ok, now that everyone is paying attention. how many of you know of, or remember operation rock cut?
this was a joint venture between tp&w & mostly NPS to round up about 4 or 5 people hunting big bend national park. the crazy a_ _ NPS special task force comprised of a rogue agent named chris scott, & 2 other people including his supervisor were out not looking for poachers but rather creating them. using some of the strongest entrapping techniques ever known. these agents set up numerous people & with very weak & vague information. then tried to arrest them. this operation rock cut went on for almost 2 years, there were around 43 arrest (give or take) and a suspect list of about 200. the NPS was running a shuttle service to arizona & paying peoples way to entrap them. out of these 43 arrests i dont think they made more than 3 cases, all of a class c misdemeanors, the only way these 3 cases were made was by offering deferred adjudication & fines of around 25-50 dollars. tp & w tried to make a couple of cases, but they over fined people leaving a major mess to be cleaned up under the codes, parks & wildlife code called for a 200 dollar fine at that time, but they fined people 500, they ended up changing the code to reflect 500 fines on my discovery presented to peoples attorneys.
the tp&w game warden that signed on to this bs deal was shipped out never to be seen again, the special agent chris scott & another agent were fired, tanner the big boss at the NPS had to leave under an early retirement.
all of this has occurred because of audio tapes i made of special agents, no i was never a suspect. i made myself a suspect & stuck my neck out for numerous people on this forum. i know allot of you all think im to harsh but the fact is do to my work on this case innocent people were freed of charges.
most of you now benefit from relaxed restrictions on snake hunting here in texas, once again i have worked on this for years, on this i dont stand alone people like lance benton, the early years of buzz ross & a hand full of others are the reason you can hunt so freely in this state.
if it wasnt for these individuals doing hundreds of hours of research, making phone calls, writing letters & flat standing up to un educated LE officers on the subject & jeopardizing there own arrest you would have hardly any rights. so before you think some of us are radical you better look at the hard work we have done.
ask any general diplomacy is for when you have won a war & are negotiating the surrender of the enemy, it was the firm hand of a few that one out on regs. being diplomatic never went anywhere but people showing up in austin, hollering for there rights did, standing along the highway yelling back & forth with wardens about the laws did wonders, i cant tell you how many hours buzz ross, myself & others lost out on snake hunting to argue the merit of the laws with the sheriff, dps & tp&w just so the rest of you could have the rights to do it.
some of my close personal friends in the herp communitee will tell you the work i have done for the better of everyone in the hobby
jeff adams
