Mike, you never have people crashing near the pits where you fly? Then you must have the most skilled, luckiest group of pilots on the planet, and nothing resembling a beginner around.
I agree that a lot of guys get stupid over rules, and that a lot of guys run around trying to use scare tactics to justify a lot of their over-active rule making.
But I've seen too many guys come out, claim they know what they are doing, then promptly yank a plane off the ground before it had flying speed, nose up, stall, nice graceful arc to the left, into the pits or parking lot. I had a guy pass a .40 size old timer right over my head (approximatly 20' up) and put a huge dent in the hood of a car, breaking the windshield etc. All because he didn't know how to take off properly. Just this weekend, a father was trying to teach is kid to fly, and the kit took off, turned left, and went right over the sun shelter and parking lot before the father got control of the plane and turned it around. Then there are the landing approaches, there the student pushes the rudder or ailerons the wrong way, and instead of heaing "outside" comes in and hits the pilot stands, or rolls in to the pits. Again, I've seen that happen plenty of times, especially if the wind isn't light and right down the runway.
taxi - not required (nobody taxis through the pits where your $5000 plane is so let them run off into the dirt and ruin a few props)
I saw a guy do exactly this, try to taxi right back to his field box deep in the pits. On grass. Dumbass nearly hit a guy who was working on a plane.
Personally, I can't possibly see how anyone could be even vagely safe if anyone was allowed to fire up any plane they could afford and take a shot at flying it a on a busy sunday morning.
When I say "do a loop", I'm not talking precision, there is no "good loop" or "bad loop", or "not good enogh loop", just upside down and back rightside up. We aren't talking about making 3D pilots here, that statement was just stupid and way over the top of anything anyone has said.