The following editorial appeared in the Pasadena Star News on May 22, 2000.
Whether your reason is religion, health or a tax protest, we support challenging the ridiculous Adventure Pass -- a fee to visit our national forests -- until it is repealed.
Seems like many national forest visitors are looking to the heavens for relief from an unfair tax euphimistically called "The Adventure Pass."
God knows, they can't get any help from Congress.
Pasadena resident Robert Bartsch was ticketed for not having purchased the $5 a day or $30 pey year pass before he went strolling into the Angeles National Forest, the land owned by the people just to our north. A Los Angeles federal court judge dismissed the summons in December 1998, saying he could not enforce a non-permanent program. Congress and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (which oversees the U.S. Forest Service) call this new pass "a demonstration program." Batsch now advises folks caught without a pass by the forest police to explain they are there for spiritual reasons, for their health, or as a protest.
The religious defense is spreading.
Majorie Hoye of Bend, Ore., said her visit to central Idaho's Sawtooth National Recreation Area was spiritual, not recreational, in nature. The U.S. Attorney in Idaho declined to prosecute Hoye for not having purchased a pass, saying in effect the law was not worth his time. Added the Sawtooth's law enforcement chief, Steve Lipus: "We're not going to take anything to court and waste taxpayer money if we feel we don't have a good case."
There you have it, folks. A federal officer says the enforcement of its own pass program is a waste of taxpayers' money. Stands to reason that charging people who already pay Uncle Sam for the maintenance of federal lands another fee to use the same lands is, in the feds' own words, not a good case.
Ain't irony great.
Many of our local politicians, notably Supervisor Mike Antonovich, have come around to our side and think charging for a walk in the forest is absurd. "This misnamed Adventure Pass is a form of double taxation and I will continue to fight to eliminate it," said Rep. Lois Capps, D-Santa Barbara.
It's time to eliminate the Adventure Pass program which was extended until 2001, and instead, take some federal surplus dollars to properly fund the maintenance of the Angeles, as well as other treasures that are our national forests.
Bartsch and Hoye's praying posture may sound absurd. But sometimes challenging ridiculous laws takes an equally outlandish approach. We understand, however, if one gets his or her spiritual inspiration in a church, mosque or synagogue and not on the Mt. Wilson Trail, don't lose hope. For those, we suggest the protest defense. Just carry a copy of your federal tax returns in your back pocket. In our view -- and apparently in some smart federal court judges' -- that'll pass.