Commissioner irked over
grizzly email
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September 18, 2011 |
Boundary County Commissioners were among many to
receive an email Friday from John O'Connor, owner
of Bonners Books, criticizing the "shrill"
letter county commissioners sent to the Idaho
Congressional Delegation and Governor Butch
Otter August 22.
"I became immediately irritated when I read this
email," commission chair Ron Smith said. "He
showed absolutely no compassion for Jeremy Hill
or his family."
Titled "An open letter to Senator Jim Risch,"
O'Connor's letter begins, "You were recently
sent a shrill letter from our Boundary County
Commissioners, dated August 22nd, having to do
with the shooting of a grizzly bear by local
resident Jeremy Hill.
"The letter was sent without the full support of
the community, and obviously before the
commissioners bothered to gather important facts
about the case. The letter claimed the bear
killed was a female with cubs; in fact it was a
male cub that was shot. It inferred a human was
killed by a bear in 2004, when no person has
ever been reported killed by a grizzly in
Boundary County. The letter claimed the
responding Fish and Game officer made a
recommendation not to prosecute Mr. Hill, when
no such recommendation was made."
Instead of referring to a human killed by a
grizzly, the letter sent by commissioners in
Hill's support, in fact, referred to the last
reported grizzly killed at human hands, citing
the success of the collaborative effort between
local officials and federal and state agencies
in working toward recovery and de-listing of the
grizzly bear as a threatened species. And
despite O'Connor's allegations, commissioners
had discussed the case with Idaho Fish and Game.
"We did have information from Idaho Fish and
Game that said there should be no charges
brought in this case," Smith said. "Our action
in this matter wasn't spur of the moment or
uninformed by any means."
"Perhaps most importantly, the letter claimed
children were in the yard with the bears,"
O'Connor went on. Clearly there is much question
about this point, because Mr. Hill has not made
this claim, and the Department of Fish and
Wildlife chose to consider prosecuting the case.
"It seems our commissioners wrote you in an
effort to have this case tried in the heated
court of public opinion, or behind political
doors, rather than to let cooler heads gather
facts and make informed decisions via the court
system.
"I hope you did not do as they ask and 'do all
in your power' to aid them in this graphic
example of bad government. Government by fear
does not well serve the governed," he concluded.
"The only person I've heard so far with negative
comments about the action we took in this matter
is John O'Connor," Smith said. "Based on the
facts we had, I believe it was our obligation to
take the actions we did in asking the District 1
legislators and the governor for assistance on
behalf of Jeremy. While I personally don't
believe he should have had to pay a fine, I have
to think that what we did helped bring this case
to a resolution that spared Jeremy and his
family any more stress than what they'd already
been put through. In the same circumstance, we'd
do it again. In this situation, it was our
obligation to a citizens right to protect his
family and property as we did, just as it was
Jeremy Hill's right and obligation to defend his
family." |
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