Sutherland OHV Park Needs Help
by Dan Nitzel

Please help us solve a few critical issues concerning the Flat Rock Riders OHV Park near Sutherland.

The current president of the Flat Rock chapter is having difficulty with duties involving the park and she would like to have some assistance. If you have some free time and would like to help, please give her a call at 308-368-7802.

Another critical issue involves expenses that we incur due to the park. Currently, NOHVA memberships pay for the liability insurance at the park. The insurance is added to our policy for the Headworks OHV park. Our annual general insurance premium is about $2,500. We pay an additional $2,200+ a year for the jamborees at Headworks. I estimate that the Sutherland park adds at least about $300 to $500 a year to the cost of our general insurance policy, plus it exposes our organization to additional liability.

At last check, we had only nine NOHVA members in the North Platte area. These memberships generated $225 in membership dues. It costs about $160 a year to send mailings, membership packets, etc to these nine members. That leaves about $65 left over for insurance. I think it would be safe to assume that only a few of the North Platte area NOHVA members actually ride at the Sutherland park, as most of these people ride at the Nebraska National Forest near Halsey.

We certainly do not want to see the area closed. However, it is very unfair to ask NOHVA members who generally don’t ride there to pay for the insurance expenses involved with keeping the are open.

NPPD officials recently have re-assured me that in order to keep the area open, the following requirements need to be met:
>> There needs to be an active local club that is incorporated and has by-laws and rules along the line that NOHVA has required at the area.
>> A local club needs to be there if an issue comes along that needs to be addressed.
>> Someone needs to pay for the insurance.

When we were originally asked to help open the area and keep it open, I made it clear to the local riders that NOHVA would continue to be involved IF the riders supported us. Support is shown in paid memberships to our (NOHVA) organization. The support for our involvement at the area has not occurred from the riders who enjoy the area. Our memberships are not very expensive, only $25 single and $30 family a year.

According to my calculations, it would take about 50 paid memberships to pay for the insurance. To justify NOHVA’s continued support of the area in 2005, there is going to have to be a substantial increase in paid memberships to NOHVA by people who use the area.
A alternative may include the possibility that local riders may choose to sever their ties to NOHVA and form their own organization and purchase their own insurance.

We are now leaving it up to the riders. The area will remain open free of charge to riders, but there needs to be a substantial presence of NOHVA members at the area to justify our involvement. If this increase does not occur, we will be forced to reconsider our support of the area in 2005.