Lake County sets record pace in 2013 for issuing Ohio concealed carry permits

A new record number of Ohioans successfully sought or renewed a concealed carry handgun permit in 2013.

And Lake County recorded the greatest number of new concealed carry permits being issued of the state's 88 counties.

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine reports that 145,342 permits were issued; a statistic that dwarfed the previous record-issuing year total.

Last year's total figure includes 96,972 new licenses and 48,370 renewals.

The previous all-year both-class total was recorded in 2012 when 64,650 new licenses with a total 76,810 documents issued by Ohio's 88 county sheriffs.

Also, the previous record for renewal permits was in 2008. That was the first year that concealed carry permits were eligible for renewal and when 31,139 such documents were issued, DeWine said.

By law the Ohio Attorney General must compile an annual report about concealed carry license issuance.

Required too is that all county sheriff must furnished on a quarterly basis the various concealed carry license application category statistics.

An interesting statistic is while the number of new and renewal concealed carry permit issuance soared in 2013 over 2012, the number of revocations plummeted. In 2012 the state's 88 county sheriffs lawfully revoked 741 concealed carry permits. Last year that figure fell to 286, the Attorney General's annual report says.

However, the number of new permit denials has steadily increased along with the number of approvals. In 2009 the 88 county sheriffs denied 636 applicants, a figure that climbed to 889 in 2012 and to 1,142 last year, the report also says.

As for individual county statistics, of Ohio's 88 counties, fully 30 of them saw their respective sheriff each issue a minimum of 1,000 new concealed carry permits.

The county that issued the greatest number of new concealed carry permits was Lake County where an exact 5,000 such licenses were issued.

At the bottom of issuing new concealed carry permits in 2013 was Noble County which approved just 142 licenses.

In terms of renewals, Clermont County ranked first in 2013 with 2,658 re-ups.

Meanwhile, several counties over to the east and also along the Ohio River is Lawrence County where its county sheriff reported reissuing no (as in “zero”) concealed carry permit renewals.

Specifically for Northeast Ohio, the total number of new concealed carry licenses issued in 2013 (with renewals in parentheses) were: Ashtabula County – 330 (293); Cuyahoga County – 1,652 (1,193); Erie County – 2,331 (1,087); Geauga County – 2,212 (1,537); Huron County – 316 (266); Lake County – 5,000 (1,289); Medina County – 1,394 (1,604); Sandusky County – 793 (296); Trumbull County – 1,825 (1,379).

 

-Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

JFrischk@Ameritech.net

Battle being won against new acquatic invasive species introduction

The defensive war against further invasive species introduction into the Great Lakes is being won, says the U.S. Coast Guard.

Since 2006, ballast water management strategies have applied to shipping vessels traversing the St. Lawrence Seaway and thus into the five Great Lakes. These rules are noteworthy because they are the world's most stringent, the Coast Guard says.

Stringent as well as vital; the reason being that the discharge of ballast water from ocean-going vessels – and obtained from some far-distant foreign port – is generally acknowledged as being the venue for the introduction of such invasive aquatic pest as the zebra mussel and the round goby, two highly undesirable species from a rather long list of rogue enemies to native species.

In noting the success, the Great Lakes Seaway Ballast Water Working Group has prepared its summary for the 2013 shipping season, the fifth consecutive one in which mandatory ballast water tank inspection has been applied to every vessel entering the system.

This group is a collaboration of the U.S. Coast Guard and its Canadian counterpart, Transport Canada/Marine Safety and Security as well as the shipping interests of the Seaway.

The report notes that independent research performed by Fisheries and Ocean Canada has determined that “the risk of new aquatic invasive species being introduced in the Great Lakes via ballast water has been mitigated to extremely low levels.”

Credit can be scored that in 2013 virtually every ship bound for anywhere in the Great Lakes via the St. Lawrence Seaway underwent a required ballast tank exam.

And that was a staggering accomplishment, too, as the program inspected a total of 6,803 ballast tanks during 371 vessel transits, the Coast Guard says.

For vessels that did not exchange ballast water or flush their tanks were required to either keep what the holds contained as is, treat the existing ballast water in an environmentally sound and approved manner, or else return to sea and there conduct the appropriate and approved ballast water exchange.

Not unexpectedly with an improving economy the agencies in charge of the inspection program believe also they'll be busy this shipping season and anticipate continued high ship compliance rates, the Coast Guard says.

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
JFrischk@Ameritech.net

Environmentalists say plan is needed to arrest nutrient loading into Lake Erie

A joint United States-Canada agency is seeking to convince both Ohio and Michigan to grow some teeth in order to help take a bite of caustic algae blooms that have plagued Lake Erie the past several summers.

What the International Joint Commission did was release Feb. 27 a report calling on the two states' governments to “declare the waters of the western Lake Erie basin impaired from nutrient pollution.”

With the awkwardly worded title “A Balanced Diet for Lake Erie: Reducing Phosphorous Loadings and Harmful Algal Blooms” does not make for light reading.

Important to be sure, but not something one would sit in a recliner and pore over with the enthusiasm of a spy novel.

Even so, the document is essential in stating not only what is wrong with Lake Erie water quality today but even more vital, how to fix the problem by highlighting 16 recommendations.

And such a declaration, agrees a number of environmental and conservation groups, would thus trigger what is called a Total Daily Maximum Load protocol, or more commonly known as a TMDL. This scientifically based yardstick would then quantify just how much nutrients are allowed to enter Lake Erie's Western Basin.

Much of what has precipitated such urgency, the Commission, environmentalists and a growing chorus of elected officials acknowledge, began in 2011. That is when a massive and dangerous algal bloom swarmed across the waters of Lake Erie from Monroe, Michigan in the west clear to Cleveland in the east.

So bad was this explosion of toxic goo that it was 1,000 times more potent than what the World Health Organization recommends for recreational contact.

And much of that bloom came about by algae feeding on nutrients (read, fertilizers and such) washed from farmland into Lake Erie tributaries.

A second prong – and perhaps the most challenging to accomplish in the long-term - would consist of developing a reduction plan to throttle back on nutrient loading with the target goal of achieving or exceeding established clean-water standards.

“So much is at stake, from our economy to human health,” says Kristy Meyer, the Ohio Environmental Council's managing director of Agriculture, Health and Clean Water Programs.

Asked then if any adopted TMDL likely would include both fang and claw, Meyer says “yes and no.”

“A TMDL would set limits and then when a new or existing permit for point-sources or confined animal feeding operations come up for renewal, new limits would be inserted into their National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System documentation,” Meyers says.

As such this account would also establish recommendations for other sources of pollution as well, and which are not covered by NPDDES requirements, Meyers said.

“Those recommendations could then be turned into laws and rules, or those responsible for manufacturing these sources could see the handwriting on the wall and voluntarily participate,” she said.

Then too participating cooperators could apply pressure on those who are not doing their part or on those operations and operators who remain unregulated.

New or emerging anti-pollution technologies may yet arrive also as science, industry and governments strategize on ways to limit nutrient loading from farm to watersheds and ultimately into Lake Erie, Meyers, opined.

“I imagine that is how water-quality trading started, but I'm not 100-percent certain,” Meyers says.

Consequently, should research, elbow grease and a coming-together of like minds point the way to a source of nutrient activity then the money would almost certainly follow this trail, Meyers says.

“Federal and state agencies as well as other entities could spend their funds working with folks to install the best management practices on agricultural land; reduce storm-water run-off through green infrastructure and other means,” Meyers says. “And efforts could be directed toward expanding, building or refurbishing waste-water infrastructure.”

The thing is, says Sandy Bihn, executive director of the Lake Erie Waterkeeper group, the region's stakeholders need to work collectively on a problem that stubbornly resists a unilateral response by any one entity.

“A Western Basin TMDL would require consideration of the Lake Erie waters in Ohio as well as Michigan along with cooperation from Ontario,” Bihn says.

Simply put, Meyers concluded the stakes are too high in allowing the status quo to manipulate Lake Erie's water quality via toxic and avoidable – as well as costly – nutrient loading.

“The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Environment Canada have a duty; a responsibility, to develop a TMDL or a TMDL-like plan that is geared toward nutrient reduction,” Meyers says. “And they must also ensure that the states and provinces are implementing such a plan.”

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

JFrischk@Ameritech.net

March 1: Important way-point date for Ohio's hunters, anglers

Polar Vortex or not, Ohio's sportsmen and anglers are gearing up by purchasing their hunting and fishing licenses.

With good, legal reasons, too.

 

New 2014-2015 Ohio hunting and fishing licenses are required beginning this Saturday, March 1. This is an all-inclusive requirement whether the prospective license buyer is a resident of the state or a non-resident of Ohio.

Even obtaining a state waterfowl-hunting authorization is now available, though the first goose can't be legally killed for another six months-plus.

About the only permits not on sale right now are those required to hunt deer. The reason: Ohio is in the initial stages of the required comment period for deer-hunting regulation proposals announced earlier this month by the Ohio Division of Wildlife.

Even so, anglers and hunters are stepping up to the plate and buying the necessary point-of-sales paperwork needed to legally fish and hunt for the respective 2014-2015 fishing and hunting seasons in Ohio.

At Gander Mountain's Mentor, Ohio outlet, a sales staff member said this morning (Wednesday, February 26) that store has already sold more than 1,000 fishing and hunting licenses, mostly the former.

That's a remarkable number given that sales of Ohio's 2014-2015  hunting and fishing licenses did not even begin until this past Saturday (February 22).

As for cost, for Ohio residents age 16 to 65 an annual fishing (or hunting license, for that matter) costs $19. For Ohio residents age 66 and older born after Jan. 1, 1938, an annual fishing or hunting license costs $10.

Ohio's one-day fishing license for either resident or non-resident costs $11 and may also be exchanged as credit if a person desires to upgrade.

A one-day Lake Erie charter-fishing license also costs $11, though the details on this document has always left me confused. Best to read a free fishing license guide that is available at virtually all license-issuing agents.

An annual non-resident fishing license costs $40 while a three-day non-resident “tourist” license costs $19.

Duplicate licenses for those documents either lost, stolen, destroyed or eaten by the family dog are available for $4 at any license-issuing agent.

 

But a license holder can avoid this expense by simply photocopying his or her newly acquired document. I make two copies; one that I keep in my car and the other that I keep in my gun vault.

Yes, it is perfectly legal to copy your license and use that as a spare. Some Wildlife Division personnel I know follow the same protocol as me.

As for March 1 being significant for other Ohio outdoors reasons, Lake Erie anglers need to remember that the daily bag limit on Lake Erie- and Lake Erie tributary-caught walleye drops from six fish to four fish. This restriction eases beginning May 1 when it returns to six walleye per day.

Not to be forgotten either is that on Saturday – once again, March 1 – the Ohio Division of Wildlife will host a series of fish and (mostly) game law hearings around the state.

This year's fish and game hearings are particularly relevant and important. That is because the Wildlife Division is proposing several significant changes to the way it manages the state's deer herd, regulates hunting and hunters.

 

And the agency is even advancing the idea of allowing the use of a host of straight-walled cartridges chambered in rifles for pursuing deer during the statewide general firearms deer-hunting season.

Each of the Wildlife Division's district's will host a hearing, all at the same time from noon to 3 p.m.

The district offices for Wildlife District One, Two, Three and Four will all serve as hearing venues. Meanwhile in Wildlife District Five (southwest Ohio), the Greene County Fish and Game Club in Xenia is pegged as that unit's hearing site.

In addition, the Lake Erie Shores and Islands Welcome Center in Port Clinton will supplement the process by being a fish and game hearing site.

So too will the Fairport Harbor Fisheries Research Station in Lake County.

For specifics on any of these matters or for directions to one or another fish and game hearing site, contact the Wildlife Division at 1-800-WILDLIFE.

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

JFrischk@Ameritech.net

Ohio AG goes after Westlake gun biz/Lorain owner for alleged consumer law violations

The Ohio Attorney General is unholstering his legal six-shooter on an alleged Westlake, Ohio scalawag he says is ripping off on-line buyers of firearms accessories.

Mike DeWine is the marshal of the state's Attorney General's office and makes no bones about going after people he believes are violating Ohio's consumer protection laws. In this particular case it is an alleged violation of the Ohio Consumers Protection Act, details of the suit say.

Those laws fall under DeWine's purview and he'll cross east and west of Ohio's Pecos River (make that the Scioto River) to bring any alleged varmint to justice.

A lawsuit was filed today (Feb. 21) in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court by DeWine against Westlake, Ohio-based Midwest Retail, LLC and its owner, Chad Bowerman of Lorain, Ohio.

Midwest Retail does business as StormLake Tactical, which sells products related to shooting, reloading and gunsmithing, DeWine said in an official press release.

Among the items found on StormLake Tactical's website are ammunition, shotgun barrels, optics, knives, handgun safes, blackpowder accessories, range bags, and gun-cleaning supplies.

Also on the firm's website under “about us” the company says “The business has grown and now serves the general public, military personnel. Security professionals, police officers, firemen, gun enthusiasts and anyone and everyone that enjoys shooting and tactical products.

“Here at StormLake Tactical, we pride ourselves in great customer service, great prices, and fast shipping. What else could a customer want?...”

It is important to note that StormLake Tactical is not to be confused with Las Vegas-based Storm Tactical nor Storm Tactical and Self Defense of Lombard, Ill.

 

DeWine charges that the firm and Bowerman have failed to deliver products ordered by customers, a violation of Ohio's consumer protection laws

 

The Attorney General says he has received complaints from 14 consumers with reported losses totaling more than $2,900.

In their complaints, the 14 consumers allege they paid Bowerman's business for products but never received the ordered goods.

“Businesses have an obligation to fulfill their promises to consumers,” DeWine said. “They can't simply take money and then fail to either deliver the goods or provide a refund.”

Thus DeWine's lawsuit seeks both restitution for the affected consumers as well as “... an end to these practices.”

Civil penalties are being sought also, DeWine says, with details in the five-page suit seeking $25,000 “for each separate and appropriate violation described herein.”

And as his custom when announcing lawsuits being filed against businesses that allegedly stiff consumers, DeWine always cautions how “buyers beware.”

Always research a businesses' reputation before ordering products or services. This process can include checking for any complaints that may be on file with the Ohio Attorney General's office or the Better Business Bureau, DeWine says.

And for any consumer who believes he or she has become a victim of an unfair business practice should contact the Ohio Attorney General at 800-282-0515 or visit the agency's web site at www.OhioAttorneyGeneral.gov.

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

JFrischk@Ameritech.net

.22s still lead the Great American Ammo Shortage

When it's come to the Great American Ammo Shortage of 2012 to 20??, I've really had just one sure thought.

If I had to do it all over again I'd have bought a .22 Winchester Magnum rimfire rifle or a .17-caliber Hornady rimfire rifle.

Not, however, the 10x-ring-destroying .22-caliber long rifle bolt-action gun I now own.

Ammo availability would be the Number One reason with cost being a close Number Two.

Going from Gander Mountain to Great Lakes Outdoors to Fin, Feather and Fur and so on, seeing boxes of .22 Mag or .17 Hornady on the shelves but zero .22 long rifles has me convinced of my rimfire buying mistake.

Same with cost. Boxes of both the .22 Mag and the .17 Hornady have seen relatively stable prices; maybe a little more than what they were selling for two and three years ago but still largely affordable.

Not so the .22 rimfire that outdoor writers have long said is the mainstay target/plinking/training/squirrel-killing cartridge that every shooter and hunter needs to own.

Except you can't find the stuff. At least not often enough. At least not without elbowing out the competition when you learn that such and such outdoors supplier has a few bricks in stock and for sale (at just the right, sell-your-first-born-child price, of course.)

Thing is, a shooter has to be nuts to give a first thought – let alone a second one – to paying $50, $60, $90 for a 500-round brick of Winchester Wildcat .22s.

Alas, shooters do; perhaps fearful that if they don't suck up the cheap stuff they'll never again see the really good stuff.

And so as shooters and as hunters and as plinkers we have met the enemy and it is us.

If you don't believe me, just read the following e-edition Field and Stream magazine blog item by that publication's Phil Bourjaily, posted Feb. 20.

It's good and truthful reading, meaning Mr. Bourjaily wrote it without wearing a hat made from tinfoil and without showing his membership card in the “X-Files'” Fan Club where conspiracies live under every shooting bench and behind every aging and fading “Obama for President” bumper sticker.

So here it is:

"February 20, 2014

"Rimfire Ammo Shortage Continues

"By Phil Bourjaily

“While supplies of centerfire and shotgun ammo seem to be catching up to — or maybe we’ve just reached the new normal — rimfire ammo remains scarce. And it goes fast when it does make it to dealers.

“A friend of mine is on the waiting list for .17 Mach 2 at several online ammo retailers. The other day he received an e-mail at 4:05 from MidwayUSA telling him the Mach 2 was back in stock. By the time he logged on at 4:10, it was sold out. It literally didn’t last five minutes before it was all gone.

“I asked an ammo industry inside about the rimfire shortage at SHOT. He was honest with me.

“'Everybody is loading rimfire as fast as they can with the machines they have,” he said. “The problem is, the margins on rimfire are so low it doesn’t make sense to invest in new equipment and expand production. We’ll catch up eventually.'

“His best guess? Ammo makers hope to be caught up sometime later this year.  What I want to know is where this ammo is all going. Are people shooting it, are they hoarding it or speculating?

“What I do know is that it’s not good for the shooting sports when the ammunition that’s traditionally the cheapest, easiest to find, and most fun to shoot is in short supply.”

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

JFrischk@Ameritech.net

Ohio National Guard draws gun-owners' ire after training exercise snaffu

More of a training exercise participant than a planner, the Ohio National Guard has been caught in the crossfire of a Second Amendment tussle.

The one-day training program occurred more than one year ago, January 24, 2013, to be exact. And just a few weeks after the Dec. 14, 2012 Sandy Hook, Conn. Elementary school shooting by a gunman that left 20 children and six faculty members dead

This exercise is when a contingent of ONG's 52^nd Civil Support Team members were invited to – and did – engage in an emergency response training exercise orchestrated by the West Virginia National Guard.

This drill was conducted on Ohio soil in Portsmouth along the Ohio River.

Officially the exercise was to train participating personnel with the two Guard commands how to respond to an unknown chemical and/or biological weapon agent.

However, the drill was not built around an accidental release of a potentially life-threatening chemical spill or following a train wreck or semi-truck turn-over.

Instead the training incident involved a fictions case in which a disgruntled junior high school custodian and a school chemistry teacher were engaged in domestic terrorism at the educational institution.

The rub, however, was that the training exercise – again, fictitious - did not center on a neutral political theme.

Rather, the drill's core domestic terrorism focus was that the two school-affiliated workers were, in fact, right-wing zealots out to make their case for Second Amendment and gun-owner rights.

Under the training regimen the two men had salted the junior high school's lunch program with mustard gas, a highly poisonous chemical weapon first made famous almost a century ago during World War I's trench warfare. That is when Germany lobbed mustard gas into the laps of Allied troops, a situation that so horrified governments that the agent's use was banned worldwide.

Indeed, so scared of likely repercussions should Germany decide to again employ mustard gas during World War II even Hitler rejected its use.

The even more scary ricin biological weapon agent also was featured in the mock domestic terrorism drill.

In its entirety the Guard's full training protocol is contained within an approximately 38-page document. This incident manual does include photo-copied material from CNN Politics titled “Why the NRA won't talk with Obama” as part of the mock recovered documentation the two domestic terrorists were portrayed as possessing.

And it is exactly that make-believe link between domestic terrorism and supporters of Second Amendment rights that has gun owners and conservatives alike still upset more than one year later.

It is their charge that domestic terrorists are almost certainly a product of left-wing beliefs rather than some trumped-up mock drill that somehow such individuals arise from the other end of the political spectrum.

As a result, the Guard's year-plus-old training exercise remains a focal point of anger with gun owners as well as conservative-tilting components of the media.

Charging that the training exercise's misused alleged radical right-wing Second Amendment rights' activists as domestic terrorists has become a cause for exposure that includes the Drudge Report, Fox News, MediaTrackers, and the Buckeye Firearms Association.

In a number of e-edition publications, Buckeye Firearms Association treasurer and spokesman Chad Baus is quoted as saying: “It is a scary day indeed when law enforcement are being trained that Second Amendment advocates are the enemy.”

Baus noted as well in various published interviews how the training drill came just weeks after the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting tragedy when emotions were still running high regarding gun ownership rights.

Even so, the Ohio National Guard continues to work to defuse the situation. It has noted in official documents that the service: “To maximize the realism of the exercise, the Ohio National Guard wasn't involved in the creation or execution of the exercise's fictitious scenario and was deliberately not informed of its details in advance.”

“It's not accurate to suggest that certain details of the exercise somehow reflect (the) views or opinions of officials of the Ohio National Guard.”

In short, “We are sworn to defend the Constitution and that includes the Second Amendment,” says James A. Sims II, Ohio National Guard spokesman.

“The exercise was built to train the team on our response to a chemical incident,” Sims said also in a series of e-mail exchanges. “We are supporters of the Constitution.”

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

JFrischk@Ameritech.net

ODNR's draft fracking PR memo itself turns into a PR fiasco

Contained within a 10-page document labeled “draft” and “summary,” the Ohio Department of Natural Resources sought to defuse criticism of hydrofracking even as the agency was assigned the task of regulating the practice.

The August 26, 2012 memo came to light after the Sierra Club made a public records request for the document's release. The memo was released Feb. 14.

Now that the memo is being circulated within the realm of public domain, the Department's initial talking stage helps illuminate just how serious the agency has sought to defend the controversial petroleum extraction processes on certain state-owned lands.

Yet the memo also spells out that the defense embraces more than just the Natural Resources Department and potential conflicts of interest. It also signals that any public relations bulwark will help shore up Gov. John Kasich's backing of fracking within Ohio's state parks and state forest systems.

Even so, for those within the environmental community the memo amounts to a coup that helps them better articulate that the current Natural Resources Department upper-layer chain-of-command and the Governor himself are less than environmentally friendly.

Under the memo's “Communication Problems to Solve” header the document spells out an enemies list of sorts to which both the Department and the Kasich Administration must just as skillfully combat:

“An initiative to proactively open state park and forest land to horizontal drilling/hydraulic fracturing will be met with zealous resistance by environmental activist opponents, who are skilled propagandists. “Neutral parties in particular – such as ordinary citizens concerned about their families' health – will be vulnerable by opponents that the initiative represents dangerous and radical state policy by Gov. Kasich.”

(Note: Emphasis appear within the document itself and are not editorially added.)

Further, the document reads how the “environmental activist opponents” will use their own slick media-attention ploys to sway both editorial backing as well as citizen sympathy.

Under the header “Communication Obstacles and Constraints,” the memo includes several likely tactics opponents of state park/state forest hydrofracking could be expected to employ.

Among the points the Natural Resources Department drew was calling state park/state forest fracking opponents “vocal adversaries” who will “communicate emotionally and aggressively to the news media and online to cast this initiative as “risky and radical.”

Stepping out on the ledge even more the writer(s) of the Natural Resources' memo even go so far as to state that opponents will not only attempt to seek redress in the courts but likewise could be expected to “physically halt the drilling” as well as attempt to “create public panic about perceived health risks,” and seek to use “proxies” in the media in an effort to slant news coverage against us.”

And lastly how the initiative “could blur public perception of ODNR's regulatory role in oil and gas.”

Though the memo is old enough that it anticipated fracking to commence in 2012, the text does stress that anticipating problems ahead of time and taking a pro-fracking stance before so-called “important audiences” will help “...build understanding, foster support, counter opponents' criticism and minimize public concerns regarding the initiative.”

The memo does bring out its defensive weaponry, citing how drilling royalties will help both the department's Parks and Recreation Division and its Forestry Division with limited environmental risks and no park/forest user objectionable land-surface scarring.

To help sell the initiative the Natural Resources Department's memo names a number of business associations and even one corporation as “allied groups and forums (both current and potential).”

Among the memo's stated and hoped-for supporters are several chambers of commerces, the Ohio Oil and Gas Association, Halliburton, FracFocus as well as four state government units besides the Natural Resources Department.

Among the latter were Gov. Kacish's office, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, the Ohio Department of Health, and JobsOhio of the Ohio Department of Development.

For the moment the Natural Resources Department appears to believe the memo is a tempest in a teapot and was noting more than a sort of in-house working document that never really piloted the first hole, let alone became a full-blown gusher.

“The (Ohio) legislature approved the leasing of state land for oil and gas mineral extraction in 2011. This initial draft was a communications plan drafted for the roll out of the new law in the event our land was subject to leasing,” said Natural Resources Department spokeswoman Bethany McCorkle.

Ultimately the initiative never advanced beyond the conceptual stage for the simple reason the Natural Resources Department's parks and forest lands remain fracking-free.

Thus the document was strictly used “for discussion purposes,” McCorkle said.

“Frankly, any agency or business that would announce a major policy decision without a strategic plan is setting itself up for failure,” McCorkle said.

Even so, it is the document's inflammatory “us verses them”rhetoric that includes the poke-in-the-eye jab “eco-left pressure groups” that would need to be “marginalized” that has Ohio's environmental community in an uproar.

“We've often defended the ODNR from charges it was too industry friendly,” said Jack Shaner, director of media relations for the Columbus-based Ohio Environmental Council. “Not today.”

Certainly, adds also the Ohio Environmental Council's staff attorney, the state ought not to be “frittering valuable time and taxpayer money on a (Public Relations) campaign designed to 'neutralize' legitimate concerns” about conducting fracking activities on state-owned parks and forest lands.

“The ODNR should be an impartial watchdog, not an industry cheerleader,” said Nathan Johnson, the Environmental Council's attorney. “It's shocking to learn the ODNR laid plans to actively enlist the help of extractive industries to 'marginalize' respected voices for the preservation or our natural heritage.”

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

JFrischk@Ameritech.net

Ohio Division of Wildlife chief prepares staff for possible dynamic agency changes

In a February 11 e-mail sent to all Ohio Department of Natural Resources' Division of Wildlife personnel, agency chief Scott Zody reiterated the goal of cutting funding along with developing mechanisms to prioritize projects at every level.

If that were not enough Zody wrote also how the Wildlife Division officials will be exploring the possible – maybe even, likely – dissolution of the 13-county Wildlife District One (Central Ohio) with its parts being absorbed into the agency's remaining four management districts.

As for the first item Zody says the marching orders for the troops includes cutting “non-personnel allocations for (Fiscal Year) 2015 by 5%.”

Beyond that reduction the Wildlife Division's so-named Executive Planning Group has established what it calls next step goals.

These steps will utilize a mechanism that will prioritize projects within the Wildlife Division' five-component organizational structure: fisheries, wildlife, information and education, law enforcement, and business.

Next is encumbered by a $10-term any bureaucrat would be sure to love: “large-scale efficiencies” that if assembled properly and executed “could create substantial savings without a reduction in customer service.”

“Progress is currently being made on both fronts,” Zody says. “The Fish Management and Research Group and the Wildlife Management and Research Group have made substantial progress in the development of a project prioritization process.”

The remaining forenamed cells are expected to begin their catch-up work “soon,” Zody said also.

Downrange is the targeted goal of achieving Wildlife Division-wide compliance in time for the Fiscal 2016 Operational Plan and thus become integrated within the agency's annual Operational Plan process, Zody said.

In effect, the process appears to be a step-up and sped-up morphing of what's called comprehensive planning management, a one-time popular strategy once used by various state fish and game agencies.

“Although this approach is more involved than our traditional planning through the use of incremental budgets, it provides criteria-based rationale for why we consider some work to be higher priority or of grater urgency,” Zody said.

Left unsaid is how how such a strategy would allow the Wildlife Division to better argue its mission or projects to a questioning administration or doubting legislature.

Zody's Large-Scale Efficiencies will revolve around the nucleus of identifying areas that will provide significant cost savings.

Again, however, “without compromising customer service,” according to Zody.

Perhaps easier to say than to do the Wildlife Division will have to study at some length its current organizational structure; an activity that will require all agency personnel to don their thinking caps, says Zody.

“Throughout this exploratory process, we ask that all employees keep an open mind and remember that the goal is to provide stability to the Wildlife Fund for the future with the least amount of impact to our employees,” Zody says.

Important as well, says Zody, is for employees to remember that for now everything is under review with nothing written in stone. At least not yet and not before a thorough vetting process is commissioned that will help ensure a smooth process, Zody says.

On that point first up will be focusing on what Zody and his administration staff calls a “realignment of (wildlife) district boundaries.”

“This idea has been discussed for a number of years and is worth serious consideration,” Zody says.

Pointing out that the last time the Wildlife Division underwent a seismic realignment of agency boundaries was 51 years ago. That is when the District One flag was transferred from Chillicothe to Columbus and the agency's Sandusky district office was rendered extinct.

Up now for a rehash of district realignment is shifting District One's counties in the four existing surrounding districts.

To study this concept and determine whether its needed and if it will yield greater efficiencies at less cost, the Wildlife Division's top brass will appoint a high-level review team. This study group will include representation from the agency's fisheries management, wildlife management, law enforcement, information and education, business units, as well as the managers from two of the Wildlife Division's current five districts.

This committee will be tasked with a multipurpose goal in mind. That goal will include a cost-benefit review of the current district boundaries, provide a draft for possible realignment, and make recommendations to the higher-ups by the first week in May.

Results of this collective collaboration will be reported on at the various summer district meetings, Zody says.

“It is important to keep in mind that no decisions have been reached in this process other than to fully evaluate our options, and we go into this process with no preconceived notions,” Zody said.

However, not addressed by Zody in his electronic letter was any mention of the oft-times repeated concerns that Wildlife Division higher-ups are giving thought to likewise disbanding the present Lake Erie Law Enforcement Unit, now headquartered in Sandusky.

Currently operating at no more than one-half strength the unit typically must rely on the help of commissioned officers located elsewhere in the state. And these agents may be less familiar with both Lake Eire’s commercial fishing operations as well as the nuances associated with sport fishing along a more than 200-mile-long coastline.

Efforts to get further input from Zody on this particular point and the rest of his e-mail were unsuccessful up through the time this story was posted.

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
JFrischk@Ameritech.net

"Go jump in the lake." I believe I will, thank you.

 

A refreshing "Geronimo!"-shouted leap into Lake Erie on a day that started a tad on either side of zero is now high on my list of fun things to do in the winter.

Seriously, which is why this 64-year-old overweight and sloth-slow male took a polar bear plunge into a house-size opening in the 10-inch thick Lake Erie ice.

The maw of an opening was created by a machine that continuously percolates a jet-stream of rapidly churning water. This hole is located off a pier at the end of Cleveland's East 9^th Street, east side.

Even more specifically, on government property owned and maintained by the U.S. Coast Guard.

 

When not being occupied from hole rim to hole rim by a large raft of merganser ducks, the Coast Guard uses the opening for cold-water survival and rescue training of its troops as well as personnel from various area fire departments and officers with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources' Division of Watercraft.

I just hope the Coasties, fire-fighters and watercraft officers who participate in this ritual enjoy the experience half as much as I did.

Of course the jump into the deep was carefully orchestrated and executed with safety first, last and always. And it was done as a fun way to bring home the Coast Guard's message of cold-water safety, referred to in usual military acronym style as “ICE,” which stands for Intelligence (knowing the weather and ice conditions), Clothing (wearing clothing to prevent hypothermia from cold-water exposure), and Equipment (marine radio, life jacket, ice pick or screwdriver).

Those members of the media who were determined to execute either a tepid toe-first/butt last, a sit-and-slide, or even a running jump like me were all outfitted in what's called a floatation dry suit.

As the name more than suggests the material is waterproof and keeps one from sinking rock-style; either such a garment is a form of high-tech rubber alloy if you will or else some modern man-made fiber that never-the-less arrests penetration by so much as a molecule of water.

No question the suit first requires that the occupant slips on a cozy fleece union-suit. This step is followed by worming one's way into the suit itself so that the feet go first and then the arms and then a heaving hoist to snug the body.

Last comes a flip over the head, ears and much of the face with a fitted neoprene cap.

“Wearing a suit like this a person can stand up to one-half hour in cold water before beginning to become hypothermic,” said Executive Petty Officer Jeremy Cole.

Cole is stationed with the Coast Guard's Cleveland unit, a component of the service's Ninth District, which consists of the entire Great Lakes region and is headquartered also in Cleveland.

And how long can an unprotected person who panics expect something bad to begin to happen?

“About one minute,” said Robert Kollar, a Cleveland Fire Department lieutenant.

After that a person has about 10 minutes to clear himself of the water and no more than an hour – tops – before the body shuts down, officials participating in the joint training exercise and demonstration said.

Though most of the Coasties and other first responders who undergo this annual training seldom actually are called upon to utilize the skills it can happen. And does happen, too.

One of the personnel assisting the media said that in more than 15 years of being in the Coast Guard he's made just two winter/ice rescue missions.

Yet that is precisely the point of the annual and intense training, the Coast Guard personnel said as well.

With a training regimen that demands repetitive practice, if – or when – the day comes that the learned techniques are needed the responding personnel all will be able to react instinctively.

That's true for Coasties like Cole who hails from Panama City, Florida where the only ice he saw growing up was in a glass of tea.

And it's just as true for Coast Guard Boatswain-mate Julia Kinney.

Hailing from New York's Snow Belt region midway between Buffalo and Rochester, Kinney said she's well acquainted with snow and cold.

Perhaps that was why Kinney was the first one in and almost the last one out of the pool, so to speak, assisting the media and demonstrating various exiting techniques.

“You're doing fine,” Kinney said, grabbing my arms at the shoulders and sledding me across the top of the ice like I was some slippery harp seal.

“How did you like it?” Kinney asked, an almost fearful look on her face as if I'd be disappointed.

To be perfectly honest, I almost jumped back into the water. Yeah, it was that much fun.

For information about how to avoid such a life-threatening experience as well as how to survive one, visit the U.S. Coast Guard's web site at www.uscgnews.com and search for “Think Twice With Ice.”

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

JFrischk@Ameritech.net

Lake Metroparks spends $900,000 for three land buys; steelheaders to benefit

Lake Metroparks is going to make life easier for Northeast Ohio steelhead anglers.

The agency's three park commissioners agreed at their meeting this evening to spend $900,000 in order to increase the parks system's land holdings with a trio of purchases, two of which will either increase fishing opportunities or better allow for access along the immensely popular Grand River watershed.

Among the buys is a 35-acre parcel that will dovetail into the parks system's existing 59-acre Beaty Landing in Painesville City and hard-pressed to Painesville Township. This chunk of real estate abuts the Grand River in a location long coveted by steelhead – and steelhead anglers.

This parcel is costing the agency $410,000 with the money already having been pigeonholed by the parks system's three commissioners.

Popular in autumn with anglers testing the waters for the first migrant trout of the season, the area really comes into its own during late winter and early spring. That is when the steelhead set up housekeeping by building their spawning sites, called “redds.”

Frequently when the river's flow level and clarity are prime, steelheaders can actually sight fish for the trout; definitely the most eagerly sought-after method for many fly-rod-equipped anglers.

“The property constitutes the rest of the oxbow floodplain and consists of that land east of what we now own,” said Paul Palagyi, the parks system's executive director. “Unfortunately for a lot of folks who'd like to fish Beaty Landing or just go for a walk, there is the steep hill that people have to negotiate now.”

With the new add-on park visitors will be able to access the flood plain at river level without becoming a mountaineer to do it, Palagyi said.

“We've also discussed partnering with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, maybe putting in a paddlesport landing,” Palagyi said.

 

“That way someone wanting to take a short float can stop at Painesville Recreation Park just downstream or make a longer day of it and paddle to our Grand River Landing boat launch and go through some of the best steelhead fishing holes in the lower Grand River.”

Further up the Grand River in Madison Township and then a jaunt into Mill Creek valley leads one to the next purchase. This one consists of 42 acres and cost $400,000 with the money already built into the federal budget and set aside there by now-retired U.S. Rep. Steve LaTourette.

It sits adjacent to the parks system's 578-acre Hogback Ridge Park.

If the Grand River's reputation revolves around big-water steelhead fishing than Mill Creek is at the top of the list for small stream finesse trout fishing. This is where careful stalking, precise casting, fine tippets and small flies are often called for in order to catch steelhead.

Just one problem. It is a dickens to access and requires a long march down an old trail or else a haul down a wooden staircase that is sure to leave a wader-clad angler huffing when the decent or ascent is completed.

The new land buy will make that hard work a bit easier to accomplish, says Palagyi.

“What we're buying is the property adjacent to Hogback's existing parking lot which will allow us to develop much better access to Mill Creek,” Palagyi said. “Importantly, too, the field there will mean we can expand the existing parking lot, which really isn't very large. Often during the peak of the steelhead fishing season or when the wildflowers are in bloom the existing parking is full and then some.”

A much smaller in-holding the agency is buying straddles the parks system's largest unit, the 935-acre Girdled Road Reservation in Concord Township.

This piece is costing the agency $155,000 with the money having been bankrolled in anticipation of the land being bought.

“The property is where we have a trail entrance to one of our more popular camp sites but right now it's a tight squeeze,” Palagyi said.

Palagyi said as well that in a day and age when government is stressed by shrinking budgets and taxpayers squeezed just as much, buying land still makes sense.

That is, if the sale price is right, the agency doesn't have to break the bank and the purchase truly fits within the message of the parks system's mission, Palagyi says.

Palaygi did note as well that all three property buys still must go through the legally required real estate vetting process. It likely will take at least several months before any of them are opened, Palaygi said.

“It has always been from Day One of Lake Metroparks' existence to preserve and protect important properties for today and for the future,” Palaygi said.

 

“And we've always considered as priorities property along Lake Erie, the Chagrin and Grand River corridors or else adjacent to parks we own now. These acquisitions easily fit within those parameters.”

Kirtland-based Holden Arboretum increases rates for first time in decade

After 10 years the Kirtland-based Holden Arboretum had no choice but to raise its annual membership and daily admission rates, institution officials are saying.

Commenting in the horticultural institution's Spring edition of “Leaves,” the arboretum's president and CEO Clem Hamilton says the new membership fee structure is coming about “for the first time in anyone's memory.”

Yet, Hamilton says as well, that as the institution works to build individual membership, belonging to the arboretum includes rates that are “... still lower than almost all of our peer institutions.”

Under the old membership format the annual fees were $40 for one adult; $40 for two adults if one was at least 60 years old and both were living in the same household; $50 for two adults and children 18 years of age or younger or grandchildren 18 years of age or younger.

A stable of annual donor memberships were available as well and include additional perks. These slots ranged in price from $100 (Pine) to $150 (Azelea), $250 (Viburnum), and $500 (Lilac).

The new annual membership rate structure is now being built around $55 for individuals; $65 for membership-plus; senior citizens get a $5 discount; Pine - $125; Azalea - $175; and Viburnum - $300.

The arboretum's current daily general admission policy includes $6 for non-members; $5 for those age 60 and older as well as free on Tuesdays only; $3 for those age 6 to 18; free for those age 5 and younger.

Also, the new daily admission fees will be $10 for those age 19 and older; $4 for those age 6 to 18; and free for those age 5 and younger.

In every example, says the arboretum, the increases are not only modest but minimal and continue “to be a great value.”

In stressing its case that additional funding is both important and necessary for carrying out the institution's efforts, the arboretum notes a to-do list that contains several items that lie ahead.

Among them are new gardens and improvements to existing ones as well updating guest amenities; continued development of school programing; greater conservation work on the institution's 3,600-acre platform; continued horticultural, ecological and scientific research; and outreach to “our region's professional, government and volunteer 'green' communities.”

For further details and for a complete rundown on what the new fees include and represent, contact the Holden Arboretum at 440-946-4400, with its web site being www.holdenarb.org.

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

JFrischk@Ameritech.net

Going hog wild over Florida's hog heaven

PALM BAY, FL. - Slap, smack, swat, and then repeat.

The blood-sucking mosquitoes were out in force, buzzing with more than just a little inquisitiveness at the bloke who was invading their palmetto hearth and home.

Kind of cool, I thought, to find myself battling mosquitoes in the dead of winter. Especially since cellular text and voice messages sent back and forth to my Northeast Ohio home were rich with the excitement of polar vortexes, dipping jet streams, lake effect storm warnings, dangerous wind chills and all of the other weather trappings that have turned this season into one of discontent.

Well, not for everyone. Most certainly not for me.

A 964-mile drive south plucked me inland a little ways and alongside the Atlantic Ocean, just to the west of I-95.

That is the seasonal migration route for the so-called snowbirds who arrive from places as far north as Quebec with a healthy flock of Ohio retirees looking for sand, sunshine and early bird dinner specials.

Me? Why I was (again) much more interested in things more exotic than watching old men strutting up and down a beach wearing Bermuda shorts with knee-high black-colored socks and dress-white Velcro-closure sneakers.

By exotic I mean pigs. Wild hogs, feral boars. The whole lot of them.

And Florida has a bunch, too. In fact, Florida is said to rank second in the number of wild hogs with an estimated population of around 500,000 such swine.

Only Texas has bragging rights to playing host to more little and big piggies with an estimated population of 2 million wild hogs. (That figure, by the way, is a tad more than one-half the nation's total feral pig population).

Of course, “hosting” is hardly a word that Floridian property owners and Florida health, agriculture and wildlife officials would apply to these vermin.

Then again the problems associated with wild pigs have been percolating in the Florida back-country, swamps and bush for a pretty long time. Like 500 years when Spanish conquistador Hernado DeSota thought it was a right-smart idea to bring along the bacon as it were as he looked for gold.

He didn't find much gold but the hogs he left to run wild sure did secure a really good pig's-feet hold on the Florida peninsula.

Wild hogs are totally indiscriminate feeders, too, racing through a matrix of agricultural and native land the way a bus-load of traveling seniors will forage their way through a Chinese buffet.

Nothing is safe; not even the ground itself. In their quest for anything and everything to eat, Florida's feral hogs think nothing of ripping to shreds the landscape.

I've seen entire fields of crops ripped apart overnight by a sounder of wild hogs. Sounder, incidentally, is what's used to describe a large congregation of wild hogs.

Other names that are unprintable are used also, of course.

None, however, carry the interest quite like “hog-hunting” to me and to a growing legion of sports looking for a hunt on the cheap.

That's why I hooked up with Matthew Cates, owner of Triple M Outfitters Unlimited in Palm Bay, which is about 40 or 50 miles south-southeast of Orlando, which for many people is the only Florida they'll ever see and know.

Too bad since the Florida I've come to appreciate with its myriad natural embellishments beat an overpriced visit to an over-rated amusement park any day of the week.

Anyway, this was my second hog hunt with Matt in the past seven months.

I had transferred my hog-hunting flag from the top edge of Lake Okeechobee north to Palm Bay. That way I could save money by bunking at my in-law's homestead located one city north of Palm Bay.

Besides, Cates is really good at what he does and when he says you'll have no problem connecting the dots on one or more wild hog then you won't have any problem connecting the dots on on one or more wild hog.

That's why you would have found me hunkered behind some palmetto leaves stuck in the gray-black and dusty earth a smidgeon before sunrise.

“The feeder is set to go off about 7 (a.m.),” Cates said. “You need to be ready.”

Ready I was and with the precision of a Swiss watch in sync with the cesium atomic clock in Fort Collins, Colorado so was the first of my three wild hogs.

Equipped with a phenomenal sense of smell and acute hearing, swine believed that was enough when the good Lord was passing out the better genes. Hogs never did stick around long enough to also collect an equal portion of keen eyesight.

Which was just as well. My hog clearly knew something different was behind that green veneer of palm fronds. It just wasn't sure what, and when it comes to eating many-a hog will oink a shrug and make for the corn kernels washed onto the ground by an electronic feeder.

Bad decision that for this black-haired young boar. A 150-grain Federal Nosler Ballistic Tip bullet launched from a .30-06 rifle built for me by a late gun-tinker friend a quarter-century ago was all it took.

Then again so did a 185-grain Hornady Z-Max fired from my Taurus Model 1911 in .45 ACP as well as a 150-grain Winchester Super-X slug that had exited from my father-in-law's 100-year-old Model 1894 lever-action rifle chambered for .30-30 Winchester.

You see, a hunter can use virtually any type of weapon is virtually any caliber or gauge. I decided to utilize three different cartridge types to take the three hogs.

Shoot, a hunter doesn't even need a firearm. A muzzle-loader will do, thank you, as will a crossbow, a longbow, a Bowie knife or even a spear.

That is, if you want to get close with a hog that is all bundled up in a wad of hounds that hate the feral pig with the same loathing the swine possesses for its nemesis.

Just be careful. You make speak of the meanness of a junkyard dog but I assure you an enraged wild hog that is chattering its teeth would just as soon sharpen those spikes on your shin bone as it would the skull of a tormenting (and very possibly already bloodied) hound.

Yet it's part of Cates' hog-hunting package, one that is assembled with enough variables and alternatives to ensure success.

If stand hunting doesn't produce because a late winter morning becomes too hot for the hogs to remain active then you can spot and stalk them. That's when the swine start slipping up and down trails and farm right-of-ways or else laying up underneath loblolly pines, purchasing rest in the shade of the trees.

And if push comes to shove Cates will release the dogs from their canine carriers in the back of the truck. These dogs will root out a hog or two or maybe an entire sounder. That's when a person willing to endure the stiff leaves of the palmetto plants can chase after pig and dog.

Or wait until the dog(s) have cornered an animal.

Anyway, either way.

Just so long as you do your part Cates will be happy, his dogs will be happy, the game processor who'll turn your boar into savory breakfast sausage will be happy, and Florida's wildlife officials and farmers will be happy.

About the only ones who won't be thrilled are the hogs.

And that's okay, too. Florida has so many rapidly breeding feral pigs that they never do seem to miss Uncle Charlie, Aunt Mable or even Ma.

For information about hog hunting with Cates, visit his Triple M Outfitters Unlimited web site www.triplemoutfittersunlimited.com, e-mail at cmattmitchell@att.net or call him at 321-863-2985.

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

JFrischk@Ameritech.net

UPDATED 2/7/14 w/Game hearing info: Ohio isn't playing around with new deer-hunting proposals

Some serious proposed deer-hunting rule changes were presented today by the Ohio Division of Wildlife and to the state's outdoors writers this afternoon.

And such significant impacts will involve more than simply the legal use of antlerless-only permits but also the number of deer a hunter can be shoot as well as the type of permitted hunting implements.

Under rules presented – and (again) just proposed for now – the use of antlerless-only tags will be prohibited in 27 counties. And some of these counties exist in the state's traditionally deer-rich southeast Ohio area, too.

Meanwhile another 15 counties will not only see an allowance of one antlerless-only tag but where hunters will still have the opportunity to kill up to four deer. In almost every one of these cases the county is either urban or suburban is scope. Among them include Lake, Cuyahoga, Trumbull, Franklin, Lucas, and Hamilton.

Draw a circle around the state's most populated cities and you'll locate these 15 counties.

Even so this all is a significant step toward the Wildlife Division's on-going efforts for a comprehensive county-by-county deer management strategy. It also is an approach that eventually may morph into a 22 to 27 zone system made up of adjacent like-harvest or deer-management-goal-oriented counties.

“Many of our counties are at or near our long-term goals while other counties are close,” said Wildlife Division chief Scott Zody during the hour-long teleconference. “Our goal right now, quite frankly, is to stabilize the herd rather than either grow or reduce the herd.”

The newly drawn proposed map showing in which counties hunters can buy and use antlerless-only tags as well as season allowances has the most checkerboard look in history.

Only in five counties can hunters shoot just two deer; both with an either-sex tag, or else one with either-sex tag and the other with an antlerless-only permit. These counties are Darke, Hancock, Auglaize, Fayette, and Madison.

Entirely new is that a number of traditionally go-to deer-hunting counties will fall into a category whereby the use of antlerless-only tags are forbidden. That is, if the proposal eventually passes muster with the eight-member Ohio Wildlife Council, which has the final say in such matters.

Among the 27 counties where antlerless-only tags would be ineligible are Guernsey, Noble, Muskingum, Coshocton, Harrison, Washington, Meigs, Jefferson, and Geauga in Northeast Ohio.

And though deer hunters operating in any of these counties can still shoot up to three animals each and everyone of them will require tagging with a $24 either-sex permit instead of a $15 antlerless-only permit.

“We aren't going to say 'don't shoot a doe' in these counties,” Zody said. 'We're just not going to give them the added incentive of using a less-expensive antlerless-only permit.”

Counties such as Lake, Trumbull, Cuyahoga, Lucas and Trumbull will have a four deer bag limit and one of which can be tagged with the antlerless-only permit. In these counties their respective deer herds are still above target objectives and a little sweetener is needed to entice hunters to kill a doe early in the season and before the general firearms hunt, the state officials said.

As for the future use of antlerless-only permits, the Wildlife Division's crystal ball does not address whether that system has a termination point.

“A lot depend on where we go from here but I don't think you'll see them go away entirely,” Zody said..

Critical, however, will be on-going studies and discussions that could lead to modifying the sales and uses of antlerless-only permits.

Such strategies as permit quotas, applying for them rather than over-the-counter sales and such were employed in the past and may come about again, Wildlife officials said.

“We didn't get here by accident but by sound deer management practices, but we don't want to overshoot the runway,” Zody said.

Another significant change calls for allowing the use of rifles chambered for a rather long laundry list of so-called straight-walled cartridges. These cartridges include: .357 Magnum, .357 Maximum, .38 Special, .375 Super Magnum, .375 Winchester, .38-55; .41 Long Colt, .41 Magnumn, .44 Special, .44 Magnum, .444 Marlin, .45 ACP, .45 Colt, .45 Long Colt, .45 Winchester Magnum, .45 Smith & Wesson. .454 Casull, .460 Smith & Wesson, .45-70 Springfield, .45-90, .45-110, .475 Linebaugh, .50-70, .50-90, .50-100, and 500 S&W.

Several of these calibers are permitted now but in handgun only form. Others – such as the .45-70 - .45-90, and the .45-110 are popular with the Cowboy Action shooting set.

“We want to emphasize that these are not high-powered calibers and no one is going to be allowed deer hunting carrying an AK-47,” Zody said. “We want to stress this point.”

Zody said this portion of the new deer-hunting proposals have been several years in the making and advanced by any number of Ohio sportsmen and gun rights groups. These organizations were tasked with studying the issue as well as securing a favorable nod from Ohio's agricultural community.

“The Ohio Farm Bureau Federation actually endorsed the idea,” Zody said.

However, Zody was equally pointed by nothing that hunters utilizing rifles chambered for any of these calibers will still fall with the legal usage parameters now required of sportsmen who use shotguns. That being, a rifle cannot hold more than three rounds, including one in the chamber.

“The rifle will either have to be plugged or else use dummy cartridges in the magazine,” Zody said.

A pair of last year's “new” rules will repeat themselves this year, officials said as well.

Not going away is the mid-October, antlerless-only, muzzle-loading only deer-hunting season. The fact that while the all-seasons' kill of antlered deer was down the number of bucks shoot during the archery season was actually up by two percent, Zody said.

That point is significant, Zody says, because it was the state's archery deer hunters who repeatedly opined they would see fewer – and thus shoot fewer – antlered deer.

“Clearly that did not happen,” Zody said.

Similarly staying put for now is the shooting hour extension for the various firearms and muzzle-loading seasons.

Not only was the allowance of gun hunters to stay afield until one-half hour after sunset a safe experience it also proved successful. Fully 6,246 deer were shot during that last one-half hour of the statewide firearms deer-hunting season.

Another, more minor change, is the starting day for the statewide muzzle-loading deer-hunting season. Instead of the more common practice that kicked the season off on a Saturday this time around it will be on a Thursday; done in order to better calibrated with the calendar, Zody said.

Also, the proposed dates for the various 2014-2015 deer-hunting seasons are Archery, including crossbow - Sept. 25-Feb. 1 (2015); Antlerless-only via muzzle-loader-only – Oct. 11 and 12; Youth-only general firearms – Nov. 22-23; General firearms – Dec. 1-7; Statewide either-sex muzzle-loader-only – Jan. 2-5.

The public will have several opportunities to comment on these proposals with the Wildlife Division having set aside noon to 3 p.m., March 2 for the annual game hearings.
These hearings will be held simultaneously at the Wildlife Division's District One, Two, Three, and Four headquarter offices, the Greene County Fish and Game Association clubhouse in District Five, the Lake Erie Islands Visitor Center in Port Clinton, and the Fairport Harbor Fisheries Research Station in Lake County.
Interested parties also will have the opportunity to make on-line comments beginning March 3.
The statewide hearing is set for 9 a.m., March 6 at the Wildlife Division's District One office in Columbus.
Meanwhile the eight-member Ohio Wildlife Council will vote on the proposals at its April 9 meeting.

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
JFrischk@Ameritech.net

UPDATED & REWRITTEN: Significant changes in the offering for Ohio's 2014 deer-hunting laws

Under a proposal the Ohio Division of Wildlife  unveiled to the state's outdoors writers this afternoon, deer hunters in Lake, Trumbull and Cuyahoga counties will have the opportunity to both buy and use just one antlerless-only deer tag during the upcoming season.

The same will apply to hunters in Ashtabula County.

However, not so for deer hunters in Geauga County where the long-time use of such tags is buried deep in the area's deer-hunting tradition.

Likewise, the Wildlife Division is proposing allowing the use of certain straight-walled cartridges in rifles during the statewide general firearms deer-hunting season.
Lake, Cuyahoga and Trumbull County deer hunters will legally be eligible to kill up to four animals while hunters in Ashtabula County will become eligible to shot only up to three animals.

Meanwhile, properly licensed Geauga County deer hunters will be lawfully empowered to shoot up to three animals but all will require the use of an either-sex tag only.

This is a significant step toward the Wildlife Division embracing a county-by-county deer management strategy.

The newly drawn proposed map showing in which counties hunters can buy and use antlerless-only tags as well as season allowances has the most checkerboard look in history.

Only in five counties can hunters shoot just two deer and all animals must be tagged with an either-sex permit. These counties are Darke, Hancock, Auglaize, Fayette, and Madison.

Entirely new and perhaps the biggest surprise is that a number of traditionally go-to deer-hunting counties now fall into a category whereby the use of antlerless-only tags are forbidden. That is, if the proposal eventually passes muster with the eight-member Ohio Wildlife Council, which has the final say in such matters.

Among the counties where antlerless-only tags are being proposed as being ineligible for use are Guernsey, Noble, Muskingum, Coshocton, Harrison, Washington, Meigs, Jefferson, and – as mentioned earlier – Geauga.

And though deer hunters operating in any of these counties can still shoot up to three animals each and everyone of them will require tagging with a $24 either-sex permit instead of a $15 antlerless-only permit.

Also, the proposed dates for the various 2014-2015 deer-hunting seasons are Archery, including crossbow - Sept. 25-Feb. 1 (2015); Antlerless-only via muzzle-loader-only – Oct. 11 and 12; Youth-only general firearms – Nov. 22-23; General firearms – Dec. 1-7; Statewide either-sex muzzle-loader-only – Jan. 2-5.

This story will be updated following the teleconference by the Wildlife Division to the state's outdoors writers.

 

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

JFrischk@Ameritech.net

UPDATED Geauga County's state wildlife officer and 15 others reinstated to law-enforcement duties

Cleared of any wrong-doing that they had hunted while on duty, 16 of the 18 Ohio Division of Wildlife officers were reinstated to their law-enforcement duties today, Tuesday, Feb. 4.

Among the officers returning to work today is Scott Denamen, the long-time agent assigned to Geauga County.

For the other two officers, one has since retired while the one's case has been turned over for a disciplinary hearing, officials with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources said.

The matter began after the Ohio Inspector General issued a report Dec. 13 that alleged the 18 current or retired wildlife officers had hunted deer while on the clock, a violation of state ethics laws.

Immediately afterward the officers were reassigned to desk duty, surrendering their official vehicles, weapons and other tools of their trade.

Subsequently the Ohio Department  of Natural Resources launched its own investigation, poring over the same documents, interviewing the officers and delving into what actually occurred.

The results of this investigation turned out to be largely the polar opposite of the Inspector General's examination.

“We determined that 16 of the 17 were eligible for immediate return to their law-enforcement duties,” said Bethany McCorkle, spokeswoman for the parent Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

McCorkle said it wasn't so much a case of the officers hunting while on duty, rather more of a documentation knot tied by the thread of one's office being both a patrol vehicle and home..

“These aren't your typical 9-to-5 jobs,” McCorkle said.

Aware of the challenges of working alone in a non-factory/non-office environment both the Natural Resources Department and the Wildlife Division launched an electronic check-in system for the state's wildlife officers.

This process was initiated in September 2012 and consists of requiring each officer while on patrol in his or her state-issued vehicle to press a “button” that sends a GPS signal identifying the exact location the agent is at, along with a time stamp.

“We see the benefits in this system in both improving accountability as well as for the safety of the officers,” McCorkle says.

McCorkle said also the department is studying whether and how to release the names of the other two wildlife officers, including the retiree as well as the one who will undergo a disciplinary hearing.

Here are the names of the Ohio Division of Wildlife officers who returned to duty today, Tuesday, Feb. 4: David Gilkey – Adams County; Brian Baker – Belmont County; Joshua Zientek – Butler County; Jeffrey Tipton – Champaign County; David Brown – Columbiana County (RETIRED); Nicholas Turner – Columbiana County; Matthew Smith – Defiance County; Roy Rucker – Fayette County/Gallia County; Brad Kiger – Franklin County; Scott Denamen – Geauga County; Troy Reimund – Hocking County; Jeremy Carter – Holmes County; Ryan Garrison – Mercer County; Brian Bury – Sandusky County; Brett Barnes – Stark County; Travis Abele – Vinton County; Brad Baaske – Wyandot County.

 

"Brown County Five" sue state, Brown County officials

Picking up where the failed criminal charges against them tanked, the so-called “Brown County Five” have now filed a federal civil suit against those with whom the plaintiffs believe did them wrong.

Former Ohio Department of Natural Resources' Division of Wildlife officials Randy L. Miller, David M. Graham, and James E. Lehman have coupled with still Wildlife Division-employed Todd E. Haines and Michele E. Ward-Tackett in seeking judgment against three legally recognized political entities and seven current or former elected or appointed officials.

The five are asking for a federal jury trial before the U.S. District Court's Southern District of Ohio Court.

Each of the five plaintiffs is seeking $200,000 in judgment plus another $200,000 per plaintiff “..for punitive damages, plus interest, costs, attorney fees and all further relief to which Plaintiffs are entitled.”

Named as defendants in the civil suit are the Office of the Brown County (Ohio) Prosecutor, the Ohio Inspector General Office, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, current Brown Couny Prosecutor Jessica A. Little, former ODNR deputy director Anthony J. Celebreeze III, former ODNR director Sean D. Logan, current ODNR Director James Zehringer, and Ohio Inspector General Randell Meyer, Deputy Inspector General Ronald E. Nichols and former Ohio Inspector General Thomas Charles.

The Ohio Inspector General's official launched an investigation in 2010 into the illegal activities while on duty of former state wildlife officer assigned to Brown County, Allan Wright.

Subsequently, the Ohio Inspector General determined the Brown County Five had failed to take appropriate action against Wright thereby opening them to alleged criminal charges, which Little undertook to pursue.

And the ODNR followed up by firing Graham as the Wildlife Division's chief, and placing on paid and unpaid administrative leave at one time or another the plaintiffs as well as reordering the duties of at least two of the plaintiffs.

As their case progressed through the court system the Brown County Five won Round One in the Brown County Common Pleas Court but lost Round Two in the District Court of Appeals.

Ultimately the Ohio State Supreme Court on May 29, 2013, “... unanimously reversed the decision of the Court of Appeals and reinstated the decision of the trial court suppressing the statements provided to Defendant Nichols, Plaintiffs' case was dismissed,” the federal civil suit says.

In all, the suit spells out nine claims, their linchpin pretty much relying on the belief that “As a direct and proximate result of (the) Defendants' malicious prosecution of (the) Plaintiffs, Plaintiffs have suffered injury, emotional distress, seizure, imprisonment, and other costs associated with defending the litigation brought as a result of (the) Defendants' actions,” the suit says in the third claim.

The Plaintiffs are all being represented by the Columbus-based law firm of Kemp, Schaeffer and Rowe.

For her part Little says she has retained consul as well, provided through the insurer that represents the Brown County Prosecutor's office.

Unlike criminal litigation that involving civil matters plays by an entirely different set of rules that can include points less demanding to prove.

Among them being that a jury is instructed to weigh its judgment on a “preponderance” of evidence, not the greater and more challenging “beyond a reasonable doubt” body of presented evidence required during a criminal proceeding.

Likewise, governments and government officials are almost always – or even always – wrapped in the cloak of an insurer. And it is this insurer – not the defendant – who determines whether to proceed to trial, appeal a decision to a higher court or to seek a settlement with a plaintiff.

“I have to remember here that I am the client,” Little said. “So I'm just going to let my attorneys handle this, but it is aggravating.”

When asked how the Natural Resources Department will approach the civil lawsuit, what attorney or attorneys it will employ – including whether those persons will come from in-house or from an insurer – and even whether the agency will retain consul for Zehringer, let alone Logan and Celebreeze, the agency was tight-lipped.

Make that, exceptionally tight-lipped.

“(The) ODNR is named in the lawsuit and therefore we cannot comment on the pending litigation,” said department spokeswoman Bethany McCorkle.

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

JFrischk@Ameritech.net 

Ohio's 2013-2014 all-seasons' deer harvest crashes and burns

For the first time since the 2003-2004 all-seasons' total of 197,970 animals has Ohio's deer harvest failed to reach at least 200,000 head.

Yet that is what happened to the all-seasons' 2013-2014 total of 191,459 animals, well off the 2012-2013 all-seasons' haul of 218,910 deer and a giant leap backward from the all-time all-seasons' total of 252,017 animals, which was recorded during the 2008-2009 license/hunting year.

In fact, one would have to turn back the clock to the 2001-2002 all-seasons' harvest of 165,124 deer to discover a smaller white-tail kill.

Such information will no doubt come into play on Thursday when the Ohio Department of Natural Resources' Division of Wildlife conducts a live telephone feed with the state's outdoors writers regarding the proposed 2014-2015 deer-hunting regulations, seasons and bag limits.

Here is a county-by-county breakdown of the preliminary 2013-2014 all-seasons' deer-hunting harvest as supplied by the Division of Wildlife with the corresponding 2012-2013 harvest figures in parentheses:

Adams: 3,849 (4,111); Allen: 1,057 (1,110); Ashland: 2,931 (3,149); Ashtabula: 4,981 (4,974); Athens: 4,053 (4,387); Auglaize: 789 (986); Belmont: 3,953 (4,731); Brown: 2,526 (2,933); Butler: 1,503 (1,498); Carroll: 4,203 (4,825); Champaign: 1,243 (1,453); Clark: 779 (862); Clermont: 2,830 (3,141); Clinton: 883 (1,007); Columbiana: 3,669 (3,893); Coshocton: 6,270 (7,413); Crawford: 1,033 (1,236); Cuyahoga: 681 (713); Darke: 589 (1,004); Defiance: 1,576 (1,911); Delaware: 1,516 (1,901); Erie: 760 (719); Fairfield: 2,245 (2,608); Fayette: 292 (302); Franklin: 719 (879); Fulton: 859 (980); Gallia: 2,899 (3,370); Geauga: 1,849 (2,131); Greene: 956 (1,105); Guernsey: 5,307 (6,151); Hamilton: 2,069 (2,175); Hancock: 908 (1,338); Hardin: 1,207 (1,306); Harrison: 4,533 (5,365); Henry: 642 (750); Highland: 2,714 (3,250); Hocking: 3,514 (4,206); Holmes: 3,958 (4,565); Huron: 2,139 (2,298); Jackson: 2,769 (3,440); Jefferson: 3,286 (4,161); Knox: 4,529 (5,288); Lake: 793 (1,004); Lawrence: 2,238 (2,672); Licking: 5,711 (6,928); Logan: 1,917 (2,094); Lorain: 2,342 (2,460); Lucas: 736 (677); Madison: 451 (452); Mahoning: 2,207 (2,034); Marion: 833 (901); Medina: 1,937 (1,978); Meigs: 3,336 (3,832); Mercer: 625 (804); Miami: 881 (961); Monroe: 2,623 (3,478); Montgomery: 687 (804); Morgan: 3,080 (3,597); Morrow: 1,549 (1,936); Muskingum: 5,547 (6,457); Noble: 3,091 (3,513); Ottawa: 402 (379); Paulding: 1,047 (1,194); Perry: 2,731 (3,477); Pickaway: 804 (1,044); Pike: 2,096 (2,262); Portage: 2,005 (2,280); Preble: 1,070 (1,205); Putnam: 687 (786); Richland: 3,242 (3,878); Ross: 3,087 (3,559); Sandusky: 773 (794); Scioto: 2,705 (2,821); Seneca: 1,641 (1,923); Shelby: 1,103 (1,294); Stark: 2,578 (2,597); Summit: 1,428 (1,417); Trumbull: 3,592 (3,553); Tuscarawas: 5,774 (6,813); Union: 826 (961); Van Wert: 491 (638); Vinton: 3,133 (3,395); Warren: 1,344 (1,605); Washington: 3,298 (4,091); Wayne: 1,908 (2,108); Williams: 1,903 (2,096); Wood: 729 (863) and Wyandot: 1,410 (1,670). Total: 191,459 (218,910).

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
JFrischk@Ameritech.net