Motocross track provided activity and opportunity for youth and community

To the Editor:

This letter to the editor is directed toward the Port Authority and those people that wish to see the Motorcycle Track closed for good. I myself am opposed to that completely.

Too many times I have heard people say that there is nothing for our young people to do, let's get them something to do. Well, a handful of good people did get something going for young people to do and it was going quite well.

That is, however, until the handful of people started complaining about the noise. Well, that is pathetic if you ask me. When you want something to build economy, tourism and give people (young or old) something to do, there must be sacrifices. The track was only open certain times and closed no later than 9 or 10 p.m. So what's the problem?

When the mill was started there had to be sacrifices there too. Look at all the people that live right there with all the noise. That was 24-hour-a-day noise. How about the railroad? I grew up three blocks from that and it also is 24-hour-a-day noise when trains come through at night. You learn to live with things.

Too many people want something for nothing. In this town they want it to survive on tourism and shut down any legitimate business that could put people to work. Wake up people, this town can not survive on tourism alone. We need business to employ the working generation that live here.

I was born and raised in Libby and have seen numerous things come and go. The dam came and went, the mine came and went in Troy - thank heaven it's re-opened - the mill came and went, and logging has nearly come and gone too, for that matter.

I believe that Treasure Mountain should be developed - there's tourism for ya. And the mine up Libby Creek developed and opened to get some economy back.

People worry about the grizzly bears, well, they survived the logging for how many hundred years and developing in the Yaak, the mine in Troy, and they even survive Turner Mountain.

Now, back to my original reason for this letter.

The track has been closed for several months because of the person's carelessness. It's not like the kids that were going out there were causing problems and out of control. Usually there were adults there or the kids were responsible enough to be there. Some of the young people that use the track are quite young and had parents there, so I'm pretty sure there wasn't trouble out there. The one person that was injured and finally got the track closed probably shouldn't have been out there in the first place because of lack of experience. If people are dumb enough to make dumb decisions then they need to face the outcome. It wasn't everyone else's fault that person got hurt, it was his own.

Now, because of the noise control crowd and poor decision making, the track is closed to all the responsible parties as well. Some of these people used the track just for something to do and have some fun but others used this track for that and much more. They used it to keep up skills and hone skills so they could actually use those skills in competition and have almost had to give it up because they have nowhere to practice.

If you remember, last September there was quite a large turn out at the Motocross Races held there. With that it brought a lot of people to town that stayed at our hotels/motels, bought groceries at our stores and restaurants. They had vendors at the races that people local and from out of town bought from. These people from out of town go home and tell friends/family about our little piece of paradise we have and the great time they had and then the next time more people come and businesses benefit.

So, let's wake up, stop whining about noise and learn to deal with it, and people learn to make responsible decisions and those powers that be in higher places get on with it so the track can be reopened and put to good use in more ways than one. And don't forget to put the fence back where it lives if it's not already been put back.

Teri Beebe