WEDNESDAY
SEPTEMBER 08 1999
Joseph Farah is editor of WorldNetDaily.com and executive director
of the
Western Journalism Center, an independent group of investigative reporters.
(What follows is extracts from his article and some comments related
to it.)
In March, 40 officers divided into 10 four-man teams swooped in
with helicopters in a pre-dawn raid to seize six suspects in Dorchester
County, Md.
The principal suspect, Robert Gootee, was hauled from his bed and led
away in chains. His wife was not allowed to call anyone, nor were her neighbors
allowed to come in to comfort her, for four and a half hours.
What was the offense that precipitated this action? Was the four-year
investigation that led to the armed raid concerned with terrorism, serial
homicide or a major drug ring? What type of criminal offenses were involved?
Who were these brave law-enforcement agents who defied death to make the
arrests?
You had better sit down.
Gootee was charged with possession of an undersized striped bass, striped
bass out of season, untagged striped bass, possession of summer flounder
out of season, failure to tag and check deer within 24 hours and possession
of a loaded weapon in a vehicle. The agents involved were from the state
and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. And the target for the raid was the
Golden Hills Hunt Club.
Gootee, the club treasurer, was hauled away with such "evidence" as
deer and duck mounts and a framed photograph of his retriever bringing
in a duck. Eventually, 24 other club members were charged with related
offenses, including failure to wear sufficient fluorescent orange while
hunting. We're in serious trouble, folks.
Even as more Americans wake up to the reality of the dangers posed
by the gun-toting federales who brought us Waco, a new breed of armed-and-dangerous
green commandos is turning our forests into police states. Check
out a report in this month's issue of usually low-key Field & Stream
Magazine: "Looking for firepower, firefights and other fun stuff? Forget
the SEALs; Fish and Game is the place to be."
"Wardens may be watching too many cop shows. How else can one explain
why increasing numbers of them seem to reject their workday reality and
the routine of dealing with essentially law-abiding people in favor of
a world in which the everyday sportsman is an ex-army commando ready for
a shoot-out or a high-speed car chase?"
The story continues: "Recruits to wildlife law enforcement now spend
more time learning how to break down the doors of alleged poachers than
how to differentiate the various species of sunfishes. The April 1999 issue
of Wildlife in North Carolina describes the boot camp that would-be officers
go through in that state: 'Relentless physical exercise, material training
and plenty of barracks inspections are the norm for the first two weeks
of wildlife recruit school ... this includes 40 hours of firearms training
as well as many hours mastering defensive tactics to disarm suspects.'"
The piece goes on to explain that the rationale used by many agencies
for such official militancy is a claim that game wardens are "seven times
more likely to be killed during an assault on the job than any other type
of law officer." Trouble with that statistic is that there is no
basis for it in fact.
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in 1997, 65 law enforcement
officers of all kinds nationwide were killed in the line of duty. Not one
was a warden. Whoops!
There seems to be an active effort by government to portray hunters
and other sportsmen as dangerous hombres -- all potential killers. That
was the picture painted by some involved in the planning of the Maryland
raid. Richard McIntire, spokesman for the state's Department of Natural
Resources, explained: "We were dealing with people who are known to have
weapons," he said, "and who are proficient in their use."
Yeah, so? America is a land free precisely because the people have
historically been armed and self-trained in how to use firearms. The Constitution
not only protects the rights of individual Americans to bear arms, it actually
suggests -- and, I believe, accurately -- that it is akin to a sacred duty
for citizens to be armed and vigilant.
Of course, the picture of the woods as territory occupied by armed
anti-government militiamen and dangerous scofflaws doesn't hurt one bit
when it comes time to convince legislators that the green cops need more
money for training, weapons and manpower. (Remember, the initial assault
on Waco was a public relations dog-and-pony show designed to persuade Congress
the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms needed more funds.)
It's not surprising, then, that after the raid in Maryland some American
flags in Dorchester County were flying upside down. Not surprising and
not unwarranted.