OUR PLACE
Garycon.
The fifteenth running of the Garycon went down at the Grand Geneva from Friday last until Sunday afternoon. There were thousands of people in attendance, not that, in their costumes, one could tell that they were all able to be identified as such. It wasn’t a wild ‘Comicon’ kind of convention, or even a Star Trek get together. Yes, there were costumes and yes there was great food of quality cheaply priced (thank you, Grand Geneva) and a couple of well-attended open bars. What there also was, however, was a commitment to playing the game of Dungeons and Dragons in all of its derivations.
There was a calm order to the event and the people attending were extremely polite and helpful. Garycon hasn’t always been held at the Grand Geneva but in going to the event and witnessing the entire scope and presentation of it the GSR staff is convinced that the resort should do its best to win it back for Garycon XVI.
There was a surprise giant snowfall, and it’s hoped, universally by all, that it’s the last of this season.
The snow, wet and preceded by a heavy raid, was sticky and along the south shore of Geneva Lake was nearly a foot deep by the time it was all over. The north side of the lake got a little bit less. Still, for coming in on the early hours of February 25, five days after spring officially began, it was a shock to everyone, even those who’ve lived long lives in this area of south Wisconsin. Green Bay, or maybe Washington Island, up at the tip of the state, well maybe, but down south near the Illinois border, it was very extraordinary. The city and towns around Geneva Lake did a great and rapid job of getting it off the roads, helped along by a Saturday morning that brought forty-degree temperatures and a day of bright sunlight. The mighty and beautiful trees that surround the lake have taken a heavy toll and the results of all the wet and icy weather that’s been heaped upon their branches and trunks will not be fully known until the reality of real spring begins to become more evident.
Walworth is the latest county to pass an ordinance related to the use of all-terrain vehicles.
Starting this summer, many of Walworth County’s roadways will be available to ATV and UTV riders, so long as the municipality they are located in adopts their own ordinance about them and installs signage. Public Works Director Richard Hough (Walworth County) says while many local municipalities have their own ATV/UTV ordinances, the Town of Bloomfield is the only one to incorporate the use of county roads, at least so far. Hough says the ordinance goes into effect on July 1st of 2023. Now, the question becomes one of content.
What’s the problem with ATV’s using normal roads (and nobody’s discussing allowing ATVs to use larger highways, like Highway 12 or Interstate 43)? Safety, liability, and age of operators, not to mention licensing, insurance and speed are not really factors considered in the ordinance. Twelve years of age is the lower age limit, while the vehicles can only share the highway where speed limits are 35MPH or less. What happens if the speed limit goes up, like it does on Highway 50 coming out of Lake Geneva headed west? The speed limit is 25MPH and then goes all the way up to 55MPH as you draw closer to Highway 67. Can you imagine being involved in an auto or truck accident with a 12-year-old riding on an ATV? Well, you would probably be involved in a fatal accident, for one thing.
What about at night? Do all ATV’s have proper lighting front and rear? The ordinance does not cover that. What about insurance and vehicular registration so ATV vehicles can be identified and tracked later? The ordinance does not cover those. All states and municipalities have had lots of complex problems in allow golf carts to use public roadways. Those vehicles, like ATVs, are not built or equipped to be hit or hit moving two- and three-ton cars and trucks, but that happens. This is a badly written ordinance that is going to have a lot of dead or badly injured victims, not to mention the psychological effects that can affect anyone involved in such legalized mayhem.
