A chance to make things right

I had a visit last week at my door from a local. Said he owns a farm between Rockland and Ontonagon and that he had some significant damage done recently by sledders. He had fence that was damaged/destroyed that is used to contain his livestock and he was pretty upset.

It is my understanding (he was not precise) that this occurred possibly the weekend after the large snow we had in late March, after St. Patricks Day I think.

I come into the picture with all of this since the guys that did the damage apparently told their story at a local store while they were in town and mentioned they were staying at my place in Rockland. As is normal for March, we rarely have guests regardless of the snow so it was pretty easy to connect with the only group that stayed with us after the first weekend in March. Since I know these guys personally, I doubted they would damage anything without taking steps to make it right. As I suspected, this group came with young boys and never left the trail...wasnt them.

Lots of details that are of no real value....but I hope it triggers someone to realize the harm that was caused and be willing to contact the guy and make it right.

It was after a storm mid to late March. The guys talked about the damage to a local business owner and said they stayed in Rockland (at my place), so I dont think it was local trouble makers. The guy believes he is going to have considerable expense and time into making repairs and is now very anti-riding (he isnt even near a trail).

I have the mans name and number. If you did this, please contact me and I will hook you up with him. Might have been an accident...but it needs to be made right for the reputation of all involved.

Sorry for the downer! mattw@wiesen.com
 

uncle_ed

Active member
Sad if nobody mans up to the deed for sure! Maybe contact the local snowmobile club and make them aware so they can possibly get volunteers to repair or figure his expenses and come up with a solution that works for all involved. Whether it was snowmobilers or not a good gesture goes a long way to help promote our sport in a positive light. These are things clubs should be concerned about as much as grooming.
 

skiroule

Well-known member
Excellent suggestion. Incidents of this nature bother me enough that I would be willing to make the trip to help repair the damage. Cleaning up someone else's mess is not a pleasant thought but it if helps send the message that most of us do care about the property owners, it's worth it.
 
L

lenny

Guest
Excellent suggestion. Incidents of this nature bother me enough that I would be willing to make the trip to help repair the damage. Cleaning up someone else's mess is not a pleasant thought but it if helps send the message that most of us do care about the property owners, it's worth it.

I'm with ya on that..

Matt, I offer up free labor to help fix this mishap
 

thebluff

Member
very cool of both of you, that sort of thing will go a long way if folks see sledders fixing the damage of a bad apple. I do have a call into him to see if he wants help or not, he did not come to me expecting. I had only hoped (and still do hope) that whoever did the damage will just step up and apologize to the guy. Then we all win. I will update with further info.
 

dofo1

Member
If someone confirms the damage and will accept donations to repair the damage done by the losers I will donate to the fund.
 

thebluff

Member
The man stopped by yesterday and spoke with my wife. Doesnt want help from anyone, only wants to catch the offenders. Not got a good feeling about the whole thing, I may have posted about all this too soon. I know I would welcome the help if I were him and it happened to me.

Either way, there are some stand up folks out there...to offer to fix and fund bad behavior of others is worthy of a salute in my book. I just wish it could have all played out that way....good news doesnt travel as fast as bad news but it sure has an impact.

Thanks to all!
 

MZEMS2

New member
Sadly, the responsible ones will pay for those irresponsible ones. It is after all, the American way these days. The age of entitlement. I would hope that someone steps up too. And I'd be willing to bet that they are users of this very site as well. Pretty sad!!

Man up and do the right thing!!!! You know who you are. PM Wireburnguy and get the land owner's info, and get it resolved.
 

skiroule

Well-known member
It’s really too bad the landowner didn’t get to see the other side of the coin but I can kind of understand why he would decline any help. Probably a pretty independent guy and accepting help to repair an act of nature is one thing, accepting it to repair an act of stupidity is quite another. I might feel the same way.
 

blu2u2

New member
If the clubs insurance policy is similiar to most clubs; then they should have a $5K-$10K limit of coverage under the Property Damage portion of the policy. I would ask the local club to check into this. It will be a big suprise if the at-fault person(s) does step forward in this case.
 

indy_500

Well-known member
If the clubs insurance policy is similiar to most clubs; then they should have a $5K-$10K limit of coverage under the Property Damage portion of the policy. I would ask the local club to check into this. It will be a big suprise if the at-fault person(s) does step forward in this case.

this damage was not caused near a trail.
 
Top