At 12:35 AM 4/13/99 EDT, BearlyBear at aol.com wrote:
>Good Evening, Tweeters,
>Just came across this on the web and am sitting here infuriated!
>
>
>Ten Plead Guilty in Bird Slaughter
>
>.c The Associated Press
>
> By WILLIAM KATES
>
>SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) -- Ten men -- three Lake Ontario fishing guides

These guys should swing.

> and seven avid anglers

These guys should have to dig the graves, drop the drop, cut down
the bodies, haul 'em off to the graveyard, and lose fishing rights
for life.

> -- pleaded guilty in the slaughter of as many as 2,000
>cormorants,

"cormorant cleansing"

> a federally protected bird with a voracious appetite for fish.

Don't you hate clauses like this? "voracious" paints a picture of
a bird that hankers after fish like a junky after heroin, out of
control in some evil grip of an evil substance.

Obviously, corms have to eat to live, as do you and I.

Man, use of words in this manner piss me off. The person who
wrote it should have to launder the pants of the condemned
guides after the drop. In a small mixing bowl.

>The defendants could get up to six months of home confinement and fines of
up
>to $2,500 at sentencing Aug. 11. They will also have to donate
collectively a
>tax-deductible $27,500 to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

When the author of the Melissa virus faces 40 years with no time off
for good behavior, this seems like a slap on the wrist.

>Defense attorney James McGraw said his clients, Ronald Ditch and his three
>sons, were pushed to extreme measures by the state's inaction.

I hope the defendants paid this guy. I'd hate to think tax dollars
paid for such a lame defense.



- Don Baccus, Portland OR <dhogaza at pacifier.com>
Nature photos, on-line guides, and other goodies at
http://donb.photo.net