Canoe Paddle Racks
Grill
Whole Hog Smoker
.
Water Cooler Rack
Washtub Bass Rack
Mudflaps
Friday, September 30, 2005
Canoe Trailer: Fully Loaded
E-mail me with additional ideas for canoe trailer features and I'll add them to the list.
Canoe Paddle Racks
Grill
Whole Hog Smoker
.
Water Cooler Rack
Washtub Bass Rack
Mudflaps
Canoe Paddle Racks
Grill
Whole Hog Smoker
.
Water Cooler Rack
Washtub Bass Rack
Mudflaps
Examples of Canoe Trailers
We have been collecting pictures of custom (i.e. homemade) trailers for years. These are some of the better ones. We'll leave these up on the web site so it can be a resource during the design process.
(The green and tan Suburban is just a coincidence. Or is it a sign?)
(The green and tan Suburban is just a coincidence. Or is it a sign?)
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Lunch Meeting, Thursday, September 29
When: Tomorrow (Thursday, September 29) at noon.
Where: Stroud's in Cool Springs, 1010 Fulton Greer Rd., on the banks of the Harpeth River.
Agenda: 70-degrees, BBQ, and first look at potential canoe trailers.
Directions: I-65 south to Cool Springs Blvd., Right on Mack Hatcher, Right on Hillsboro Rd., then just past the Mapco.
Where: Stroud's in Cool Springs, 1010 Fulton Greer Rd., on the banks of the Harpeth River.
Agenda: 70-degrees, BBQ, and first look at potential canoe trailers.
Directions: I-65 south to Cool Springs Blvd., Right on Mack Hatcher, Right on Hillsboro Rd., then just past the Mapco.
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
From the Legal Department
There is a new decision from the Michigan Court of Appeals that will be welcome news to all members of the RRCC. We will print the full opinion and store it permanently in the map case so we can educate local law enforcement about the change if needed. It should also be good news for the legal status of the secret motto: "F. F. B. D."
Cussing Canoeist Wins Free Speech Challenge
DETROIT, - A Michigan court on Monday overturned the conviction of a man dubbed the "cussing canoeist," ruling an obscure 105-year-old state law barring swearing in front of women and children unconstitutional. The case involved Timothy Boomer, a Detroit-area computer programmer who was charged with the crime while on a canoeing trip in Arenac County,about 125 miles (190 km) north of Detroit. Prosecutors said Boomer yelled the "f-word" as many as 75 times after he fell out of his canoe on the remote Rifle River. 40 yards behind Mr. Boomer and his party of five canoes was a family — father, mother, two very small children. The mother testified that she had to cover the ears of her 2-year-old.
Shortly after Boomer's outburst, he and his friends rounded a bend and noticed three sheriff's deputies on the river bank staring at them with binoculars. As Boomer's friends sat in their boats, one of the deputies handed him a misdemeanor citation. The charge: violation of Michigan Statute Section 337 which reads "Indecent, etc., language in presence of women or children -- Any person who shall use any indecent, immoral, obscene, vulgar or insulting language in the presence or hearing of any woman or child shall be guilty of a misdemeanor." The crime carries a penalty of up to 90 days in jail and a $100 fine.
The case attracted national attention, pitting free speech advocates against supporters of stronger curbs on offensive language. "(Author Charles) Dickens said 'the law is an ass,' and in this case the law is asinine in attempting to criminally prosecute a man who wanted to apologize for uttering some cuss words after falling in a river," says Larry Dubin, a professor at the University of Detroit-Mercy Law School. But Assistant Prosecutor Richard Vollbach said that his office had no choice but to take the case to court. "Mr. Boomer wasn't expressing any thoughts or ideas at the time. Certainly this couldn't be considered artistic, so I don't think there was First Amendment coverage for what he did that day," Vollbach says. Boomer was found guilty after a district court judge refused to dismiss the case, arguing there was a compelling community interest in "protecting the morality of our children." But the Michigan Court of Appeals on Monday said the law was too vague. "Allowing a prosecution where one utters 'insulting' language could possibly subject a vast percentage of the populace to a misdemeanor conviction," the three judges wrote in their unanimous opinion.
In recent weeks, as the lawyers have haggled over the First Amendment, Boomer has been alarmed to discover his name invoked as an example of the linguistic excesses of an entire generation. In Arizona, Boomer's uncle attended a church sermon and the pastor mentioned Boomer's case as an example of how vulgar today's youth had become. Instead of cursing, the pastor intoned, young people should learn to say "Amen." Several weeks ago, a news crew from CBS flew to Michigan to talk to Boomer for a story on the proliferation of foul language in America. The piece is tentatively scheduled to air in February. Boomer's parents are somewhat baffled by the whole controversy. Timothy Boomer Sr., who runs a house-cleaning business in West Bloomfield Township, said his son is a decent, hard-working kid who had never been in trouble in his life. Besides, even if his son did curse in public, is it really such a crime? "When I was younger," the father said, "I was a little crazy too."
.
Cussing Canoeist Wins Free Speech Challenge
DETROIT, - A Michigan court on Monday overturned the conviction of a man dubbed the "cussing canoeist," ruling an obscure 105-year-old state law barring swearing in front of women and children unconstitutional. The case involved Timothy Boomer, a Detroit-area computer programmer who was charged with the crime while on a canoeing trip in Arenac County,about 125 miles (190 km) north of Detroit. Prosecutors said Boomer yelled the "f-word" as many as 75 times after he fell out of his canoe on the remote Rifle River. 40 yards behind Mr. Boomer and his party of five canoes was a family — father, mother, two very small children. The mother testified that she had to cover the ears of her 2-year-old.
Shortly after Boomer's outburst, he and his friends rounded a bend and noticed three sheriff's deputies on the river bank staring at them with binoculars. As Boomer's friends sat in their boats, one of the deputies handed him a misdemeanor citation. The charge: violation of Michigan Statute Section 337 which reads "Indecent, etc., language in presence of women or children -- Any person who shall use any indecent, immoral, obscene, vulgar or insulting language in the presence or hearing of any woman or child shall be guilty of a misdemeanor." The crime carries a penalty of up to 90 days in jail and a $100 fine.
The case attracted national attention, pitting free speech advocates against supporters of stronger curbs on offensive language. "(Author Charles) Dickens said 'the law is an ass,' and in this case the law is asinine in attempting to criminally prosecute a man who wanted to apologize for uttering some cuss words after falling in a river," says Larry Dubin, a professor at the University of Detroit-Mercy Law School. But Assistant Prosecutor Richard Vollbach said that his office had no choice but to take the case to court. "Mr. Boomer wasn't expressing any thoughts or ideas at the time. Certainly this couldn't be considered artistic, so I don't think there was First Amendment coverage for what he did that day," Vollbach says. Boomer was found guilty after a district court judge refused to dismiss the case, arguing there was a compelling community interest in "protecting the morality of our children." But the Michigan Court of Appeals on Monday said the law was too vague. "Allowing a prosecution where one utters 'insulting' language could possibly subject a vast percentage of the populace to a misdemeanor conviction," the three judges wrote in their unanimous opinion.
In recent weeks, as the lawyers have haggled over the First Amendment, Boomer has been alarmed to discover his name invoked as an example of the linguistic excesses of an entire generation. In Arizona, Boomer's uncle attended a church sermon and the pastor mentioned Boomer's case as an example of how vulgar today's youth had become. Instead of cursing, the pastor intoned, young people should learn to say "Amen." Several weeks ago, a news crew from CBS flew to Michigan to talk to Boomer for a story on the proliferation of foul language in America. The piece is tentatively scheduled to air in February. Boomer's parents are somewhat baffled by the whole controversy. Timothy Boomer Sr., who runs a house-cleaning business in West Bloomfield Township, said his son is a decent, hard-working kid who had never been in trouble in his life. Besides, even if his son did curse in public, is it really such a crime? "When I was younger," the father said, "I was a little crazy too."
.
RRCC members use protected speech
after a capsize on the Duck River.
May, 2005
.
Thursday, September 22, 2005
Tuesday, September 20, 2005
Fall Trip Rescheduled
The Rebel Rivers Fall 2005 canoe trip will now be November 19 and 20. Is that even a Fall Trip? October was our first choice, but member schedules and the success of the Vanderbilt football team have pushed the date way back. The good news is it will give everyone time to finish their required reading, and we will take our trip at exactly the same time as the book (and it will probably be just as cold):
October is the good month, in a normal year at least. But normality in Southwestern weather is at best a stacking together of extremes, and that was the year the drought broke that had been the norm for seven burning years - from the tree rings, they said, the worst since early Spanish times. Oil money from the cities, looking for a place to invest itself, had kept land from selling quite so cheaply as fat Jack Falstaff's stinking mackerel, but otherwise it would have. No one was certain that the region was not about to become another Middle East, its tenuous fertility transmuted by misuse into desert. Some fundamentalist ministers expressed gratification and said sin had brought it on, and maybe that was so, if in another sense than theirs. . . . But in the spring it broke with tropical flooding rains, and summer was lush with weeds and flowers, and even scrub stocker steers brought show-cattle prices on the hoof, and in October there was rain again, all month long.
With luck, though, November can be all right. . . .
Chapter 2
When Michaelmas moon was come with warning of winter,
then thought Gawain full oft of his perilous journey.
October is the good month, in a normal year at least. But normality in Southwestern weather is at best a stacking together of extremes, and that was the year the drought broke that had been the norm for seven burning years - from the tree rings, they said, the worst since early Spanish times. Oil money from the cities, looking for a place to invest itself, had kept land from selling quite so cheaply as fat Jack Falstaff's stinking mackerel, but otherwise it would have. No one was certain that the region was not about to become another Middle East, its tenuous fertility transmuted by misuse into desert. Some fundamentalist ministers expressed gratification and said sin had brought it on, and maybe that was so, if in another sense than theirs. . . . But in the spring it broke with tropical flooding rains, and summer was lush with weeds and flowers, and even scrub stocker steers brought show-cattle prices on the hoof, and in October there was rain again, all month long.
With luck, though, November can be all right. . . .
This means the Halloween costume party on the river will have to be cancelled, of course. But the good news is it will be replaced with a riverside Thanksgiving feast. Jim, can we talk you into cooking your famous Trash Can Turkey? And if so, can we use the can for our double bass when you're done?
The alternate date will be November 12, but only if Vanderbilt loses to Richmond and MTSU between now and then. We just couldn’t bring ourselves to schedule this trip on the weekend that the Commodores may clinch their first winning football season in a quarter of a century. The trip is now the same day (November 19) as the Vanderbilt - Tennessee game, which is best experienced on the radio anyway. Or anything else with an on-off button. UT fans on the trip are welcome to listen if they think they can still get reception from their nice wet spot in the Bell Witch Cave. Hey, Roy. Does that yellow Steamboat hat come in orange?
Here at the RRCC Sports Desk, we think the Sunday paper had one of the best football photos we've ever seen. This is what a mechanical engineer looks like when he's scoring three touchdowns:
By the way, "alternate date" does not mean "rain date". When the levee breaks, we just head to the Superdome:
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