Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've decided I'm going to market this story endlessly until I get it published. I'm going for TV Markets & National Political Markets. I'm not giving up until I get results.

So far I have nothing, short of a meaningless Olive branch from the other camp, and that isn't going to cut it with me. I'll back off when I get what we want, even if it takes years.

If sections 41 & 44 get stripped out of HB 12 in a special session I'll be happy. If that doesn't happen I'm going to want more than that, much more.

starting in Kerrville and working our way through district 53.. yes I think this is in order.

Joe and All,

I am with you on fighting all poorly thought out laws and regulations not only here but around the country. We have to stand up for our rights and intelligent conservation. Our enemies have been at us for years and they are starting to get poorly thought out and totally unfair laws and regulation passed in many states. We can start with HB 12 and then the ridiculous "White List" and then help in other states. We need a webpage up and going on this. We need to get organized and grow our membership so we can have the power and resources that such a group affords.

Mike Welker
El Paso, TX
OHI2007@elp.rr.com
915-595-8831

Mike,
see if you can figure out to set up an online petition where we can start accumulating the signatures we need to petition the commission.
That is probably the most important and most time consuming task we will have when we address the commission regarding the white list.

Joe,

No problem. I will check into that. I will let you know what I find out.

Mike Welker
El Paso, TX

That seems to bring us back to the below thread...
Thinking Beyond HB 2414

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Gerald Keown
Southwestern Center for Herpetological Research
www.southwesternherp.com

Joe, one thing I think would be in our best interest would be to make the public aware, by whatever means possible, just how beneficial herpers can be to West Texas economy. A campaign aimed at educating the public could help. Giving constant positive input regarding OUR contributions to West Texas could change the outlook many have on us. Most do not understand the fact that herpers are, in fact, bringing in a fair amount of revenue in an otherwise slow time of year. I'm sure this has been discussed many times, but if you are trying to get into the media, it's a healthy reminder of something to go after - public awareness.

ok, boss, your the leader and I'm a doer, set it up and I'll help knock it down! The video they are shooting in Sanderson, will that help us out, maybe in the long run? I will be out there somewhere tomorrow evening for about 6 days, then back again for the Sanderson thing and some more west Texas! You have one of the better cities to pick a fight in for radio.
Todd Hughes

There is public radio in Marfa now. I don't know how to get ahold of them but they may be interested. It is a local fight after all.

NPR in Marfa is only available on the net. They screwed up their license agreement somehow and can't broadcast over the air so they are only available on line. This may change in the future, but has been this way for a year or so.

DB

Who, what, when, where, why?

>>Who, what, when, where, why?

I few days ago "someone" from the other camp called me and asked if I'd be willing to sit down and work out our differences, some kind of compromise. At first I was pretty excited about the idea but then after I thought about it this is what I came up with.

After they have screwed us and lied to us over and over, and with the all the other legislators willing to help us, why in the heck would we trust that camp to do the right thing in the next session? Unfortunately we will not be able to trust that camp ever again. I refuse to give that camp another opportunity to screw us again. If we are going to get something done it is going to be with legislators that we can trust.

you're right - we DO need a bigger stage. I would suggest we take a poll first though - see who in the herp community does what and how we can put that to use. How many lawyers, advertising folks, etc..........lets find out what our strengths are so that we can use them wisely. We need to be in this for the long haul - once we get the offending language out of this legislation, we need to take steps to make sure it can't happen again. We don't have a "right" to herp the ROW's, but it needs to be a legally protected privledge.

Of course now they will say we were "uncooperative" and "unwilling to compromise"-we can't win no matter what we do!

They must really love those falconers.

Brad Chambers

is when they want to sit down - in other words AFTER the fact - so I haven't ruled it out, I just don't trust them and for good reason.

Oh I'm not arguing-we have the best of reasons for not trusting. EXPERIENCE. I'm from New York originally, so I've seen more than my share of political double-dealing. But this is the worst by far. Up to now, my impression of Texans was that you can trust them to deal with you in an honest and straightforward manner. I guess that stops at the Statehouse steps.

Also, I guess I'm a little unclear as to what kind of "compromise" could be achieved after the law is already on the books? Some kind of "hobbyist permit", perhaps?

Brad Chambers

We can possibly achieve that through the commission, but the jest of the phone conversation I had was addressing "next session".

My question to all would be, with the number of other Reps sympathetic to our plight, is there any reason we would trust and work with the camp that put us in this situation to begin with?

One good reason?

Um ... NOOOOOOOOOO !

Besides, what good would it do to work with someone that will be out of office next session?

Kicking their a$$ would be far more effective (and satisfying) than shaking their hand.

This olive branch is nothing more than a bandaid for his own actions. It seems like he has seen what he has done and how we have responded and wants us to back it up a bit... Because he knows this action will hurt his reputation if we keep it up.

I say we keep it up, get him out and fix this without the help of the camp that backdoored us all.

Lance

pretty much exactly why I exerted more and more effort every day from the day I got that call.

I will not back down until we get what we want, if this battle rages on for years, If I have to spend days weeks or months on the steps of the capitol, if I have to campaign in Kerrville and all over district 53 that's what I will do.

You can attach a picket sign to a snake hook...

Reptiles or other herp related publications...

They simply could not help but get this in print. I know that it would not have the large scale impact (preaching to the choir) but once you have one publication carrying the story it is easier to get the next and the next.

Lance