Conference vmsnet::hunting$note:hunting

410.0. "Maine Warden Experiences" by DNEAST::MICHAUD_DAN () Tue Jun 27 1989 12:58

Has anyone experienced anything like this before?


June 9, 1989

The Honorable John McKernan
Govenor of Maine
State House Station # 1
Augusta, Maine 04333

Dear Govenor McKernan:

SUBJECT:   MAINE WARDEN SERVICE
          
My wife and son Jonathan really enjoy camping and fishing in Maine 
"the great outdoors".

In the winter months I often talk my son Jonathan to sleep, telling him of past
experiences that family and relatives have accumulated over the years.  This 
really sets the stage for excitement and fantasy as he waits for the season to 
change.  In the spring he carefully watches over me while I get the boat and 
camper ready for the "big trip".

Needless to say, we savored the three weekend camping/fishing trips to 
Moosehead this early May.  We noticed that there were a lot of other die-hard 
campers in the area that were already starting the camping/fishing season.

The first weekend we saw the ice go out on the lake, the second weekend
we caught two salmon on Moose River and the third weekend we caught two
beautiful lake trout.  Pretty good experiences....BUT!!!

In a moment my family's joy was compromised and shattered!

On our way back home on May 21, 1989 we were stopped, somewhere in Newport,
Maine for a road check by the Maine Warden Service.  I observed that there 
must have been at least 50 to 75 Wardens in the area.  I also observed that 
the more seasoned Wardens were in the background and the younger troops were 
doing all the work.  This was not that unfamiliar to us as we had been stopped 
the year before  and the year prior at this very same spot!  We knew that we 
were going thru a road block and that we had nothing to worry about.

One of the young Wardens had entered my camper asked if I had any guns, 
which checked out OK, and asked if we had caught any fish?  I claimed that 
(we) the family had caught two beautiful lake trout and I offered to get the 
fish out of the camper refrigerator and show the Warden but he said it was "OK" 
and pulled on the refridgerator door, only to have a half dozen fresh eggs hit 
the camper floor. (what a mess!).

The Warden said nothing and NO Apologies were noted...

The Warden then proceeded to remove the fish from the camper and started to 
unwrap them on the top of MY boat.  The Warden and a peer of his noted that the 
fish were VERY TIGHTLY wrapped in a double layer of aluminum foil and also
VERY TIGHTLY and doubly wrapped in Saran Wrap.  The Warden made the comment 
that he had never seen fish so well wrapped and asked if we would have more 
wrapping as he wanted to cut the TIGHTLY WRAPPED layers with his knife.
I gave him permission to cut the foil and Saran Wrap and instructed my wife 
to get new foil and wrap in the camper.  I then followed the Warden to the 
back of a state owned pickup truck where there was a piece of wood that had 
pencil lines marked across it.  I assumed  they represented legal limits of 
some type but I wasn't totally clear of their purpose.  There was no mention as
to what these marks represented.  He then laid my fish on the piece of wood 
and said that he's going to call the fish short, asked for my license and 
started to write me a summons.

I tried to explain to the Warden that the fish that I had was of LEGAL
length and that the fish's gills were removed and that the fish's own head was 
compressed against its own body, and that the fish had been in the refridgerator
in a VERY TIGHT wrapper for a couple of days and that if he wanted the fish to 
be of it's original length, all he had to do was flatten the fish out on the 
piece of wood that had pencil lines marked on it.

The Warden apparently had made his final decision as it was now clear to me
that he was not listening to what I was trying to tell him.  He told me if I 
had any questions to call the telephone number he had written on the court 
summons for more information.

Please take note that this was a very busy place and that the Wardens had alot
of people to PROCESS and didn't have time to hear any concerns whatsoever.
The Warden that I had talked to would not have eye contact with me and would
not speak to me directly.  I then turned around and told my wife that the 
Warden's were keeping the fish and that she could return the wrapping materials
back to the camper.  She asked me why the Wardens were keeping only that 
particular fish?  

I felt that the road block operation was being run like the "GESTAPO" as I 
recently had seen portrayed in a mini-series on the television.  The feeling 
that struct me hard was the fact that I was "GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT".
I kept calm as I felt there was a heightened spirit within the Wardens for 
"mass ticket issuance".  I knew that I would have to talk to a Judge.

The real damage was when I turned to see my seven year old son, Jonathan, in 
tears.  Jonathan has never seen a Game Warden and has no prejudice or bias
attitude about any Warden.  Jonathan was deathly afraid that the Wardens were 
going to arrest daddy and take him away.  He asked "Mommy, I thought that Game 
Wardens were good people like policeman and they didn't do bad things".   He 
also wanted mommy to "let (the family dog) Cajun go and attack the bad Warden" 
(Jonathan's last defense to protect daddy??).

My wife Susan knew that the fish were legal, there is no way she would
ever take the chance of going through a known road block!  She was not as 
disturbed of the wardens bad judgement as she was of the rudeness in their
behavior and the the way they went through the family's belongings and the
long term mental effect on our son Jonathan.  She asked me later if what 
they were doing was LEGAL?  

I maintain my innocence on the legal length of the lake trout.  Obviously
Jonathan didn't understand the Warden's position as Jonathan was himself 
a witness of my measuring, cleaning, picture taking and the wrapping of the 
fish.  Jonathan had a comfort level of my going thru the steps teaching him 
how to do things right.  The once happy picture of Jonathan and I holding our 
prize catch will only serve as testimony of a BAD experience.

I called the number on the summons, which was a toll call to Newport, and I
asked some questions of the person on the end of the line only to be 
given the choice of pleading "GUILTY" and sending the signed summons 
and $44.00 to pay for the fine or show up in court on the specified date.

At this point in time I choose to show my son how to stand up for his rights
and that he has choices that he can make.  This lesson is going to cost me
much more than the $44.00! I suspect it's going to cost me in the neighborhood
of $600.00+/- if you count the time I've spent and the work day missed to go 
to court.  Besides a lost LEGAL fish....

                    
I ask of you Govenor John Mckernan:

	What is your investment to Vacationland and to the tourism of this 
 	State?

 	If my son's pure mind and soul experienced such a personal trauma, 
	what about the perception of the businessmen who were also PROCESSED?

	How much money did the State of Maine make on that May, 21 weekend?

	Have the northern local shopowners and merchants been made aware of 
	the long term potential economic implications of negative law 
	enforcement attitudes?

I fear that the vacationing businessmen will take their monies and go to 
another state next year or at the very least not go to Moosehead.  Remember 
that Maine's future is in the Jonathan's who will be the taxpayer's for the 
next 75 to 100 years.



I would greatly appreciate if the commissioner of the Warden Service 
William Vail invite Jonathan and my wife Susan for an APPOLOGY and that 
LEGAL steps are taken to prevent the proliferation of this negative law 
enforcement behavior burdened upon our future.


SINCERELY
Daniel R. Michaud

cc:
Dept of Attorney General
James E. Tierney
State House Station # 6
Augusta, Maine 04333

Publicity Bureau
George Stobie  DIR.
97 Winthrop Street
Hallowell, Maine 04347

Richard Silkman  DIR.
State Planning Office
184 State Street
State House Station # 38
Augusta, Maine 04333

Peter Gore  DIR.
Dept of Public Affairs
221 State Street
State House Station 11
Augusta, Maine 04333

Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Dept.
Commissioner  William Vail 
State House Station # 41
Augusta, Maine 04333

Office of Policy and Legal Analysis
C/O Martha Freeman
State House Station # 13
Augusta, Maine 04333

Revisor Of Statutes
State House Station # 7 
Augusta, Maine 04333

Charles Pray
Office Of The President
Maine State Senate
State House Station # 3
Augusta, Maine 04333

Secretary Of The Senate
Maine State Senate
State House Station # 3 
Augusta, Maine 04333

Speaker Of The House
Maine State Senate
State House Station # 3
Augusta, Maine 04333

Kennebec Journal
274 Western Avenue
Augusta, Maine 04330

Maine Sunday Telegram
274 Western Avenue
Augusta, Maine 04330

Bangor Daily News
491 Main Street
Bangor, Maine 04401

Associated Press
State House
Augusta, Maine 04333

Capitol News
Mel Leary
State House Station # 70
Augusta, Maine 04333

Gannett State House Bur.
Paul Carrier
State House Station # 99
Augusta, Maine 04333

Lewiston Sun Journal
104 Park Street
Lewiston, Maine 04240

United Press International
State House Station # 56
Augusta, Maine 04333

Maine Times 
Augusta News Bureau
Randy Wilson
State House
Augusta, Maine 04333

Duke's Barber Shop
Memorial Circle
Augusta, Maine 04330

Maine Trial Lawyers Assoc.
34 Parkwood Avenue
Augusta, Maine 04330

WHOM-FM 95
News Staff
477 Congress Street
Portland, Maine 04101

WIGY 106 FM
News Staff
P.O. BOX 329
Bath, Maine 04530

WTOS-FM
News Staff
Middle Road 
Skowhegan, Maine 04976

CHANNEL 5 NEWS STATION

CHANNEL 6 NEWS STATION

CHANNEL 8 
C/O Tom Hanrahan

CHANNEL 13 NEWS STATION

Harry Vanderweide EDITOR
The Maine Sportsman
P.O. box 507
Yarmouth, Maine 04096

Fish and Wildlife Magazine
284 State Street   Station # 41
Augusta, Maine 04333

Central Maine Morning Sentinel
c/o Gene Letourneau
25 Silver Street
Waterville, Maine 04901

Mid-Maine Chamber Of Commerce
131 Main Street
Waterville, Maine 04901

L.L. bean
c/o Office of the President
Freeport, Maine 04032

Boston Globe
c/o Letter to the Editor
P.O. box 2378
Boston, Massachusetts  02107-2378

Office Of Equal Opportunity
U.S. Department of the Interior
Washington, D.C. 20240

Field and Stream Magazine

Outdoor Life Magazine

Mike Wallace (60 MINUTES)
CBS NEWS
524 West 57th Street
NY, New York  10019

Maurie Povitch
20th Century Fox (CURRENT AFFAIR)
P.O. BOX 900
Beverly Hills, California  90213

P.S. From discussions there is obviously many more folks that have experienced
this forceful behavior.  The Govenor is trying very hard to convince businessmen
to come to Maine and invest, yet on the other hand he is being undermined by
his own rules and regulations!
There is much more of a story than what appears here, and one needs to do a 
little research to get the whole story.
Dan

    
    
    Dan-
    
    What a sad experience.  It sounds like your'e fighting back hard.
    
    Question:  What if, at the roadblock, you had simply refused to allow
    them to examine your camper.  Unless they have probably cause to do
    a search, or you were committing a crime, can they do so without your
    permission?
    
    Also, next time (assuming there is a next time) it might be a good idea
    to bring a videocamera along and film every single thing they do and
    say.  Maybe have your son do it so it seems non-threatening.
    
    Good luck
    	Dave
    

    Case will have final decision August 9 1989. 
    Dan

We'll Ya'll I have kept tract of all of you who wanted me to let you know
what the outcome would be on my court case well I have some GOOD news for all 
to pass along to your friends...
Concerning the Newport district court case......
    
                           I WON!
    
    Jim Diehl the D.A. representing the State Of Maine filed a motion this 
    morning (wednesday August 9th')to drop the State's procsecution of my case.
    Apparently this goes against the wishes of Commissioner William Vail who 
    wanted the Judge to follow thru with a decision (don't know why??).

I believe that it be might rightful' if I continue with my original demands of:

1.) Get my fish back! I don't know what right they have in illegally taking
    my belongings!

2.) Have the Commissioner produce a comprehensive educational plan so his
    Troops can have the basic's for dealing with the general public and 
    also have the necessary skills to promote tourism, vital to our survival.
    This can include going to the school systems and educate the next 
    generations of the effectiveness of good wildlife management.
    (My son thinks that Game Wardens are not nice people like policemen!)

3.) STOP the needless roadblocks! I will be getting in contact with my
    local Representative for Legislative support.

4.) Personal apology for my wife Susan and son Jonathan. 
   (I jest' might invite the media!).

I have stated these demands to Game Warden SGT. Marshall who came to my house 
on July 5, 1989 to give to Commissioner Vail.

As of this time I have not had any contact from the Govenor or the Commissioner
since the start of this whole ordeal.  I am ordering the whole case transcript 
from the courts for my permanent record and your reading enjoyment!  My lawyer
says it will take about 3 to 4 months for the transcript to come through.
Who knows might even make a good MOVIE!  Any Ideas on who would want to play 
the Warden?
    My price tag for this was $2000.00 +/- for exercising my rights!  
    And a week's vacation lost! that I was going to use for hunting season...
    how much is that worth?
    I wonder if the state, now that WE know that THEY are the GUILTY ONES of 
    breaking their OWN law, will reimburse me for my legal fees and a dozen 
    eggs?
    
Dan