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  1. #1
    ME => GA 19AT3 rickb's Avatar
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    Default EBT Cards and Thr Hikers

    The former Kennebec Ferry operator was quoted by ALDHA to say:

    many youngerhikers will carry expensive gear anduse their cellphones to check on un-employment and food stamp benefitsas they hitch a ride to a store that ac-cepts EBT cards, all while askingwhere they can buy beer and ciga-rettes.


    If it were even one thru hiker, that would be reprehensible, but to hear that many are doing this is shocking.

    Can any recent thru hikers confirm that many of the younger hikers are doing what the former ferry opperator was quoted as saying they are with regard to EBT cards?

  2. #2

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    my post duplicated....see below.
    Last edited by hubcap; 02-26-2016 at 14:19.

  3. #3

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    I try not to judge anyone. Many things are sad, and not right. I try to improve myself and leave others the freedom to do the same at their own pace and method. I have never been "dependent." I have worked since I was 11, and am debt free. I wish all those who are dependent on the gov't EBT system the hope to stand on their own one day. It's a good feeling.

  4. #4

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    That's pretty sad if true.

  5. #5

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    Whenever I see these kind of accusations about "many" I just mentally change it to "probably none that I've personally witnessed." Way too many people make up stories like these to support their agenda. Left/right/whatever, people make stuff up.

    Sure, a certain subset of any population will abuse something that's meant to be positive and helpful, but this just sounds like someone who's frustrated with their job and their life and wanting to demonize their opponents, rather than address their own problems.

  6. #6
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    I don't understand the problem? Unemployment keeps people from working. Why does it matter to you if they sit at home and watch tv and drink beer or if they hike and drink beer?

  7. #7
    Registered User Pajj's Avatar
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    Can we please stop throwing all the blame on "younger hikers"? There were plenty of bum types along the trail last year and the worst of them were not the younger hikers.
    I'm a recent thru hiker and I can confirm that NO this is not true. Really getting tired of people acting like all the thru hikers in recent years are *****bags or something.
    AT2015 GA-ME

  8. #8
    Getting out as much as I can..which is never enough. :) Mags's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Pajj View Post
    Can we please stop throwing all the blame on "younger hikers"? There were plenty of bum types along the trail last year and the worst of them were not the younger hikers.
    I agree. I am one of the older cousins in my family, but the other half of the 16 grandchildren are under-30. Hell, the youngest just turned 20.

    No surprise, they have the same values as the older cousins. (Actually, since I left RI and they are still there, they are more conservative than I am! )

    It is not an age thing, it is cultural issue.

    I know 40-somethings who essentially funded their climbing vacation by a "charity" event (ha!), another one who did a GoFundMe to open a business that went belly up in less than 3 months and so on.
    Paul "Mags" Magnanti
    http://pmags.com
    Twitter: @pmagsco
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    The true harvest of my life is intangible...a little stardust caught,a portion of the rainbow I have clutched -Thoreau

  9. #9

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    You can't use EBT to buy alcohol or tobacco.
    Awwww. Fat Mike, too?

  10. #10
    Registered User kayak karl's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Brewguy View Post
    I don't understand the problem? Unemployment keeps people from working. Why does it matter to you if they sit at home and watch tv and drink beer or if they hike and drink beer?
    Unemployment keeps people from working??? and what does it have to do with EBT cards ??
    I'm so confused, I'm not sure if I lost my horse or found a rope.

  11. #11
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    this is no different than "real" life......

  12. #12

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    Keep Politics off the trail!!!!!!

  13. #13
    Hiker bigcranky's Avatar
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    "Food stamps" are pretty well limited to families; it's hard for a single young adult to qualify. Unemployment benefits are available to people who have lost jobs, limited to a short time, and usually include a requirement to be looking for work. I'd be surprised if "younger hikers" were able to qualify for these benefits and be on the trail.
    Ken B
    'Big Cranky'
    Our Long Trail journal

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by Brewguy View Post
    I don't understand the problem? Unemployment keeps people from working. Why does it matter to you if they sit at home and watch tv and drink beer or if they hike and drink beer?
    Quote Originally Posted by kayak karl View Post
    Unemployment keeps people from working???
    I am trying to figure that one out also. Maybe Brewguy can explain it for us.
    If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything.

  15. #15

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    Unemployment is something that you and your company pay to the state via taxes...it is earned through a paycheck and helps those on rough times when they lose a job through no fault of their own. I work for a company that lays-off all non-essential employees every summer for 3 months with a "job attached" status, meaning that we have a job to go back to and don't have to look for work. I do use this time to hike and camp and fish and ride my horses.

    Unemployment is not welfare and I don't apply for food stamps. I also save my money during my work year to be able to have fun in the summer. Is their a chance I will use the few months off in the summer to pursue a thru-hike...absolutely! I work hard and work for a company that provides this option, and also in a job that is deathly dull because of the three months off.

  16. #16
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    Ferry Operator Quits Over Hiker Behavior, Other Issues, article here, page 11: http://www.aldha.org/newsletter/2015d_winter.pdf

    I thought he quit because he couldn't get the ATC to increase service.

    Considering how the ferryman feels it's probably best that he's not providing the service any longer.
    "Chainsaw" GA-ME 2011

  17. #17

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    Quote Originally Posted by rickb View Post
    The former Kennebec Ferry operator was quoted by ALDHA to say:



    If it were even one thru hiker, that would be reprehensible, but to hear that many are doing this is shocking.

    Can any recent thru hikers confirm that many of the younger hikers are doing what the former ferry opperator was quoted as saying they are with regard to EBT cards?
    A few years back I was wrong to flame a guy that came on here boasting that he was attempting a triple crown yo yo with a$200 access card. Taking a vacation on the Dept. of Agriculture's expense I cried.


    Last I heard he met some good folks here and made it to Katahdin. Someone helped get him a job and he became a productive tax paying member of the good old US of A. If what I've heard is true, I'm sorry D.J.
    Sometimes we just need a hand up.
    Not a hand out.

    Where is D.J?

  18. #18
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    back in florida

  19. #19

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    Wish him well.

  20. #20
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    Default

    He singled out “the millennialgeneration” and said many youngerhikers will carry expensive gear anduse their cellphones
    Can't dispute this in many cases, enough folks out there hiking on their last dollar sporting a couple thousand worth of gear on their back. They aren't all young though.

    to check on unemploymentand food stamp benefitsas they hitch a ride to a store that acceptsEBT cards,
    Didn't see it happen a single time or even hear about it.

    all while askingwhere they can buy beer and cigarettes.
    Can't dispute that either, I was a smoker for about 1700 miles and you can be sure I never forgot to resupply on tobacco. Heard enough people say they're broke or close to it while unwrapping a fresh pack. That really isn't news though, nor is it exclusive to hikers young or old. It's no secret that addictions get higher priority than other needs.

    I don't doubt that someone or some people said something to Dave about using food stamps or other benefits on the trail but I saw no indication of it being a widespread practice, or happening at all. Overall sounds like another "kids these days" rant, it's trendy right now to talk about how awful every single hiker under the age of 30 is. In my experience it really was a case of the few ruining it for the many. I can think of 8 or 10 trail names that came up over and over and over again in association with all the bad behavior of the past season. I'm digressing but I share the frustration of another young poster, it gets old being lumped in with this crap that I and many others had nothing to do with.

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