*Our friends at the SEMA Action Network (SAN), who watch legislative activities in Washington D.C., told us that the Bush Administration announced that it would continue to enforce the Clinton-era roadless rule in 58.5 million acres of national forest lands. At the same time, it released a plan that would allow governors to seek exemptions from the rule to address health and safety issues such as reducing the risk of wildfires. Roads could also be constructed to provide access to private property or help maintain existing infrastructure. Exemptions would not be granted for lands identified as national monuments, national recreation areas, or wilderness study areas. In related news, several lawsuits are working their way through the courts challenging the validity of the roadless rule. Meanwhile, legislation has been introduced in both the U.S. House and Senate to turn the rule into a law (without incorporating the Bush Administration's proposed exemptions), though there has been no action on the legislation to date.
My husband, Paul Darga, is a Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Tech. He is currently serving in the Middle East, participating in Operation Iraqi Freedom, and has been gone for six months now. He is reading your magazine regularly thanks to our ability to send care packages. His job is primarily to defuse and dispose of unexploded ordnance. The cloud in the photo is an explosion set to dispose of ordnance.Sincerely,
Karie Darga, USN WifeNorfolk, VA
I hope that my coolest reading place will suffice for your magazine, though it's not very cool now-115-120 degrees F most days. I've enclosed a few pictures, including one of a curious Iraqi boy becoming a 4-Wheel & Off-Road enthusiast. He knows Jeeps! My rig out here? A Hummer, of course.Semper Fidelis,
Maj. R.W. Egenolf, USMC
1st Marine Expeditionary Force, Babylon, Iraq