 8
years fighting auto dependence and road construction.)

Please don't put a cell phone next to any part of your body that you are fond of!

http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande

In the previous article, Mike Vandeman wrote:
"This will be the first sanctioned mountain bike trail in Macomb
County," Burgess says. "I want it to be the nicest mountain bike
trail in Michigan."

Stony Creek Metropark is in Macomb County and has had a nice mountain
bike trail system for the better part of a decade. They recently
added a "Skillz park" that looks pretty cool.
--
_+_ From the catapult of |If anyone objects to any statement I make, I am
_|70|___=}- J.D. Baldwin |quite prepared not only to retract it, but also
\ / |to deny under oath that I ever made it.-T. Lehrer
***~~~~----------------------------------------------------------------------

Michael J.Vandeman wrote:

As I was about to cut down a tree to lay a third
layer of logs on my little log cabin in the woods, I took one swing
at the trunk with my axe, and immediately got a painful sting (there
must have been a bee-hive in the tree) and ran away as fast as I could.

His third layer of logs!!!!

More than 60 people showed up to help
improve the trail earlier this month.

Wow...60 people. that's 59 more than those who support mikey's cause!

Third LAYER!! That's just horrible..."trunk with my axe"...that phrase
makes my eyes well up in tears thinking of the destruction from this
man.