Copyright (©) 1997-2006 Tyconium Stent Enterprises
Salt Lake Tribune, Opinion, 11/15/98
Congratulations to all of you who voted for Proposition 51. We are now assured that what's left of our big game and predator population will be decimated by out-of-state hunters, poachers, and guys 'n gals who, while they might not be able to shoot a fish-in-a-barrel for a lack of understanding refraction, can sure hit a treed mountain lion chased to exhaustion by dogs from 50 feet.
See what you have accomplished. Big-dollar guides of idiots applaud you. Top-of-the-food-chain folks who do their killing illegally are laughing in their dens of dead animal heads. Hook-and-bullet-dealing fat cats can loosen their belts another notch. The clueless state-stocked DWR needn't even pretend to be concerned with science and sound management anymore. In an environment where six or seven hundred grand2 can be raised on patent absurdity, any bureaucracy will, unlike the bears, survive.
I can't wait to hear Gov. Mike "Whirling" Leavitt3 taking credit for less roadkill in Utah -- the Asphalt State. Do you folks understand that you have just voted yourself out of the right to vote? Is it that you don't have enough faith in yourselves, or have you just grown accustomed to surrogate decision-making? Our heritage preserved. Check the day-after election story in The Salt Lake Tribune: "Illegal Killing of Big Game In N. Utah Worst in 25 Years."
It's fitting in a way, Prop 5 is. We do have a lot of sheep to preserve. If a light ever comes on, folks, don't worry, it's probably just a routine colonoscopy.
Steve Russell, Moab
___________________________
1 This proposition changes the Utah state constitution to require a 2/3 majority (instead of the standard 1/2) for any newer proposition about wildlife or conservation (i.e., hunting & fishing) to pass.
2 A very large majority of Prop 5's support money came from national organizations (such as NRA) or non-Utahn groups.
3Gov. Mike Leavitt's family businesses (or was it his Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR)?) manage fisheries that have become completely inundated with whirling disease, which quickly destroys the trout population. Wildlife management?
4 Preliminary: "Check SL Trib archives for Nov. 4, 1998."
| Designed for Netscape and Microsoft browsers, version 4.5 or higher Copyright (©) 1997-2006 Tyconium Stent Enterprises |
|