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Topic: Kids in the Mudd Extreme Farm

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Kids in the Mudd Extreme Farm

Thought I would post this for everyone to see.

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Hello,
 
For those that don't know me, my name is Derric Riegel. I have no affiliation with Kids in the Mudd Extreme Farm (www.kidsinthemudd.com) other than having the pleasure of being friends with the owners, Dave and Carol Stasiak. I represent the Southwest Michigan Jeepers (www.swmjeepers.com), a small group of jeep owners in the southwest Michigan area, and I write to you today to ask for you help in supporting a local ORV Park.
 
Kids in the Mudd Extreme Farm is located in Decatur, MI and offers ~80 acres of mud, trails, log climbs, hills, and other obstacles for people to come out and test their rigs on. They have been forced to close down as a business by Hamilton Township. Hamilton Township has further contested that they should not be allowed to continue to allow friends to enjoy their property for off-road use. This has the potential to become a private land use issue and the ramifications could easily lead to a statewide precedence affecting off-roaders and atv riders alike.
 
We have contacted local media including the Kalamazoo Gazette, the Herald Palladium, WWMT3, WoodTV8, Fox17 and others to try to bring light to this situation. Fox17 news ran an initial story covering this issue on November 4th, and we hope to encourage their continued coverage. We have sent emails to news@wxmi.com informing of them of the date and time of the upcoming court date and encouraging them to attend, and additional emails being sent to them would be very helpful. I have personally, as have several others, contacted District 80 House Representative Tonya Schuitmaker (tonyaschuitmaker@house.mi.gov) and she assured me that my concerns are being addressed. Any additional help in sending more emails by you guys and your members will be immensely helpful.
 
The case of Hamilton Township vs. Kids in the Mudd Extreme Farm will be heard at the Van Buren County Courthouse at 9am on Wednesday November 21st. The courthouse is located at 212 East Paw Paw St, Paw Paw, MI 49079. Myself and several other members of SWMJ have been subpoenaed to testify and many other members of our club will be in attendance to show support. It would be great if any of you and the members of your clubs could be there as well.
 
Any and all help is greatly appreciated.
 
Thanks for your time,
Derric Riegel
(269) 207-6485
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I know it's been brought up in other topics here recently, so please us this thread to further discuss it so we don't clutter up other threads.

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I've emailed local news stations to cover it, but they seem preoccupied with covering how many people got stampeded this year at wally world fighting over some chinese produced item that'll poison your kid, kill your dog, and end up in the landfill sometime within the next two years.

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ChevelleSSLS6 wrote:

I've emailed local news stations to cover it, but they seem preoccupied with covering how many people got stampeded this year at wally world fighting over some chinese produced item that'll poison your kid, kill your dog, and end up in the landfill sometime within the next two years.



How true.  How true   hmm



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Update...

Dave and Carol were found in contempt of court by having an open door policy on there property. Basically the judge said that they were within the letter of the injunction but not the spirit of it.

But, he is holding off sentencing until after the zoning appeal tomorrow (Nov. 28th). Our guess is that if the zoning goes there way and it is found that they were wrongfully denied then the sentence on the contempt of court will just be a slap on the hand, if not, well...

Either way we will know more after tomorrow, but as of right now they have been told explicitly that no one but them is allowed on the land until after the zoning appeal hearing.

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I'm now confused about what happened.  So what type of punishment can they be inflicted for allowing people on there property???  Doesn't seem to make much sense.  How were they in contempt?

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From how the judge explained it, the injunction they were given at the beginning of this told them to stop operating there business on the property. They took this as they couldn't charge people to come on there land. So they let people on for free.

The judge said that the injunction was meant to stop them from tearing up the land until the zoning board could decide if they could operate a off road park on the property. By still allowing people on the land he says they were in violation of the spirit of the injunction but not the word.

They are still going to fight it. One of the funnier parts was the defense was trying to make an argument on what a "friend" is considerd... Like if you don't know where someone lives or works then they are can't not be your freind.... How many of us do we consider friends but don't know where they live or work?

That, and this sets a precedent that even if you own your own land you are not allowed to do what you want with it... I understand saying they can't operate a business on the land... But not allowing them to have people out there on the land is against there civil liberties.

More to come as they are in court today for the zoning board hearing.

-- Edited by HavenSOV at 14:17, 2007-11-28

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Thanks for the explanation, hope everything works out for them.

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I hope it works out, if all goes well, I'd love to have a get-together some weekend there.

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UPDATE...

Unfortunately about nothing... Absolutely nothing was accomplished at the zoning board hearing yesterday other then to set dates for more hearings. But from the sounds of it, the next one is where they will be able to plead there case and get a chance to talk and get there layer to talk.

What a waste...

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I'd see if the ARRA has anything to say about it, or could help in some way. As for the 'nothing getting done' isn't that what government normally does?
-Matt

http://www.arra-access.com/arra/home.html

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***UPDATE***

On the 22nd of this month (January) KITM will be back in front of the zoning board. This is the "Oral approval and appeal hearing". Basically this is when they get to argue their case to be able to operate.

They would like as much support as they can get in the way of attendance at this to show this small town zoning board that there is more interest in this then there little rinky dink town.

So if you can show up it would be great.

It will be at 3:30pm in Van Buran Country (exact place TBA)

SWMJeepers is setting up a meeting point near by for lunch or something before hand then heading over on mass.

If you are near the area or can make it to this your support would be greatly appreciated!!

Will keep you posted as I get more info.

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Any phone numbers or addresses of township board members so we can make a point? I mean, without being rude or anything, but refusing to be a doormat.

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Contact Information for Township Board:

David Tate:
dtate@vbdl.org
Van Buren District Library
200 W. Phelps St.
Decatur MI 49045
Work: (269)423-4771
Fax: (269)423-8373
Home:(269)423-4771
Sandra Hanson:
75406 56th St
Decatur MI 49045
Charles Goodrich:
Home: (269)423-7547
Cell: (269) 436-0685

Carl Druskovich:
W:(269) 426-7866
O:(269) 423-7342

Township Hall:
52333 W. Territorial Rd
Decatur MI 49055
Thomas Erdmann
73230 8th Avenue
South Haven, MI 49090
(269) 637-8640
Susan Hammond
295 E. Main Street
Breedsville, MI 49027
(269) 427-7281
James Ray,
31017 31st Street
Paw Paw, MI 49079
(269) 628-4197
(269) 628-4384 Fax
Richard W. Freestone
31002 60th Avenue
Bangor, MI 49013
(269) 427-7674
Richard W. Freestone
31002 60th Avenue
Bangor, MI 49013
(269) 427-7674
Donald A. Hanson, Vice Chairman
75406 56th Street
Decatur, MI 49045
(269) 674-8780
Chris Randall, Chairman
300 W. White Oak Road
Lawton, MI 49065
(269) 624-4811
(269) 624-7368 Fax
 Trustee: Craig Rose
(269) 423-6358  








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-Haven
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muahahahahaha! don't harass these people, just call them on a daily basis at a reasonable time and let them know that people outside of their community will bring money and tourism if they let KITM live!

Remember, money talks!

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well.... Not for this po dunk community... That has been brought up and at the zoning board meeting and the quote from one of the board members was "We have enough money..."

If I had found the gas station I was going to stop and ask the attendant if he thought he had enough money, but, getting from KITM to the highway you don't pass anything but field's.

I really don't understand it...

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