Take Back The MDC
A Gathering Point for True Sportsmen
Too Much Blood!
Monday April 7th, 2008
The March issue of the Missouri Conservationist contained an article from an anti-hunter who wanted to make her voice known concerning all of the recent hunting topics the magazine had been printing. It's obvious to us that the magazine was printing these hunting related articles because of growing pressure to include the hunting community more in its magazine. Well it should now be obvious who the MDC leadership and the magazine editors have targeted their magazine for, because they are starting to get ticked off with the recent influx of hunting related articles.
Here is the letter...
HUNTING HEAVY?
Your February issue has a large helping of ways and means of killing wild animals.
The front and back covers give us a glimpse of songbird appreciation, but between the covers it is quite bloody. Even when you write about nurturing quail or other birds or animals, it is with a view to eventually killing them for our own enjoyment or consumption. I can understand that many of your readers relish articles on killing or trapping, but you may be underestimating how many there are of us who disagree quite strongly.
Please try for better balance in the future.
--Mary Ann Salo, Stockton
Can someone please explain to Mary Ann, that the purpose of the MDC is not to turn the outdoors into a petting zoo? The MDC editor did not even reply to the letter and just printed it without sticking up for the many positives surrounding Missouri hunting activities. It should come as no surprise that hunting is barely mentioned in the MDC's "Next Generation of Conservation" booklet that you can pick up at any MDC office around the state. In fact Hunter Education isn't mentioned at all. The MDC leadership and Outreach and Education director Lorna Domke didn't want to upset people like Mary Ann with all kinds of talk about killing animals when they published that booklet.
Yet this is what you get when you adopt the view of Director John Hoskins and try to turn the MDC into a giant tent welcoming of all backgrounds and beliefs. The MDC is supposed to be non-political however when you place hunters in the same room as PETA supporters, it won't be long before the fur (pardon the pun) starts flying. It just doesn't work. Each group has a definite political agenda to eliminate each other.
Take a look at a recent Press Release:
MoDOT News Release
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
MODOT ABREAST OF CITIZEN’S NEEDS
JEFFERSON CITY - Missouri Department of Transportation Director Pete
Bahn met with leaders of the La Leche League today, to officially
announce a new partnership between MODot and La Leche, a not-for-
profit organization whose mission is to help mothers to breastfeed
through mother-to-mother support, education, information, and
encouragement.
MODot has pledged 3.6 million dollars to the breastfeeding support
group, for the construction of 2 educational centers to be built
along I-70; one near Columbia, and the other just east of Kansas City.
"We're very proud to be a part of breastfeeding education," Mr. Bahn
said. "Nearly all nursing mothers in Missouri pay highway taxes, and
it's our duty to contribute to their cause."
---
The above article is obviously phony. But, this make-believe
association between MoDOT and La Leche, isn't anymore ridiculous than
the relationships the MDC is building under the current leadership.
No matter who funds it, the purpose of MoDOT and the MDC cannot
legally be changed by the leadership of these state departments.
MoDOT takes care of highways and bridges, and the MDC regulates
hunting, fishing, trapping and forestry.
But, the MDC has changed it's purpose without the consent of the
voters. The leaders claim this had to be done because the 1/8 cent
funding is paid by everyone... so the demands of all people in
Missouri must be appeased by the MDC.
They don't want us to remember that the MDC has been funded in this
manner for over 30 years, and in that time became the best in the
nation. It was going in exactly the right direction and was far from
being broke... but they fixed it. Boy, did they fix it.
On the surface, this way of thinking seems insane, but the base of it
is rooted in money and power. Lots of money and lots of power that
other people want for their own use. And they are getting it, from
anti-hunting groups like Audubon to elaborate city nature centers
named after ex-commissioners, where you can go to learn how to be a
Global-Warming Activist.
The answer is simple. It's time for the MDC to stop wasting our money
and get back to the business they were created for.
Taxpayers of Missouri have no need to fund a department to oversee
birdwatching, wildflower photography, crafts, activism, etc. These
things are free and need no regulation. Trails for hiking and
clean streams for canoeing are the job of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. Nature centers and
museums are the business of cities and private organizations.
Citizens must Take Back the MDC and return it to it's place as the
best in the nation, instead of the national joke its starting to become.
***********************************
Sen. Dan Clemens Remarks
Just last month State Senator Dan Clemens made remarks on the Missouri Senate Floor expressing his concerns with the current leadership at the MDC. Please read his remarks and forward them on to others who may wish to read them. Click Here
Report to Elected Officials
Please download and pass on the Take Back The MDC report to elected officials concerning the current state of the Missouri Department of Conservation. Please call your state elected representatives and senators and tell them that you are concerned with the Leadership at the MDC. Tell them you want change!
Download HERE
