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Show Dear Editor: Since Doug Day was fired as the director of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, a blatant disregard for nongame mammals mam-mals has been noticed by myself and other shocked taxpayers. The DWR nongame section has told the public that it is their job to capture and release errant skunks, raccoons, porcupines and squirrels, etc. This past 18 months, several friends and I have investigated several cases of raccoons and skunks in Bountiful. The majority of the animals abused were infant raccoons. In the summer of 1986, 1 received a desperate call from two Bountiful residents both stating that a man living in their vicinity had found a family of raccoons in his garage . He quickly shut the door to the garage trapping four babies inside the mother escaped. He allegedly called the DWR who reportedly told him to put the four babies in a trash can, which he did. The animals were left in the trash can that night, and in the morning he called the DWR. They were supposed to send someone some-one out to collect them. After waiting several hours, the man called again and was told to drown them. He filled the trash can with water and went to work. He returned several hours later to find one baby raccoon alive. The surviving raccoon infant had been literally skinned alive by the frantic fighting of its siblings. He "finished it off .". . - The second case in the summer of 1987, involved an elderly woman who was having raccoon problems. She called the DWR and was told to either buy or rent a live trap and catch the animals. She was told that after she had caught the animals to either shoot or drown them. Without regard for already existing city and county ordinances, she chose to shoot them. She was instructed by the DWR to shoot the animals on either cement or gravel to make the bloody mess easier to wash away. The elderly lady said that the DWR didn't care how she killed the raccoons so next she enlisted two more people to assist her in her private little war a scoutmaster and a game houndsman both from Magna. The scoutmaster allegedly shot several raccoons for his ward troop to skin. They were supposedly working on obtaining an optional mammal merit badge. The dog pack owner went to Bountiful and picked up the captured baby raccoons for the purpose of giving his dogs something to do. Not long after finding all of this information, I contacted the county sheriffs office to see if they could legally do anything to help the raccoons . A deputy called later to say there was nothing they could do about the situation. Meanwhile, another frantic woman called to say that her small child almost stepped in a steel jaw trap on the way home from school. She gave me an address, and I had a friend of mine walk by the residence. It belonged to the same elderly woman, and the ravine next to her home was loaded with steel jaw traps. As luck would have it, I found out that the scoutmaster was also )a parttime trapper. After the first incident of abuse in 1986, I wrote the DWR numerous letters registering my complaints. I was told in a letter signed by Director Bill Geer that an "employee trainee" had caused the problem and that the DWR would see that this would not happen in the future. The abuse case in 1987 proved to me that Mr. Geer had only written the letter to pacify me. Nothing had happened for the better and the situation had only gotten worse. I decided to have a friend call the DWR and pretend to have raccoon problems. The friend complied and I grabbed an extension. exten-sion. She asked the DWR what could be done to help her. The reply was that she should come down to the Salt Lake office and leave a $20 deposit for a live trap. The DWR personnel would teach her how to set and bait the trap. She asked what she should do with the animals after she caught them. The DWR information desk told her to either place the animals in the trap in a garbage can filled with water or to take the animal and trap to a place that was either cement or gravel and shoot it. She asked why cement or gravel, and the reply was, "It's easier to wash the blood away." After hearing this for myself, I called Tim Provan's office and scheduled an appointment. I met with Mr. Provan in September 1987. I again aired my complaints and was told that the people involved were no longer working the information desk. I said, "So what!! The public is probably still out there shooting guns in their backyards." I told him that this problem had to be cleared up via the media. Mr. Provan said that getting media was not a problem for him but that he wanted to correct the error in March 1988, explaining that it would be more convenient for the DWR. I brought up the fact that if someone was tragically maimed or worse, fatally injured, the DWR might get sued for liability and punitive damages something they hadn't thought about. Next, I was given pamphlets one on the nongame budget, one on the skunks and one on the raccoons. The pamphlet on raccoons had this disturbing sentence. "In areas safety secluded sec-luded from children and other people, a single strand of electric wire six inches above the ground also helps keep raccoons out of gardens and orchards." The DWR neglects to tell the public that hot wires are not legal in some areas. They also neglect to give the voltage and amperage. The amperage is what kills. What if a child or a pet were electrocuted? Now that it is once again time to pay state and federal taxes, we all will be asked to donate money to the Nongame Tax Checkoff. Having lobbied for this piece of legislation, I am very disappointed in the way the DWR has budgeted the proceeds from this fund. Birds and fish seem to be preferred. Could this be due to the fact that Bill Geer was once in fisheries and Tim Provan was once involved with birds? Is it because most birds are all federally feder-ally protected? All animals are equally important to the ecosystem. eco-system. Excluding endangered and theatened species, I feel that the DWR's budget needs to be revised. Since most people living in the foothills surrounding urban areas come in contact with the majority of wild mammals, I would think that the DWR could budget funding to meet the needs of the public and at the same time provide errant wild mammals a safe relocation, as was done under Mr. Day's directorship. The DWR are the stewards of one of this state's greatest resources. They need to develop compassion along with responsibility respon-sibility for the wildlife they are supposed to protect and manage. If the people at the DWR do not have compassion for their charges, I feel they should be replaced with people who care. The Boy Scouts of America need to take a closer look at the people selected to be the scoutmasters. Children do not have to be taught sadistic rituals in order to obtain their merit badges. I would think that the Boy Scouts should be teaching just the opposite. The legislature needs to pass a law to protect all wildlife from cruel and inhumane treatment. They need to select a nongame wildlife board who would "ride herd" on the DWR and keep it on the straight and narrow to the benefit of the public and nongame wildlife. Man's inhumanity to man is only surpassed by his inhumanity to animals. If the saying, "You can judge the evolution of a society by the way it treats its animals" is true, then our society has infinite room for improvement. 'There are probably no creatures who more require the protective pro-tective divine word against the presumption of man than the'- animals," quoting Rabbi Samuel Raphall Hirsch. Norinda Burbidge Salt Lake City Dear Editor: What is the purpose for a public hearing? As most people understand, it's for: A. An issue to be publicly discussed for the benefit of all concerned. B. For the body of government whose responsibility it is to decide an issue, to listen to the mandate of the people. (Definition: Mandate: the will of constituents expressed to their representative.) When the public expresses itself at that forum, and in the case of West Bountiful City Council meeting Feb. 16, 1988, is in an overwhelming majority against a proposal, the city is obliged and has a responsibility to listen to, and do the will of the people who cared enough to attend, and who they represent and were elected by. Public hearings are supposed to be a good substitution for municipal voting over every issue that comes to the attention of the council, impacts an area, and must be decided on. Citizens must rely in good faith upon the officials we elect, or we'd have such a system and be voting monthly. Once in a while, citizens feel the need to inform one elected official of how we indeed do feel about an issue. In fact, it's our duty. And we "note" at these hearings, in the same context, much as we cast a ballot, to indicate the will of the people, so the officials can reflect the mandate in their vote. Roughly the same people who attended the public hearing on the golf course, were the same people who attended the one on the zoning issue. The majority of the straw vote to buy the golf course was accepted by the council, yet rejected for the zoning which seems it itselfrratic and arbitrary on the part of certain members of the council. In a few weeks the citizenry will vote on a bond to purchase the golf course within our city limits. It's a well known fact because of apathy in this county, the minority of voters elect our candidates across the board. In bond elections, the turn out is even worse sometimes barely 20 percent. I wonder what would happen if that minority came out and the purchase of the golf course was defeated, the council felt it was in the best interest of the eighty percent that didn't show up to vote, that the golf course be purchased anyway ! There would be an outcry and immediate impeachment of council members involved, called cal-led for. No wonder the apathy and distrust of the citizens in their governments and officials because in effect, that's what happened hap-pened on the decision and vote to adopt the Rl-12 zoning. The council voted for what the people voted against and did it anyway! So why show up? Where's the representation? How does a citizenry deal with this? How discouraging is it? How do you deal with people who don't recognize the will of the people when that's their job to make decisions based on that all important impor-tant consideration? How do you minimize the damages until the next election? How do you know you're voting in people who really represent you? I'm wondering at this point does it really matter? Once again the question "What is the purpose of a public hearing?" Kathy Dangerfield Randy D. Berg Ron and Shelly Murphy Keith Salmon Debbie McKeen Kara McKean Dale Jones RaNae Brinkerhoff Ken Brinkerhoff Nancy Goster Dean Wall Michele Wall Robert R. Wright D. Lavore Tullis Michael R. Johnson Tom Romney Rennae Romney Derrill Foster Byron V. Ward Ardell Byington Dear Editor: This began a wonderful day, the weather almost too good to believe. I managed my first big accomplishment this morning by ceasing vegetation and started cleaning my house again. You see, since my husband passed away in December, I have not coped very well. Facing reality was one thing but the loss I feel overwhelmes me (as you can see by my writing). I shared this positive step with a few close people who have done so much to help; others were out. I was appalled in January when I read where a dear one had found flowers taken from the gravesite of her great lost love. I feared taking anything nice to our gravesite because of the article but I felt David should have something of warmth during these bleak and cold days, so I risked putting a nice flower arrangement I bought at his site in Kaysville City Cemetery. Yes, some people are unscrupulous the floral arrangement disappeared. I went there today to share my small accomplishment accomplish-ment with him, but found I couldn't even get out of the car because of the brutal theft. People's sense of value have plummeted a great deal to be so self-centered as to force grief stricken loved ones the opportunity opportun-ity to share time with their loved ones. This is a large part in overcoming our grief and giving us strength to mend and rebuild our lives. I cannot believe the stolen floral arrangement meant anything to the thief; and yet, it was a symbol of my love for my husband which has now set me back and I dare not adorn his grave again because of the renewed heartbreak and setback it has caused. Thank you for giving me a shoulder to cry on. The floral arrangement was a lovely orchid poinsettia with two candles to light on calm days when the breeze would calm,. Has anyone else enjoyed them as much as.we, his family, could have? - - - - 1 - Please ask these thieves to feel some compassion for others. Let our wounds heal. Please so we too may live again. Norma Putman Kaysville To the Editor: We would like to thank everyone who expressed so much kindness and consideration to us when our husband and father, Bob Devereaux, passed away. The Devereaux Family Dear Editor: It's about time someone set the story straight. There are those who take delight in punishing Dr. Warden. Sometimes we humans get carried away with the tide and don't stop to examine the issues at hand. Most of the time we don't stop and check the facts. A lot of the times we listen to what someone else has to say about the subject. Truth, is only truth as we see it. We need to determine if this someone with whom we are listening has an ax to grind. What are the motives? We need to stop and ask ourselves where did this person get this information? informa-tion? Did this information come from a reliable source, such as the people involved? Some of us are casting stones because someone else is. We need to get the two-by-fours out of our own eyes so we can see clearly. Dr. David R. Warden is one of the finest doctors I know. He has done more good for the good old United States than most people 1 know. Dr. Warden has served Davis County as a law abiding citizen, loyal church member, faithful father and husband. hus-band. Dr. Warden has done much to further the image of the family physician. David gives time to the local high school during the sports events. The good doctor gives of his time in unselfish devotion to the poor and the sickly. Kaysville City Chamber of Commerce selected Dr. Warden as citizen of the year. Being in the military has given Dr. Warden a broad knowledge of a variety of illness and injuries. Dr. Warden is an asset to our community, we need to do everything in our power to keep him with us. Simply put, we need his talents. We need his friendly manner. C. E. Anderson |