Hwy 67 Open Carry Adopt-A-Highway Litter Cleanup Saturday, Oct. 10th - Round 3

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Another successful pickup! Just before we started, a family in a pickup truck stopped and the driver asked, "What are you guys doing with guns? You can't hunt with those, can you? We explained to him that our group, Open Carry dot Org had adopted a highway to help educate the public that open carrying is legal in Wisconsin. He exclaimed, "It is?!!" "Sure"; we said, "we've got a pamphlet that will explain it briefly and then you can go on line for more detail. We gave him the pamphlet and as they were leaving he said, "I had no idea that you could carry a gun in Wisconsin...."

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[/align][align=left]Sak and Mugenlude got there too late to get in the picture.
[/align][align=left]Dave[/align][align=left]
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thanks for getting that picture up so quickly! My wife has been pretty adamant about getting pictures of all we have been up to. Stuff like the Tea Parties, the open carry movement and all that. She wants to be able to show our children that we did try to make the world a little better place.

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As always, nice to meet up with the 'old guard' and see a few fresh faces.

Here's to looking forward to 2010!!

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It was a good time as usual. I would definitely be up for doing it again next year.

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The hard core 2A supporters who answered the call to arms on this last cleanup of the year were:

1. Mugenlude
2. Johnny Stiletto
3. AaronS
4. SAK
5. Sajuuk
6. Sayadina
7. ROOK_WI
8. davegran
9. ConfederateSoul
10. Frank(was your handle 1911?)
11. missing a name here-who is it?

Most of you said that we should find an additional piece of highway on an even busier route to get even more exposure for Open Carry; I'll see what I can do about getting a list of available stretches. What counties should we consider?

Thanks for your service, everybody!
Dave

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A big thanks to Johnny Stiletto for always having the needed supplies, vests, placing the "men working" signs, and being the liason with the DOT office reporting all year.

And someone brought rolls and donuts, who was that ?

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Rock County!!! Janesville Area...Hwy 14 or Hwy 51 is quite busy and will get LOTS of attention.

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Yes, Johnny Stiletto has done a great job for us this year. Also want tothank Davegran for the work he did to help out. Now we just have to sucker them both into heading it up next year. Donuts were on me, but I think the hot soup was a real nice cold day treat (thank God for Moms).

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I was on the phone with the Adopt-A-Highway office earlier this morning. Apparently, we are all set for next year with the same stretch of highway. This, I did not know. If we all choose to disband and call it quits, then I can call and let them know. I can't see this being the case, though. I'm sure if we wanted to change our stretch of highway, it wouldn't be too much of a problem, but as for now, we should be all set to go for next year.

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Johnny Stiletto wrote:

....I'm sure if we wanted to change our stretch of highway, it wouldn't be too much of a problem, but as for now, we should be all set to go for next year.

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What we were talking about was to add another stretch of highway to the one we already had. Since we've got this one down to an hour and 15 minutes of "work" even though we were a little short-handed, the idea doesn't seem too far-fetched. We'd choose a highway with a lot more traffic to expose more people to what we're all about, and maybe get some more opportunities to hand out pamphlets. :celebrate

Dave

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It should be a goal of this effort to increase the number of highways and counties with "Opencarry.org" signs permanently stationed along the highway throughout the year. The 3x year armed litter pick up service is also great public awareness, and should be duplicated elsewhere in the state.

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rickrich wrote:

It should be a goal of this effort to increase the number of highways and counties with "Opencarry.org" signs permanently stationed along the highway throughout the year. The 3x year armed litter pick up service is also great public awareness, and should be duplicated elsewhere in the state.

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Here are the main or "Trunk" highways in SE Wisconsin.

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The entire state system of trunk highways can be seen here. I suggest that we divide the state up using the boundries on the trunk highway map. Open Carry members in each section can organize their own pickup programs.

Ideally, we'd pick very busy sections where the speed limit was less than 55mph so the passing cars would have time to actually see that we're armed and working. The more stop signs the better! Another way to find busy roadways is to go to the traffic count website for the Wisconsin DOT. You can zero in on a highway and find the heaviest traffic sections. For instance, the Waukesha map shows our section of Hwy 67 carries about 5100 vehicles/day; but Hwy 164 between Big Bend and Waukesha carries from 17,200 to 17,900 vehicles/day!

If any of you have personal knowledge of such sections and you know they aren't already adopted, we can start compiling a list of suitable stretches of road. gunguy2009, why don't you do some research on the highways you suggested and report back to us. Remember, nothing within 1000' of a school zone.

The Adopt-a-Highway department has the sections organized by county. We just request a list of available sections in a certain county or counties and they will send them to us.

Thanks,
Dave
http://www.wisconsinhighways.org/maps/trunkline_map_overview.html

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I will definately look into it. I will get back to you on what I find out as soon as I can.

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How long to you want this stretch to be?

I found a Divided Highway which is about 1 1/2 miles long. Goes right past the Rock County Jail Actually. Traffic Count is about 15, 000. It is not a crowded area so we would have plenty of "Safety room" to work in. Its on Hwy 14 running East/west from Hwy 51N to about Kennedy Rd. on the north side of Janesville. Not sure if its 45 or 55mph...

If you are looking for something longer, there is a route along Hwy 51 South between Janesville and Beloit. Total distance is 4.5 miles. Traffic is anywhere from 9300 to 9800 per day. It is 4 lane and not divided... However, the College, Blackhawk Tech, is about halfway between Janesville and Beloit. I do not believe that qualifies as a "School Zone".

But here it is in segments...

On Hwy 51south by the Airport, starting at Kwik trip at the edge of town from Hwy 11/Hwy 51 S passed the Airport to West Airport Rd is a wide open 4 lane stretch that goes for 2 1/4 miles. It is a little over a mile away from the College. This particular stretch has about 9300 vehicles per day and it is 45 mph for a small bit then turns to 55 mph.

From West Airport Rd to Townline Rd is just a little less than 2 miles. This stretch does go by the college, in which the Rock County Sheriffs South Station is located. (it sits off the road couple hundred yards behind trees). At Townline Rd there is a Gas Station, A Restaurant which does not serve alcohol, and Chubby Bubba's which does serve alcohol, and a Strip Club called Diamond Jims/ Isabella Queen...haha. Which to my understanding is divided into two halves. They serve the alcohol and food on the non-stripper side. I have not been in there yet, so I'm not really sure how it works. So guys, make sure you leave your women at home! lol jk

From Townline Rd to a place called "The Marine Corp League" is .91 miles south just outside the Beloit city line. It is a bar/banquet hall. I am not sure as to what time the bar opens. Outside they have a large covered patio with many picnic tables. If interested, that would be a good spot for a cook out.

There is also a 2.16 mile stretch from The Newark Beloit Fire Dept on Newark Rd/Afton Rd going north on Afton Rd to Big Hills Park with a traffic count of about 3500 per day. I highly doubt its a state park, but for legal reasons, but I will check. It has a scenic overlook viewing the river, Picnic tables, Patios, Water fountain, Trails to walk along, play toys for kids, volleyball court I think. Another great place for a cook out. Very very nice. The nearest school is across the river about 2700' away from the furthest most point of the park.

I have already sent an E-mail to Donna, the lady that controls the Adopt-a-highway program for Rock County. Hopefully I will be hearing from her soon. I don't know if these routes are already taken or not. But will find out shortly.

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Would it be possible to fit ICarry.org on the signs as well? I'd love to help out with this effort and get a lot more people involved, etc. It'd be cool if our members could get recognition as well not to mention get more people signed up for the email newsletter so they can participate in things like this too

Not everyone is going to follow the forums, no matter what website it's at. That's why email is so important. We focus a lot of time on building and maintaining an opt-in list to reach tens of thousands of people. It's going to pay off big time when we start using it for events and supporting pro-gun legislation and campaigns.

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gunguy2009 wrote:

SNIP

I have already sent an E-mail to Donna, the lady that controls the Adopt-a-highway program for Rock County. Hopefully I will be hearing from her soon. I don't know if these routes are already taken or not. But will find out shortly.

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You'll save yourself a lot of time by going through the available routes and checking them for school zones instead of trying to find stretches of roads, whichmay not beavailable or even actual stretches, to clean up. Just my $0.025.

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SAK wrote:

Would it be possible to fit ICarry.org on the signs as well? I'd love to help out with this effort and get a lot more people involved, etc. It'd be cool if our members could get recognition as well not to mention get more people signed up for the email newsletter so they can participate in things like this too

Not everyone is going to follow the forums, no matter what website it's at. That's why email is so important. We focus a lot of time on building and maintaining an opt-in list to reach tens of thousands of people. It's going to pay off big time when we start using it for events and supporting pro-gun legislation and campaigns.

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I think that the full "opencarry.org" was as big as we could have. So to get one with "ICarry.org" would take a new sign (new hiway area). Worth checking though.

Now, to help get the word out, I will be happy to buy one of those ICarry jackets I saw you with. Think I might need a few shirts also.

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That's cool, I think this could be a really fun project next year especially if we expand. I'll have to check into how things are down here in IL as well.

Might warrant getting some yellow vests like that with ICarry.org on the back I don't have anymore of the jackets unfortunately, but in the next few months I should have some cool stuff. A couple other people asked about jackets, so it's very possible that we'll have some more made. Takes time and $$ obviously but we're getting there.

Anyone know of any other community-oriented activities like this we could do. Would be great if there were something to do during the winter, but I can't think of anything at the moment.

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I seen Walmart has BRIGHT yellow safety/work shirts. I think I might pick up one of those for the clean-ups and have something printed on the back. I dont recall the price, Guessing $15???

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Ok, I just got an Email from the lady from the Adopt-a-Highway program, And the Route Hwy 14 to Kennedy Rd I had mentioned is Available. So is another little stretch along Hwy 14 and County Highway MM with a distance of 1.28 miles. Between the two, a little less than 3 miles if you are interested in Both. Not too far away from each other... If you want them, let me know and I will tell her we do. She said they Just opened up...