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| I attended the Wisconsin tournament permit meeting last night in Spooner, WI. Following is a conversation from another site that sums up the meeting. My observations will follow.
weekend series
Member
Member # 595
Icon 1 posted 11-15-2006 07:54 AM Profile for weekend series Edit/Delete Post Reply With Quote Well for a bunch of bass fishin blue collar red neks, I would say we had a preety good meeting last night. I would guess there were about 60 people in attendance. There were only two people there who supported the proposal. One of them was from WAL and he read the WAL position word for word. It was kind of ironic that this guy is from Edina, MN. For those of you who do not know, Edina is one of the wealthiest communities in the nation. Given the fact he was the first person to testify, the tone was set to oppose anything WAL had to say. We had 29 people speak who were opposed to the proposal, and two who were in favor. There was only one outburst, and that guy promptly apologized.
We had professional walleye pro Gary Parsons testify, and he did a fantastic job opposing all of NR20.40!!
Give em hell tonight in Rhinelander...
Snowman
Posts: 66 | Registered: Jan 2006 | IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Dick Bathke
Junior Member
Member # 213
Rate Member Icon 1 posted 11-15-2006 08:37 AM Profile for Dick Bathke Email Dick Bathke Send New Private Message Edit/Delete Post Reply With Quote I will second what weekend series had to say about last nights meeting in Spooner. The DNR actual count of people attending was 85 and everyone conducted themselves as approaching the subjects in a professonal manner. The overwelming concensus was to leave the permitting rules as they are now. They are not
broken and have worked well for 14 to 15 years
and of course the biggest target was the banning of C&R tournaments in July & August. We furthered our cause a great deal at this meeting and we thank those that drove more than 2 hours to attend the meeting dodging the whitetails in rut all the way. Lets move forward to a good settlement to this new rules issue.The DNR will accept e-mailed or snail mail comments which carry a post date of no later than Nov 17th..Remember to send your legislative reps copies of your comments. Numbers count..
Gary Parsons comments below:
Over all, the concensus was that the rule as written is wrong. In talking to Pat Schmalz after the meeting he stated that the overwelming response to the permitting bill has be negative in literally all of the public hearings so far. He is the one that wrote the original proposal and stated that they had to start with something... the permitting committee had come to a virtual standstill, so he grabbed the bull by the horns and wrote this version. He has taken much criticism for this permit bill and stated that it looks like it will need much more work...maybe not even be finished now until 2008. He said that it's possible that they would have to go back to close to the beginning and rewrite the bill, taking into consideration all of the feedback from these public hearings. I offered to help with a committee to consult on the rewrite, but suggested that fewer people be involved...to get more done. My impression is that Pat is open minded to the extent that he is allowed, and that he is listening to what the people at these hearings are saying. He took notes through most of the testimonies. Please write in your comments and make a written opinion whether you agree with the bill as written or not, and what your suggestions are to make it better. He will take testimonies until November 17th. His email is [email protected] Remember that your written testimony will be counted just as much as a spoken one at the hearings. Please walleye guys, check in on this one. It will determine the future of tournaments in Wisconsin. Make no mistake. A permitting rule will be written... that has been established by a previous ruling. This permit can be harsh as is written now or modified to be much more workable for everyone. I also weighed in on the upgrading of fish issue...stating that the only people who don't upgrade whenever they want to are the tournament people in draw partner tournaments. Literally all other anglers and many, many, team tournaments upgrade, even though it's against the law as written... mainly because this is an unenforcable law. I fish in many states where upgrading is allowed and have seen absolutely no effect on the fishing quaility on those bodies of water, in fact most of these lakes have excellent fishing. You may want to state your position on this issue also. Again, the more people that weigh in, the better chance that this permitting system and tournament legislation will be positive instead of negative. Good luck and I hope the many are heading to Rhinelander for the last hearing. Have a great day!
Best Fishes
Gary Parsons |
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Location: Rhinelander | I testified In Rhinelander tonight. Brought out the point the DNR has been assigned by our Wisconsin legislature to mediate a fight between Anti and Pro tournament positions, and the whole freaking deal is there for one reason... to figure out who has to pay for this ridiculous fight.We have a very dedicated group of DNR Scientists literally trying to mediate a disagreement over lake/river usage.
This is primarily a social issue, not in any way to be confused with biology or waste of the resource.
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Member
Posts: 538
| Thanks for the update guys. I just sent off and email to Mr. Schmalz.
Take care,
Jim O |
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| After you left last night Steve a great point was brought up. The question was raised as to how many people who have attending the meetings were in favor of NR 20.40. Pat Schmalz estimated that of the 500 people who had attended these meetings, about 5 spoke up in favor of it.
Then the point was made that in a democratic process, if the vote is 495 to 5 - maybe the pursuit of this issue is a waste of taxpayer money. I'd have to agree.
You still have one day left to send a simple email to Pat Schmalz that says nothing more than - "I am opposed to NR 20.40". Emailed statements hold the same weight as spoken testimony, so please take the time to email Pat at the address below to increase the margin of ridiculousness, and help put the issue to rest.
Thanks, and thanks to all who contributed to raising the awareness on this issue.
[email protected] |
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Location: Rhinelander | Get your opinions in toady, this is the last day they will accept written testimony. |
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| Sent my e-mail today. |
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Location: Elgin, Illinois | e-mail sentand I hope it does some good. |
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Member
Posts: 921
Location: Manitowoc, WI | Sent my email yesterday! We got to stand together on this one. I even had friends get involved. |
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