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Civilization isn't quite there yet

This year�s award for the most blatantly defiant act of betrayal by elected politicians against the will of the public goes to a handful of Washington State Legislators for plotting to repeal or undermine a voter approved Initiative. I-655, which bans the unfair sports of hound hunting and bear baiting, is under attack by politicos like Representatives Pam Roach and Bob Sump. Apparently their attitude is: �Never mind the voters, they don�t know what�s good for them--We�ll call it a public safety issue!�

Roach also sponsored a new bill to criminalize body-piercing. Another pressing public-safety issue worthy of our valuable legislative time?.

Growing hype would have you believe that Washington�s cougars learned that voters passed a bill in their favor and, in celebration, have begun reproducing like crazed rabbits. Representative Sump alone claims to have seen 9 cougars in the 2 years since the inception of I-655. Far be it from me to suggest that an esteemed politician might be guilty of distorting the truth. Sump probably just had a bit too much to drink that night. Or maybe he was mistaken about what he saw, as were alarmed citizens last week in Albany, Oregon. Police there responded to a report of an alleged cougar near a school yard. After careful observation, at a safe distance through binoculars, they determined the fearsome feline was merely an oversized calico cat.

Folks in Forks recently had an opportunity to voice their opinions against the reintroduction of wolves to the Olympic National Park. Again, it was a public safety issue. One gentleman boldly stated: �..civilization has come a long way�� suggesting that wolves have no place in today�s world. But is a society truly civilized when it has not yet learned to live alongside the rest of the creatures of this Earth?

Jim Robertson

 

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