Once upon a time, not very many years ago (like in 2008), the Utah Supreme Court made a landmark decision related to stream access, giving the citizens of Utah similar rights to their public waters as is enjoyed by those of us in Idaho and Montana.
Yet, worrying about all those nasty, socialist, public anglers, Don Peay, leader of Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife (SFW) used his welfare funds from tag raffles, tag auctions, and backroom budget appropriations to make sure the Utah Legislature passed a bill to overturn that Supreme Court decision that had verified that Utah anglers were allowed such stream access.
SFW was worried that sportsmen were "too greedy" in their use of the streams of Utah. Greedy. Really, greedy? SFW talking about someone else being greedy. Welfare Kettle, meet Public Pot.
I'm not kidding you, SFW's Don Peay actually said that to a newspaper in the context of anglers and the bill SFW got passed, HB 141. You can read his comments at this link ----> http://www.sltrib.com/ci_14839041
Quote here:
Using their welfare funds from the Utah legislature to buy a little more incestuous influence, SFW got HB 141 introduced and passed. Evidently the "Fish" part of SFW's name is to protect the fish of Utah from being fished by public anglers. Further proof that the money gained from public assets (tags) and absconded/extorted from the Utah legislature is being used against the public masses in Utah.
Now, the Utah Stream Access Coalition has started to push back on the SFW crowd, which by default makes the USAC folks a bunch of wolf-lovin', communist, anti-Americans. USAC has a bill introduced, HB37 that would change the law in Utah back more toward the rules as they were promulgated by the Utah Supreme Court.
If any of you are from Utah, here is a link to a FB page of the Utah Stream Access Coalition that gives you details of a rally at the Capitol tomorrow.
https://www.facebook.com/utahstreamaccesscoalition
I hope the Capitol is swamped with anglers tomorrow.
Not that we needed further evidence of the way SFW is using its state funded welfare program to screw over the average hunter or angler. If SFW has not taken a parasitic hold in your state, don't let them get started. If they are already in your state, treat them like a case of the plague. They have a track record that shows little regard for your hunting, fishing, and public access.
The anglers of Utah have better things to spend their time on. But, thanks to SFW getting the "greedy fisherman" back in line, via HB141, these Utah anglers now have to expend a lot of energy and money to restore what the Utah Supreme Court felt was well within their rights as citizens.
Yet, worrying about all those nasty, socialist, public anglers, Don Peay, leader of Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife (SFW) used his welfare funds from tag raffles, tag auctions, and backroom budget appropriations to make sure the Utah Legislature passed a bill to overturn that Supreme Court decision that had verified that Utah anglers were allowed such stream access.
SFW was worried that sportsmen were "too greedy" in their use of the streams of Utah. Greedy. Really, greedy? SFW talking about someone else being greedy. Welfare Kettle, meet Public Pot.
I'm not kidding you, SFW's Don Peay actually said that to a newspaper in the context of anglers and the bill SFW got passed, HB 141. You can read his comments at this link ----> http://www.sltrib.com/ci_14839041
Quote here:
Using their welfare funds from the Utah legislature to buy a little more incestuous influence, SFW got HB 141 introduced and passed. Evidently the "Fish" part of SFW's name is to protect the fish of Utah from being fished by public anglers. Further proof that the money gained from public assets (tags) and absconded/extorted from the Utah legislature is being used against the public masses in Utah.
Now, the Utah Stream Access Coalition has started to push back on the SFW crowd, which by default makes the USAC folks a bunch of wolf-lovin', communist, anti-Americans. USAC has a bill introduced, HB37 that would change the law in Utah back more toward the rules as they were promulgated by the Utah Supreme Court.
If any of you are from Utah, here is a link to a FB page of the Utah Stream Access Coalition that gives you details of a rally at the Capitol tomorrow.
https://www.facebook.com/utahstreamaccesscoalition
I hope the Capitol is swamped with anglers tomorrow.
Not that we needed further evidence of the way SFW is using its state funded welfare program to screw over the average hunter or angler. If SFW has not taken a parasitic hold in your state, don't let them get started. If they are already in your state, treat them like a case of the plague. They have a track record that shows little regard for your hunting, fishing, and public access.
The anglers of Utah have better things to spend their time on. But, thanks to SFW getting the "greedy fisherman" back in line, via HB141, these Utah anglers now have to expend a lot of energy and money to restore what the Utah Supreme Court felt was well within their rights as citizens.
