To the editor:
I do not know Maine Snowmobile Association Director at Large, Mr. David L. Stevens of Ludlow. I am sure that he is a sincere advocate for the snowmobile industry. However, he made various accusations concerning Jim McBreairty’s work for the snowmobile industry that need to be answered. Jim McBreairty has worked hard for over 40 years to promote snowmobiling in Maine. He was a leader in starting the snowsled races that popularized sledding in the late 1960s. He was a founding member of the first snowmobile club. In the ‘70s and ‘80s he was a dominant voice in the state legislature on snowmobile issues. He received the thanks of the Maine Snowmobile Association on many occasions. He also opposed MSA on some issues. He is a member of Maine’s Snowmobiler Hall of Fame.
Jim McBreairty is 94 years old. The most work he has done for sledding lately did not involve legislation. It involved dirty dishes. From the ages of 89 to 93 he volunteered as a dishwasher at his club. In case Mr. Stevens is interested, Jim bruises very easily, as do most folks in their 90s. Many times he came home from washing up the plates at the club with bruises up and down his arms. His family asked him to give it up and he finally agreed that maybe at 93 he had washed enough dishes.
Jim McBreairty believes that the snowmobile industry is, at its heart, based on the good will of landowners. In the ‘70s he pushed legislation that protected the interests of property owners because it was the right thing to do, and because he believed that if the industry respected landowners then landowners would reciprocate by allowing sledding on their property. The trail system depends on landowners.
Mr. McBreairty was the primary sponsor of the legislation that created the Maine moose hunt. At the time it was opposed by most environmental groups. It was hard to convince the legislature that hunting male moose would improve the herd by focusing resources on calf-bearing females. But it worked and now moose are as ubiquitous as out-of-state snowmobilers who say that coming here from New Jersey and Pennsylvania is worth every penny they spend at restaurants and hotels; if they see one moose out in the wild.
Mr. McBreairty believes that snowmobile clubs should continue to be voluntary associations of willing participants. The MSA legislation that Mr. Stevens claims would have raised $1,500,000 would have done so by forcing sledders to either join a club or to pay an increased registration tax.
Aside from seeming vaguely un-American; forcing people to join a club to avoid a tax risks taking control away from dedicated volunteers and turning it over to larger numbers who only join to avoid yet another tax. Mr. McBreairty believes that sledders pay a tax when they buy a sled, they pay a tax to register the sled, they pay a tax to put fuel in the sled, they pay a tax when they buy a meal while enjoying the sled. To pay a tax because they do not choose to join a club seemed one tax too many.
Most people who do not join a club still buy club raffle tickets and eat at club fund-raisers. Even landowners who allow trails to cross their property would have been forced to join a club or to pay a higher fee to go sledding. Mr. McBreairty, along with a group of Aroostook County landowners, successfully opposed the MSA supported measure.
Mr. McBreairty believes that the funding formulas should be changed to enhance trails in northern, central, and western Maine. He believes that in the long run the most benefit is to be had from money spent on snowmobile trails in places that have the most snow. MSA’s position seems to be that areas of the state with a lot of population but with intermittent winter snow coverage should receive a major investment. That probably is good politics but it is bad business.
When you see a moose or ride on a trail or sell a meal to a sledder from out of state; take a minute and remember the work of people like the Sperry family of Washburn who decided to start a club, or the late Duncan Haines of Caribou, or Jim McBreairty, or all the landowners who donate the use of their property to any stranger with a sled, and all the unsung volunteers who do the actual work of grooming and fund raising.
I hope that MSA officials have better things to do than to attack lifetime members who may disagree about new MSA sponsored taxes on sledders. If they do not, then perhaps it is time for northern Maine to consider forming a new organization that will be as concerned with trails in Madawaska as with trails in Falmouth Foreside.
Jim McBreairty has always worked to protect the rights of landowners, to promote the tourism industry, and for the average local sledder. He has done so in the State Senate and he has done so up to his elbows in hot dishwater. He helps MSA when he thinks they are right and he opposes them when he thinks they are wrong. He will not be intimidated by Mr. Stevens’s letter.
At 94, Grampy McBreairty – as I call him – may not be as articulate or as sharp tongued as Mr. Stevens or certain other MSA directors; but I am betting that the people of Aroostook County recognize when one of their own has been unfairly attacked and will continue to appreciate the hard work of the past.
In closing, Mr. Stevens seems exercised that Mr. McBreairty did not attend a recent MSA meeting in Fort Fairfield. At 94, Jim McBreairty had health reasons for not attending that are no concern of Mr. Stevens or of the Maine Snowmobile Association.
Wade
