Big media, methinks you do a disservice to Americans in your coverage of the Puerto Rican hurricane damage.

You carry a lot of criticism of Washington’s rescue efforts. Too little, too late you tell us. You are quick to show us people who lost their homes wailing that nobody was helping. You lace your coverage with endless criticisms.

Your commentators claim racism and deliberate neglect by President Trump and his people.

Methinks you do not have a clue about how much the U.S. government can quickly do — or not do — to help an island in this disaster. You could find out with a few phone calls. To people who know this stuff, it’s obvious you never made the calls.

First, FEMA is not a huge agency. It can only work with local governments. In Puerto Rico, the local government was wiped out for several days. So there was not much to work with. First-responders could not respond and could not travel. No petrol, no electricity, and no homes for many of them.

Second, FEMA had already been strained to the max dealing with Hurricane Harvey’s destruction in Houston.

Next, you suggest government do this or that. When this or that is utterly impossible. You insist government should have been prepared. Should have had ships ready to sail in with emergency supplies. Should have flown in more supplies. Should have sent in many thousand more troops.

Right. Do you think Navy ships cruise around loaded with diapers and emergency rations? Do you think they hang around an island when a hurricane approaches? Ships get sunk by hurricanes too, you know. They steer well clear of them. Which means they cannot cruise in the next day to offer help.

And then Navy ships are full of ammunition and military equipment, not emergency supplies. Nobody loads ships with emergency supplies expecting a hurricane may or may not strike an island.

So, ships have to go to a port. It takes hours. They load supplies, which also takes hours. They sail to Puerto Rico. Last I looked, Miami to San Juan was 1,000 miles. The speed of most cargo ships is 25 mph. Do the math. They finally offload supplies. Who delivers the supplies? Trucks that are not running. Because there is no fuel.

Well then, fly in the supplies. Okay, but San Juan’s airport was out of commission. Where do you land the planes?

Well then, use helicopters. Yes, but they carry one or two pallets at a time. For 3.5 million people; oh boy.

You media guys wave your magic wand and move ships and men about as if in a Hollywood production.

Do you have any idea how tiny the amount of supplies ships on a rescue mission can deliver? Compared to the needs of 3.5 million people? A few containers a day. Puerto Rico consumes many hundreds of containers of supplies every day in normal times.

And troops? Suppose we land another 5,000 troops tomorrow. And what will they do? The same work hundreds of thousands of local men and women are doing. How will they be fed? Food is in short supply on the island. Where will they get water? Water is short. Who will feed them next week? How will they travel across the island? Fuel is short.

Meanwhile the Navy lands 10 bulldozers. Little wow, because the island needs the work of thousands of bulldozers.

I recognize Big Media types who suggest we send in troops. They also think we should order up 10,000 troops for Afghanistan next week. Poof, send them by FedEx.

I wish more reporters would do more reporting. And less distorting. It would be refreshing.

From Tom…as in Morgan           

Tom Morgan writes about political, financial, and other subjects from his home near Oneonta. You can write to Tom at tomasinmorgan@yahoo.com. You can read more of his writing at tomasinmorgan.com

New York’s tourism industry is alive and showing signs of growth. A recent study estimated that 239 million visitors traveled to New York state in 2016. These visitors had an estimated economic impact of $104.8 billion and $64.8 billion in direct spending. While the number of visitors and spending was up from 2015, the state can do more to help increase tourism.

A simple way to draw more visitors to New York and particularly to upstate New York is to amend the state’s vehicle and traffic laws to allow side-by-side ATVs to be registered with the state Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). Side-by-sides are often used in farm operations, but are also growing in popularity for recreational use. Unlike a traditional ATV, a side-by-side, sometimes referred to as a utility task vehicle (UTV), enables the passenger to sit next to the driver rather than behind the driver. As a result, they are slightly heavier, more technologically advanced, and safer by some industry standards. To enable more riders to enjoy the scenic beauty and encourage more people to visit our local businesses, New York should raise the weight limit from 1,000 to 1,500 pounds to allow for side-by-sides on public trails. I sponsored legislation that would enact this change and bring the current weight limit up to date. 

Unfortunately, the bill has stalled in the Assembly due to a general misconception that riders are uncaring about the environment when in fact many are conservationists who take rides to appreciate nature and the area’s scenic beauty. Opponents also claim the increase will cause erosion. There are ways, however, to prevent erosion and the state should use some of the ATV registration fees — an estimated $1.5 million a year — collected at the DMV to pay for general trail maintenance. In fact, for many years the state collected an additional fee from registered riders with the understanding that the fee would help pay for trail development and maintenance. Those trails, however, were never developed and riders lost out on a promised investment. The state should make good on that promise by finally creating the trails on state land, similar to the trail system created for snowmobilers. This would help make vast areas of land owned by the state accessible to the public. Instead, New York’s current policy is helping to drive visitors elsewhere and encouraging some of its own residents to go to other states.

Because of current policy, we are losing out on registration fees at the DMV and UTV owners are losing out on access to public trails. More importantly, local businesses are losing revenue that could be generated by more visitors on trails that are specifically designed and built to handle the off-road experience that all-terrain vehicles offer. Finally, this change in law would be more consistent with other state efforts to promote and increase tourism. ATV and snowmobile trails are promoted on the “I Love NY” website and through other local tourism outreach efforts, yet our laws are not consistent with some of the tourism messaging. It is time to update our laws that have not been changed since 1997 to be more in step with the changing vehicles in order to bring more people here to experience our area. Our region has incredible beauty and the ATV trails traverse through creek-side views and wooded terrain that can only be safely accessed with an off-road vehicle.

Anyone who owns an ATV must register the vehicle with the DMV even if the vehicle is only being used on the owner’s property. ATV dealers are required to register every ATV they sell to New York state residents before the buyer receives the vehicle. Certain exemptions do apply such as when the vehicles are used for agricultural purposes. To learn more about ATVs and current regulations, visit https://dmv.ny.gov/brochure/atvs-information-owners-and-operators.        

William (Will) A. Barclay is the Republican representative of the 120th New York Assembly District, which encompasses most of Oswego County, including the cities of Oswego and Fulton, as well as the town of Lysander in Onondaga County and town of Ellisburg in Jefferson County. Contact him at barclaw@assembly.state.ny.us, or (315) 598-5185.