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Show Letters From Our Readers . . . The Moab Sportsmen's Club fight with the Big Game Commission is a good example of the political problems faced by citizens today in dealing with unelected bureaucrats in many branches of government. govern-ment. The issues at hand go beyond the local interests of hunters or non-hunters, and the fight ought to be joined, supported, and with funds by anyone interested in taking power away from government, and giving it back to the citizens and taxpayers and voters. In any objective sense, the Big Game Commission has made a mistake in scheduling an eleven-day deer hunt in the La Sal game units. The decision is biologically unsup-portable, unsup-portable, and there has been no voice raised, outside of the Big Game Commission, to argue against the biological facts at hand. To wit: The deer herd on the La Sal Mountains is at a low ebb. A number of causes have contributed to this result, and are not at argument. In the best interests of long range herd management, manage-ment, there ought not to be a hunt this year at all. It is irresponsible to schedule the biggest hunt in the state on a herd so depleted as this one, but the Big Game Commission has made a decision, and now it appears to be a contest of egos, and biology be damned. This is an all so typical situation where non-elected officials, officials with decision making power confronted by citizens, who do not have the power to remove them from office in the next election. Neck hairs go up, backs are arched, and the-public-be-damned-we-run-this-ship-and-who-in-hell - do-they-think-they-are-anyhow becomes the battle cry. The Big Game Commission gave us a good example of their contempt for us, and for their own integrity, when the agreed to a hearing if the Sportsmen would compromise com-promise and stop their attempts at-tempts to obtain an injunction against the deer hunt. After the injunction efforts were halted, the Big Game Commission Commis-sion reneged on the hearing. They lied. Here then is what the citizens ought to do, as I see it: 1) Work to obtain a court ordered injunction against the hunt. This is already in motion. 2) Obtain Legislative Support. Sup-port. This has been forthcoming, forthcom-ing, and is being closely observed by news media upstate. 3) The major California and Texas newspapers will receive a copy of this communication, with an explanation, so that our fellow Sportsmen in these states will understand that they are the primary targets of this rip-off. It is their money which is the essence of this controversy. 4) We will work to change the law concerning the funding of the Fish and Game department, and the makeup of the Big Game Commission. Fish and Game funding should come from the General Fund, and license sales should go into the General Fund. The Big Game Commission should be made up of a representative of the Sportsmen's Sports-men's Clubs, and a representative represent-ative of the Legislature, and a representative of the Fish and Game Department. There is legislative and local support for these proposals. They will require more citizen support and contributions whenever possible. It is time to show "Them" that "We" have the power, and that we will damn well use it in our own best interests. A Concerned Citizen, (Name withheld by Request) |