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Disc Golf dangerous says Lafayette Neighbors
May 16th
Each speaker is allowed 5 minutes. Council will listen to everyone. If there are so many people that Council is unable to conduct their scheduled business, they may opt to convene another meeting in order to give everyone an opportunity to speak. Susan said this is totally up to Council and she cannot predict what they might do.
I put together a summary of ten main points why disc golf does not belong at Waneka Lake. Let me know if you have any additions or changes you think should be made.
Meredith
Top Ten Reasons Why a Disc Golf Course Does Not Belong at Waneka Lake Park
1. It’s not what the majority of Lafayette citizens want.
According to the Lafayette Parks, Recreation, Open Space & Trails Master Plan Survey 2012, pages 27-31, Disc Golf ranked very low in the list of outdoor facilities that people want added, improved, or expanded. What ranked high on the list was “Additional park areas incorporating both native and manicured park type”. If you take a native park area and turn it into a disc golf course, you are taking away something people have told the city they want more of and giving the people something they have told the city they have little interest in.
http://www.cityoflafayette.
2. It’s unlawful.
Lafayette Code of Ordinances, Chapter 80, Article 4
Sec. 80-59. Firearms and other missiles prohibited.
It shall be unlawful for any person to use, carry, or possess air rifles, spring guns, bow and arrows, slings, or any other forms of weapons; it shall further be unlawful to possess or use fireworks of any kind or nature; it shall further be unlawful to play golf or hit any golf balls.
(Ord. No. 1985-15, § 2, 6-4-85; Ord. No. 2005-8, § 1, 3-1-05)
Golf balls are included in the section on “prohibited missiles”. According to the city’s own code, it is unlawfull to hit golf balls at Waneka Lake Park. A golf disc is a “missile” that can cause every bit as much—if not more—damage to person and property than a golf ball and therefore should be prohibited from the park according to Lafayette’s Code of Ordinances.
3. It will result in environmental degradation.
Even the Professional Disc Golf Players Association acknowledges that a major concern with disc golf is soil erosion. The article “Assessing the Ecological Impact Due to Disc Golf” in the International Journal of Sport Management, Recreation & Tourism examines the ecological footprint of disc golf. In the study, three ecological markers were used as indicators of ecological degradation: soil erosion, soil compaction and density of vegetation cover. Results from the study conclude that disc golf significantly increases soil compaction, which yields greater soil erosion and a decrease in vegetation cover. Soil compaction due to human trampling is a problem with severe consequences. (See “Ecological Impact Due to Disc Golf” article attached to this email).
4. It’s potentially dangerous.
Discs used in disc golf are not the same as the Frisbees people use to play catch. They weigh 3 ½ times more than a golf ball. Even junior players can throw discs at 40MPH. More accomplished players can throw discs at speeds up to 75 and 80MPH. People hit by flying discs can be severely injured. Given where the current holes are placed, discs are going to be flying across heavily used trails. Even if disc golfers yell “fore” warnings, many people walk with headphones and won’t hear.
http://www.dailybreeze.com/
http://www.ocregister.com/
http://www.ocregister.com/
5. It is not compatible with the existing use of the park.
To help him design better disc golf courses at Boy Scout camps, Steve West created a statistical model of Boy Scout disc golf skills. He collected data on how far and how accurately Boy Scouts throw a disc. From this data, a model was developed for simulating large numbers of throws. His model can be used to replace guesses about where the discs will land with numbers based on data. The average Boy Scout routinely throws discs as much as 120 feet or more to the right or left of the fairway. If West’s scatter plots are superimposed on top of the proposed holes at the Waneka Lake Park, you will see that discs are going to cross well used trails, hit the Waneka Granary (which is on the Lafayette Register of Historic Places), land in streets and back yards.
http://www.savemclarenpark.
6. Disc golfing requires a large amount of space devoted to a single use.
Regardless of the intent of the disc golf course creators, the nature of disc golf has the effect of discouraging non-golfers from using the area. What typically happens is that once a course is installed, players came to consider it as their own and show little patience for other casual users of the area. Since it makes sense that no one takes a casual walk through a regular golf course, they will most likely not, for their own safety, take a walk on a well-used disc golf course either.
7. Other cities are closing down disc golf courses due to safety and environmental degradation.
http://www.leddypark.org/wp-
http://www.statesman.com/news/
http://dnr.wi.gov/news/
http://www.muni.org/
http://billingsgazette.com/
http://www.peninsuladailynews.
http://www.mailtribune.com/
8. Sufficient time was not allowed for input from stakeholders.
A letter was sent out April 24 to people whose homes are adjacent to the course. The letter said the Recreation and Parks Departments were “in the process” of developing a disc golf course and that comments and questions would be accepted through May 9, giving the impression that the city was accepting input as to whether or not this disc golf course was a good idea. Yet at the very same time the letter went out, an announcement that a disc golf course “is coming” to Waneka Lake this summer was posted at the lake indicating that the installation of the course was a done deal and any comments or questions Parks and Rec receives in reality do not matter. No one other than the people living adjacent to the course was notified. Even though the Waneka Granary will undoubtedly be hit by flying discs, the Historical Society was not notified. The birding groups that frequent the park were not notified. Many people other than those living right by the park have a stake in how that land is used, yet no one was notified. This leaves the impression that this whole project is being rail-roaded through by the Recreation and Parks Departments.
9. The current disc golf course is underutilized and in disrepair.
The disc golf course at the Bob Burger Recreation Center fell into disuse and disrepair. If that course fell into disrepair, what is to prevent a course at Waneka Lake from falling into disrepair?
10. Because of growing safety concerns, disc golf course designers recommend disc golf courses be exclusive use only.
The following is a quote from Gregg Hosfeld who is:
3-time Professional Disc Golf Association World Champion
4-time United States Grand Master Disc Golf Champion
Disc Golf Hall of Fame inductee-Class of 1998
World Record Holder: “Most Courses Played” – 1,151
Disc Golf Design Group-Senior Designer
Co-founder World Champion Disc Golf Design
“I truly LOVE seeing the growing popularity of disc golf. I’ve been competing in tournaments since 1976 and giving lessons since the early 80s. I think it is a wonderful game for the entire family.
In the late 1970′s when disc golf was introduced, ALL flying discs were fairly lightweight and rounded edged. In other words, great for lofty flights and a game of throw & catch. As the game became more competitive and more geared toward sport, weight was added and then more streamlined aerodynamics were introduced. Over the years, these aerodynamics have been refined into some fast midrange discs and VERY fast “drivers”. Along with the “improvements” in disc technology, so must awareness of what that brings to the game. These high-tech discs, in the hands of a pro, can produce seemingly magically controlled flights. But in the hands of an inexperienced player, they can veer radically off the intended course. Very similar to a ’1-wood’ in standard golf in that regard. Simply put, “Faster” is harder to control. Same with cars, airplanes and anything hand propelled. I NEVER recommend these high-speed discs to newer players. Nor can I stop them.
With that in mind, we should consider that golf courses are designed to be exclusive-use areas; golf ONLY. Why? Those little balls are hard and they can hurt. Disc golf has been increasingly moving in the direction of exclusive-use areas, for the same reasons of safety. Any responsible disc golf course designer understands that. Unfortunately, many people in the parks & rec industry are only vaguely familiar with the game and have no reason to think that discs are any different now than in the 1970s.”
CU – Chicago funniest city in US
Apr 21st
According to a University of Colorado Boulder study, Chicago is the funniest city in the United States.
Boston is the No. 2 wise guy, followed by Atlanta in third place. Denver made the top 10 list at No. 8.
The study out today is the most comprehensive analysis of humorous cities and was led by Peter McGraw, associate professor of marketing and psychology at CU-Boulder’s Leeds School of Business. His team collected data across the nation using an algorithm created at his Humor Research Lab (HuRL).
According to the findings, the following are the top 10 funniest cities in the United States:
1. Chicago
2. Boston
3. Atlanta
4. Washington, D.C.
5. Portland, Ore.
6. New York
7. Los Angeles
8. Denver
9. San Francisco
10. Seattle
Source: CU
Asian migrants stuck on land bridge for milleniums
Feb 27th
likely a long-term refuge for early Americans
A new study led by the University of Colorado Boulder bolsters the theory that the first Americans, who are believed to have come over from northeast Asia during the last ice age, may have been isolated on the Bering Land Bridge for thousands of years before spreading throughout the Americas.
The theory, now known as the “Beringia Standstill,” was first proposed in 1997 by two Latin American geneticists and refined in 2007 by a team led by the University of Tartu in Estonia that sampled mitrochondrial DNA from more than 600 Native Americans. The researchers found that mutations in the DNA indicated a group of their direct ancestors from Siberia was likely isolated for at least several thousand years in the region of the Bering Land Bridge, the now-submerged plain that lies between northeast Asia and Alaska once exposed by a significantly lower sea level.
CU-Boulder researcher John Hoffecker, lead author of a short paper article appearing in the Feb. 28 issue of Science magazine, said the Beringia Standstill model gained little traction outside of the genetics community after it was proposed and has been seen by some scientists outside of the field as far-fetched. But the new paper by Hoffecker and co-authors Scott Elias of Royal Holloway, University of London, and Dennis O’Rourke of the University of Utah adds credence to the Beringia Standstill idea by further linking the genetics to the paleoecological evidence.
“A number of supporting pieces have fallen in place during the last decade, including new evidence that central Beringia supported a shrub tundra region with some trees during the last glacial maximum and was characterized by surprisingly mild temperatures, given the high latitude,” said Hoffecker of CU-Boulder’s Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research. The last glacial maximum peaked roughly 21,000 years ago and was marked by the growth of vast ice sheets in North America and Europe.
While a debate rages on about when early humans first migrated into the New World, many archaeologists now believe it was sometime around 15,000 years ago after retreating glaciers opened access to coastal and interior routes into North America.
The relatively mild summer climate in Beringia at the time was caused by North Pacific circulation patterns that brought moist and relatively warm air to the region during the last glacial maximum. Geologists believe the Beringia gateway between Siberia and Alaska was more than 600 miles wide at the time.
Hoffecker and others are now theorizing that a population of hundreds or thousands of people parked itself in central Beringia for 5,000 years or more. One key to the extended occupation may have been the presence of wood in some places to use as a fuel to supplement bone, which burns hot and fast. Experiments have shown that at least some wood is necessary to make bone practical as a fuel.
Elias, a paleoecologist and also an INSTAAR affiliate, said research using fossil pollen, plant and insect material from sediment cores from the now submerged landscape show that the Bering Land Bridge tundra environment contained enough woody plants and trees like birch, willow and alder to provide a supplement to bone.
Work by Elias and others included the analysis of certain beetle species that live in very specific temperature zones, allowing them to be used as tiny thermometers. The insects indicated that temperatures there were relatively mild during last glacial maximum that ran from about 27,000 years to 20,000 years ago, only slightly cooler than temperatures in the region today.
“The climate on the land bridge and adjacent parts of Siberia and Alaska was a bit wetter than the interior regions like central Alaska and the Yukon, but not a lot warmer,” said Elias. “Our data show that woody shrubs were available on the land bridge, which would have facilitated the making of fires by the people there.”
Evidence from the 2007 study indicated a set of genetic mutations in mitochondrial DNA, which is passed down from mother to offspring, clearly accumulated after the divergence of people from their Asian parent groups in Siberia but before their dispersal throughout the Western Hemisphere, said O’Rourke. In addition, ancient DNA from human skeletal remains found at a 24,000-year-old archaeological site in southern Siberia also appears consistent with the divergence of Native American groups from their Asian forbearers by that time window, he said.
“The genetic record has been very clear for several years that the Native American genome must have arisen in an isolated population at least by 25,000 years ago, and the bulk of the migrants to the Americas really didn’t arrive south of the ice sheets until nearly 15,000 years ago,” O’Rourke said. “The paleoecological data, which I think most geneticists have not been familiar with, indicate that Beringia was not a uniform environment, and there was a shrub tundra region, or refugium, that likely provided habitats conducive to continuous human habitation.”
“From my view the genetics and paleoecology data come together nicely,” said Hoffecker, who co-authored a 2007 book with Elias titled “The Human Ecology of Beringia.” While the weakest link to the Out of Beringia theory is the lack of archaeological evidence, Hoffecker believes future research on now submerged parts of Beringia as well as lowlands in western Alaska and eastern Siberia that still remain above water may hold clues to ancient habitation by Beringia residents, who eventually moved on to be the first group to inhabit the Americas.
Hoffecker also believes that the Beringia inhabitants during the last glacial maximum could have made successful hunting forays into the uninhabited steppe-tundra region to both the east and west, where drier conditions and more grass supported a plentiful array of large grazing animals, including steppe bison, horse and mammoth.
There is now solid evidence for humans in Beringia before the last glacial maximum, as geneticists first predicted in 1997, said Hoffecker. After the maximum, there are two sets of archaeological remains dating to less than 15,000 years ago. “One represents a late migration from Asia into Alaska at that time,” he said. “The other has no obvious source outside Beringia and may represent the people who are thought to have sheltered on the land bridge during the glacial maximum.
“If we are looking for a place to put all of these people during the last glacial maximum, Beringia may be the only realistic option,” said Hoffecker.
A video news story on the research is available at http://www.colorado.edu/news.
-CU-