Full Time RVer

Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina — Fulltime RVers understand the need for the availability of inexpensive–preferably free–camping. After spending some long hours on the road, we know how important it is to be able to pull off the highway for a few hours and get some rest. It’s not just a “lifestyle” concern, it’s also a matter of safety. While hard numbers are hard to get a handle on, any road trip will tell you that plenty of RVers find big box stores–particularly Walmart–to be the respite they need from highway hypnosis.

Usually within easy distance of the highway, with easy pull though access, and shopping close at hand, Walmart and similar operations are just what those making a quick overnight stop are looking for.

But there’s always the fly in the ointment.

Roanoke Crossing’s gadfly of the day is one Fred Israel, apparently a self-appointed savior of the RVing community. Concerned that RVers could be endangering themselves, Fred sent a letter to the local planning board. According to a story in the local paper, Daily Herald,  Israel writes the board that, “Parking lot camping can be hazardous to the health and safety of RV enthusiasts and the public.” Asking the government agency to act on the issue, Israel fleshes out the ‘hazards’ by adding, “They can be a threat to public health and safety and impose a burden on local taxpayers. Also, they encourage crime and can generate refuse and garbage.”

Hitting the planning board members where they live, Israel also wrote, “Out of town RV enthusiasts place an undue burden on local government not offset by taxes or fees paid by these visitors when they use free overnight parking . . . Actually you are condoning people to sleep on our streets by overlooking the whole picture of why this should not be permitted. The state of North Carolina (Welcome Centers) do not allow overnight camping.”

Shades of Professor Harold Hill ala The Music Man, there’s indeed trouble in River City. Before you know it, those RVers will be ‘peeking in the pool hall windows after school.’ But as in the case of Prof. Hill, Fred Israel may have his own agenda: Israel owns the RV Resort at Carolina Crossroads, an area RV park.

Israel obviously has deep feelings on the matter, when he writes regarding ‘out of town RVers’: They compete unfairly with local RV parks and campgrounds that are a part of the community which pay taxes and fees that support local government services benefiting all citizens. The result is to deprive these local RV parks and campgrounds of essential business and to reduce their positive contributions to the community.”

At least one member of the planning board is interested in Israel’s concerns. City Planning and Development Director George W. Gurley Jr. told the Herald that he feels the planning board should look into the matter more deeply. “We’re probably talking about something that’s going to be a sensitive issue. We want to look at it and evaluate it,” Gurley said. It’s possible that George Gurley would like to hear the other half of the argument. His e-mail at city hall is ggurley@roanokerapidsnc.com.

Unless and until the planning board decides to clamp down on ‘parking lot camping,’ RVers will probably continue to haunt the local Walmart. Their alternative is to stay overnight at Fred’s place for anywhere between $37 and $42. Of course, at Fred’s you get electricity.

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