EAST BAY wrote: "I cannot believe that people are actually concerned that, with a new, completely legal access trail to the spring that does not go through Mike Castro's toll road, riff raff will actually enter the springs!"

Maybe I missed something. Is there someone checking on every person who enters the Springs by way of JF3? I didn't think so. "Riff-raff" can indeed enter thru the JF3 route, TOTALLY UNCHECKED. Notice, I didn't they they HAVE, I just say IT'S ENTIRELY POSSIBLE AND LIKELY TO HAPPEN, just as you accuse Mike of doing or at least implying somehow it's his fault that roudies come in thru the Bowen Ranch.

If you're going to imply that somehow Mike has done a less-than-adequate job of screening people, then what of the TOTALLY UNCONTROLLED JF3 entry point? Would you not apply the same criteria to that entry point? Aren't those who make that entry point more accessible also responsible for who gets in that way? Maybe they are. I'd certainly feel some responsibility for that. Or perhaps you just shrug it off and say, well, everyone's got a right to go to the Springs, so it's not my fault that I opened the door to let them all in. And who am I to say who gets in and who does not? Well, there IS a thing called "personal responsibility". I think it's an appropriate concept here.

But really, the topic has more to do with the VANDALISM that's occurring AT the JF3 parking lot rather than what those same people may be doing at the Springs themselves. Get the idea? "If you build it, they will come." Seems appropriate to point out that little reality. You should be thankful we have Mike turning down at least SOME of the people who flood into his property.

And sure, it appears he has a conflict of interest. Let's see. A carload of roudies shows up and Mike now has a moral dilema: Do I take the $4 and then deal with the possible consequences? Or do I turn them away? The fact is that Mike does indeed turn SOME people away.

$4, $8, or $12, or $16 [for a carload of 4 people] hardly makes a difference to Mike's budget, and presents no "conflict of interest" for him, in light of the possible negative consequences that COULD result in much greater damages. Gimme a break from any suggestion that Mike couldn't turn down a measily 4 bucks.

DCR --- I don't think YOU "get it". You said, among other things: "...if we had car trouble back on those routes we would hike out to make a phone call to someone that could help us. After all, we are there for hiking ... why would we call Mike Castro?"

No one was talking about YOU specifically, DCR. The FACT is that Mike receives requests for help CONSTANTLY. When was the last time YOU jumped someone's dead battery at the Springs? Or the last time you were awakened in the middle of the night cuz some silly hiker "lost" their car and you had to drive them back to JF3 to find it? Just because YOU would never call upon Mike (and I'm not referring to a phone call - you could WALK to his front door), doesn't mean that others have not. Indeed, this is the fact. Mike has done so on many occasions.

To be continued...