Posted on 02/04/2012 3:14:23 PM PST by stillafreemind
Did everyone miss the description i.e., “steel cleats”?
These ‘steel-cleated’ wheels are like dozer tracks. They will tear hell out of pavement, which is why dozer operators lay tires down across the road when they have to move them.
Guilty. Pay the fine, but no jail for the kid.
I don’t think it was the steel wheels, it was the cleats. They are several inches long and are designed piece the ground for better traction.
Kind of like walking over hardwood floors with baseball cleats.
Mennonite are not Amish.
Here’s a pic of said cleats:
Now, here’s a pic of a steam tractor from about a century ago, on steel:
http://oldtractorpictures.com/veryoldtractors/
The one pulling stumps had the type of cleats that, if that were what was on the roads, I’d agree that it could/would tear up the roads in short order. But bar clears on rubber belting around steel? It’s not as bad as the DA would like to imagine.
Here’s another shot of the old “real steel wheels” of that day;
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i8/dgwparfitt/images2/Lauson_Bergeijk08.jpg
Those, I could believe would rip up the pavement. As I’m looking at the bar cleats on rubber belting around a steel rim, I’m unconvinced of claims of road damage. Looking at the pics of the old-style steel wheels with those wicked spikes... I’d need no convincing to believe that they’d tear the hell out of a paved road.
As the court case said “Lack of evidence” supported the claim of damage to the roads, and the ordinance ignored other, PROVEN causes of damage to roads, like big grain carts that are wildly over-weight on a single axle.
I doubt the steel cleats do a lot more damage than steel horseshoes with carbide attached on them for the ice,and the steel wheels on the buggies.
In all fairness, they don’t usually take those carts down the road loaded. Those are for field transport.
From the combine to the truck. That way, the combine never has to stop.
Farmers would be more concerned that running loaded on the pavement would be hard on those $4000 tires.
No, they’re not. They’re “bar cleats:”
OK, I think I see what is going on here. I’ll explain for all you city folks who haven’t been in farming communities where the Mennonites show up.
Many farming communities in the midwest are notoriously jealous of anyone else’s success. Many of the people in the community will have been farming for two, three or more generations and they’ve come to think of themselves as “the best farmer(s) in the county” or some such. Many of them are highly competitive with other farmers to see who can get the best price for their crops, the newest paint in their equipment shed, farm the most land (even if most of it is rented ground), etc. You should hear the tongue wagging that happens when someone buys TWO new pieces of ag equipment in one year. Holy crap, you’d think the guy knocked over a bank and was on the lam.
All that’s well and fine. Not exactly my cup of tea, but human nature being what it is, I understand it.
Now, into this come the Mennonites. Allow me to explain about the Mennonites, for those of you who have never had them move into your community.
You’ll have a couple Mennonite families move into your farming community, often from quite a ways off. They won’t move to the cities or even suburbs, because they live an agrarian life in small towns. They want no part of the big cities, or even the McMansion suburbs. They might shop in said places, they might have to go into big towns to get supplies, hardware, etc, but you’re not going to see too many of them living there. So you’re in a small farming community and a couple Mennonite families move in.
Next thing you know, you have a couple dozen families, then a Mennonite church (which they will buy or build, according to their financies, need and available buildings) and then things really get going. They don’t shun the outside world, they’ll go to producer meetings, county meetings, etc... but aside from important meetings, they keep their noses to the grindstone.
This last bit is the important part. They don’t waste their time watching TV, surfing the web, going to movies, or other nonsense. They work, worship, eat, sleep, raise their kids, care for their stock and that’s about it.
Do I really need to spell out what happens to a group of folks who work instead of watching TV? They succeed like nothing most people have seen recently, that’s what.
Suddenly, folks look around and notice that the Mennonites are doing better than a lot of the “big operators” previously thought to be the hot farmers in the area. The church is helping finance the expansion and purchase of land, equipment, etc, and the congregation is also an available labor pool for times when the Mennonite producers need some extra help.
Now the BTO’s (farmer lingo for “Big Time Operator”) in the area start getting PO’d. These Mennonites are buying up the land.... with interest paid to their church, not a bank. They’re farming it with equipment, just as the BTO’s are, and because the Mennonites don’t shun technology in farming, they’re getting yields on par with modern BTO’s - unlike the Amish, who will never achieve anything but 19th century yields with their shunning of technology, including pesticides, diesel-powered ag equipment, electrical powered processing equipment, etc.
Now the BTO’s *and their relatives who might be in county government* (because most modern farms have the wife working in town, and many wives work in the county government, the local schools, etc) start getting PO’ed ... and they look for ways to hamper the Mennonites in what they’re doing.
This tire reg clearly appears to be one of those moves that I’ve seen or read about in farming communities where the Mennonites show up.
True, but enough of them find their way onto county roads:
http://www.co.hardin.ia.us/files/AudubonCoIncident.pdf
Why revert stick to hunter-gathering? A lot of cutting edge technology went into horse bridals, collars, yokes, reigns, harnesses, etc not to mention plows and other implements.
Every one of them should be recalled.
There's a much more important issue in this case. In most cases, the government does not own the land under the road, but possesses an easement by which the property owner grants permission to build the road. Should the road be torn out, the property would revert to the owner's exclusive use. I would think a reasonable case could be made that the farmer has an absolute right of way across the a public right of way ON HIS PROPERTY. In short, it's the government's responsibility not to interfere with his reasonable use of the rest of his land by building a road without a crossing capable of supporting the tractor.
“So it is perfectly ok that they destroy public property?”
Debatable premise. Is the specific load imposed on the pavement by the nub/wheel rim sufficient to cause pavement damage?
Specifics, please.
I am sitting in front of a nice new 40” screen, reading Carry_Okie’s post and my friend, agrees with Carry_Okie.
Oh, I forgot to mention that my friend is a surveyor, and at 89 yaqrs old is likely one of the oldest and most experienced surveyors in Florida. Or perhaps America.
NVDave has posted a series of posts which are an excellent example of why FreeRepublic.com is such a valuable resource.
I will use this thread as an example of how the Internet can make highly technical or legal issues both understandable and readily available to the autodidact.
PS For you Liberals (and we know you are lurking out there) look up the word. Hint: It describes much of education in an earlier and more successful America.
PPS America may be returning to that education modality.
Kindly tell Mr. Carr (I'm guessing at the spelling) that, at a mere 57, I humbly appreciate his approval of my precocity.
At a gas pump, a Mennonite asked where I got a large nylon net I had covering my truck's load. I answered, "The Internet"; whereupon, he turned on his heel and walked away. ;)
Yes they would, but things like tractors and electric milking machines are used in food production, so they rationalize it that way. Tractors are now often seen being used as transportation instead of the horse drawn buggy.
Telephones used to be prohibited, don't know if they still are, but in any case they could talk on one, just not dial or pick it up. Very good people but like observant Jews that find ways around the rules like hire some kid to turn the lights or TV on or change a channel, or have timers on everything. I had a friend once that got a jay walking ticket because he couldn’t press the walk button. Me, just a sinner, saved by Grace. No brag, just fact. Quote from, Guns of Will Sonnett
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