156 



August 26, 1993 



Ifonard Bertson 

 HC 56 Box 65A 

 Oral, SD 57766 



The Honorable I^rry Pressler 

 United States Senate 

 Vteshington, DC 20510 



Dear Senator Pressler, 



In response to your invitation to provide some written testimony on "Public land 

 Use Inpact On Shiall Business". 



Without using numbers and statistics that can vary by the very nature of the study 

 or the research that was done to generate the numbers, I would say common sense 

 tells us that increased user fees or regulations that cost more to live up to, 

 will cause businesses to go out of business. This, then puts that person 

 and his enployees, if any, on the unertployment list and maybe also on the 

 welfare roll. 



I believe that using conmon sense and putting people's livelihood first in man- 

 aging our country would certainly have better results. 



t4y siitple analysis says that, as costs and regulations increase on anything, the 

 use of that item decreases, therefore decreasing the revenue, vrfiich ends up 

 putting that business out of business or starting the circle over again. This 

 seems to be trend more often than not. 



This is what I see happening on the Public I^Jids and the businesses that are 

 dependent on these lands. I heard Secretary Babbitt say fees should be raised 

 on National Parks, which starts the circle. 



I believe 95% of the public, be they users or non users, are good stewards of 

 the lands. The ertphasis should be put on training and policing the 5%, not 

 making it more difficult for the 95% to respond to a 5% problem. 



This is my perception of our problem, which leads to the impact on Small 

 and all businesses. 



Sincerely, 

 leonard Benson 



