Someone gets it and PNJ printed it.

Ignorance no excuse

I am but a humble high school graduate, a hard worker and an avid hunter. Despite my lack of financial resources and access to people in high places, I am smart enough to know that every state has different hunting seasons, permits, licenses, etc.

I am smart enough to research the hunting requirements for each state I plan to hunt in. I am smart enough to use an outfitter only after checking the outfitter's background information.

Do you know why I do this? Because ignorance of the law is no excuse.

Ignorance of the law on Whitehead's, McNesby's and Tourt's behalf is absolutely no excuse! I wonder if they blame their administrative assistants for not looking this up.

These so-called leaders of our community need to be prosecuted and stripped of their titles and duties for the "Duh, gosh, I didn't know" excuse regarding the Wisconsin hunting trip.

These so-called leaders of our community also need to lose their hunting and fishing privileges in all states, simply because they're too ignorant to hunt.

Don't just slap their hand and say, "Please don't do this again," judge! Prosecute these men who claim to be leaders: Mike Whitehead trying to be a banty rooster; Ron McNesby trying to be a law officer; and George Touart for being mixed up into too much to list.

— Gary Anderson
Pensacola

Okay let's see I'm a licensed driver...I drive in every state and know most of the laws in most states. But there are some laws in some states and not in others. A good example is the helmet law for motorcycles. Anyway stay with me on this. I go to, let's say Wisconsin, and flag down a cab at the airport. You know the ones that are all lined up waiting to pick people up. While riding in the cab a police officer pulls said cab over and the cabbie has a suspended license and he has a large amount of drugs in the car and says they are not his, so both me and the cabbie go to jail. Should I have some how checked out the cabbie to see if he had a valid license and checked the vehicle for drugs before getting in? No of course not that is why I flagged down a cab for the ride who was there conducting business. Not making any excuses for the Sheriff but not knowing all the hunting laws is the reason you use an licensed outfitter which this guy WAS! The guy in the paper is an obvious Morgan supporter which by proxy makes him an idiot. The Sheriff is not without sin, but on this thing he is the one who got screwed. The State of Wisconsin should have shut this guy down when they knew he was taking unsuspecting people from other states in areas that he knew was illegal and letting them do things that could be legal in some states but are illegal there.

Much as I hate to admit it, I have to agree with the last post. If someone comes here from out of state to do some deep sea fishing, it is the charter captain who is responsible for the catch on his boat. I don't see this as anything different. And before someone jumps on me, I am not a McNesby supporter, nor am I impressed with Morgan.

That hunting party was no naive poor citizen group. It was made up of those who know the law and know it well. A competent cop, especially one with 40 years on the job would have know to confirm if everything was on the up and up before he risk his reputation by hunting in another state. A simple 5 minute phone call to the game commisson in Minn,. would have told them what they probably already knew. What they were going to do was illegal

That hunting party was no naive poor citizen group. It was made up of those who know the law and know it well. A competent cop, especially one with 40 years on the job would have know to confirm if everything was on the up and up before he risk his reputation by hunting in another state. A simple 5 minute phone call to the game commisson in Minn,. would have told them what they probably already knew. What they were going to do was illegal

That hunting party was no naive poor citizen group. It was made up of those who know the law and know it well. A competent cop, especially one with 40 years on the job would have know to confirm if everything was on the up and up before he risk his reputation by hunting in another state. A simple 5 minute phone call to the game commisson in Minn,. would have told them what they probably already knew. What they were going to do was illegal

That same cop who loves to brag about his 40 years of experience who also just so happens to be the sheriff who has now been in office almost 7 years is an experienced fervent hunter who has hunted in several states across the country. He also belongs to a local hunting club where we meet and have discussions about hunting here and elsewhere. For him to plead ignorance of the laws of other states is ludicrous, ridiculous, preposterous, totally absurd and an attempt to insult the intelligence of any rational thinking person. The comparison that one poster made in comparing a charter fishing boat with a group hunting party is also ridiculous. Every hunter knows the laws that regulate hunting are stricter than the fishing laws and the penalty for violating the hunting laws are much more severe. A gun used to kill a living creature is considered a lot more dangerous that a fishing pole to pull up a fish. In his capacity as Sheriff, McNesby has his own resources and contacts within his office where it would not have been necessary for him to call Minnesota to see if the company he was going to pay to let him hunt was ok. A 5 minute phone courtesy call to any local game officer requesting they contact the Minnesota game commission to see if the trip would be ok and if he did or did not need a license would have saved him and the entire hunting party a lot of grief, embarrassment, arrest and fines. He, like all hunters, knows that there is no state anywhere in the United States that does not require all non residents to have at a minimum a temporary license before they hunt in that state. There no such thing as a “charter” license like there is for fishing. He has a reputation of being a smooth talker who fools a lot of people but he can’t fool all the people all the time. There’s no excuse for his action and he should have taken his lesson like a man, pled guilty, paid his fine and ask Escambia citizens to forgive his mistake and that he wouldn’t let it happen again. That’s exactly what the preacher did and he proved he’s a bigger man because of it. McNesby is not following the lead of the preacher. Instead he is continuing to fall back on the excuse that he was conned, and didn’t know he was violating the law. If he’s that easy to be sucked into at trap, he needs to turn in his badge and retire. I and many others don’t believe him. If he’ll lie about this issue what else will he lie about? A liar should not be the Sheriff of Escambia County.

Not only is the information commonly known by all hunters that a HUNTING LICENSE IS REQUIRED IN ALL STATES, now with the internet those who don’t know it can find out at the click of a mouse. McNesby has access to hundreds of computers at the Sheriff’s Department where he could have confirmed that HE DID NEED A LICENSE. There are a number of good reference sites to get the information from including at:

http://www.fws.gov/offices/statelinks.html and at,
http://www.iafwa-awds.com/license.htm

The latter has nice graphic picture of the Entire U.S. and links to each states Game Commission. By clicking Minnesota a hunter can easily see the information that would let him know a license IS REQUIRED and if he still has doubts the contact phone numbers of the game commissions is listed on the site.

IGNORANCE of the law is not a valid defense, especially in this case where the one pleading to be ignorant should know the law. On the other hand maybe HE IS IGNORANT or at least thinks everyone in Escambia County is. He doesn’t have the citizens of Minnesota fooled.

What I don't like is that the sheriff hates being treated like a common criminal but yet he treats or allows admin to treat his employees much worse than he is being treated. I hope he likes it. He needs to take a clue from the sheriff down in south Florida that just got in trouble and he will realize that he and the crooked Commisioners can't hide forever behind all of their wrong doings and underhanded ways.

The hunting violation wasn't in Minnesota, it occurred in Wisconsin.