Saturday, June 27, 2020

Wires: Remington may be sold to Navajo Nation, likely cease AR sales to public

The following is directly from electronic news source "Newsmax" and "Thompson/Reuters." No commentary is included nor intended. It quotes several sources, among them being "The Wall Street Journal."

Newsmax says of itself that it "..operates a multiplatform network focused on conservative media, including the news website Newsmax.com, publishes the Franklin Prosperity Report and Newsmax magazine, and the cable news channel Newsmax TV."

Here, then, is the story as it appears on the "Newsmax" electronic platform:


"Remington Arms Co., America's oldest gun maker, is preparing to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection that could come as early as Sunday night and is in advanced talks for a sale to the Navajo Nation, according to a source familiar with the matter.

"The Native American tribe is planning to vote to approve the deal as soon as Friday, the source said. The tribe previously had bid for Remington, planning to drop its most controversial semi-automatic rifles, the New York Times has reported.

"U.S. retailers have placed restrictions on gun sales after school shootings, hurting manufacturers such as Remington. A Remington Bushmaster rifle was used in the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting in Connecticut in 2012 that killed 20 children and six adults, making it central to debates over gun policy.

"The gunmaker has filed for bankruptcy before, in March 2018 after sales faltered and the company had trouble meeting requirements of its lenders.

"Remington emerged from bankruptcy the same year, owned by its former creditors, including Franklin Templeton Investments and JPMorgan Asset Management.

"The sources cautioned that the timing of the bankruptcy filing could slip, and that the deal with the Navajo Nation, the largest Native American reservation in the United States, may not come to fruition.

"The sale to the tribe would occur through a court-supervised process, the source said, subject to higher and better offers and approval from a judge.

"The Wall Street Journal first reported the company's plan to file for bankruptcy and sell to the Navajo Nation.

"Remington and a representative for the Navajo Nation did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

"The Navajo Nation made a bid in 2018 for Remington, planning to use an investment trust to fund a purchase that would transform the company by dropping assault-style weapons and focusing instead on hunting firearms for consumers, sales to law enforcement and smart gun technology, the New York Times has reported.

"© 2020 Thomson/Reuters. All rights reserved.



"Read Newsmax: Remington Arms Prepares for Bankruptcy; Navajo Tribe in Talks to Buy - Source | Newsmax.com." 

Monday, June 22, 2020

Use of force, officer training of Ohio DNR personnel detailed, faces updating

With local, state, and national law enforcement authorities immersed in navigating the challenges wrought by the current social unrest, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources is no less eyeing the debate.

These matters are being explored with macroscopic scrutiny - that is, matters which can be seen - as well as microscopic inquiry – or matters that cannot be easily seen.

As it is with every other law enforcement agency in Ohio. So much so, in fact, that Governor Mike DeWine, the Ohio Attorney General, and the Ohio General Assembly are all working toward welding together a set of rules that will embrace the assurance of public safety, the necessary enforcement of laws, and safeguarding the life and rights of the accused.

For now the look-see highlights both what law enforcement officers can and cannot do as well as the equipment they carry.

Of equal – perhaps even greater - importance are the points that also zero in on law enforcement personnel’s training that features the use of so-called “excessive force” and “deadly force.”

And yes, the Natural Resources Department has a current strategy for that, too.

In all, the Natural Resources Department has approximately 300 commissioned officers, says Sarah Wickham, the Department’s Chief of Communications.

Wickham said the Department is beholden to follow the law enforcement training standards set by the Ohio Peace Officer Training Commission “and certification is governed by them as well.”

Use of force training is provided to all officers and it does not differentiate treatment except for certain physical circumstances (i.e. if a woman is pregnant, or if a suspect is in a wheelchair),” Wickham said in a prepared statement in response to a request for details in developing this story.

Much of what is happening now is being directed at presumptive excessive use of force allegedly at the hands of law enforcement officers.

But Wickham said also in her prepared remarks that within the past five years there “have only been two cases, both federal court cases filed in relation to incidents that occurred in 2017, levied against ODNR officers related to excessive force complaints.”

Parks and Watercraft officers Jeremy Berger, Jason Beard and Raymond Watson were named in those lawsuits, Wickham said.

The lawsuit against Officer Berger contains an allegation that race may have played a role in the incident,” Wickham said, adding the Department’s “Office of Law Enforcement in conjunction with ODNR Legal Counsel conducted the initial investigations into the allegations.”

In both cases it was determined that the officers acted properly and within in the scope of their duties.  The first case was dismissed and the second case is currently pending,” Wickham said.


As always, the devil is in the details, and the Natural Resources Department has a road map for dealing with such scenarios. Just as does any other law enforcement agency, says Dominic Binkley, spokesman for Ohio Attorney General David Yost, in his prepared remarks for this story.

    (The) ODNR staff who complete basic peace officer training receive the same training as traditional municipal peace officers. So they are responsible for

  • completing the minimum 737 hours of Ohio Peace Officer Training Commission-approved training, including Civil Liability and Use of Force,” Binkley says.

    Binkley says the application of force “is instructed throughout the complete curriculum under various lesson plans."

  • For instance, during Community Diversity and Procedural Justice, Firearms, Subject Control Techniques, and Stops and Approaches training (just naming a few), this is discussed throughout the instruction, along with how the application of force can be applied legally and how the application of force can be interpreted,” Binkley says.


    Internal agency (ODNR) policy may provide further direction on how the agency addresses this. Any additional questions should be directed to (the) ODNR,” Binkley said also in his prepared remarks.

  • To that end, included in Wickham’s reply was forwarded a six-page Natural Resources protocol document entitled “Response to Resistance/Aggressive Directive.

  • This directive’s stated purpose is to “Provide guidance for an Officer’s reasonable response to an offender’s resistance/aggression, and to review the Office’s actions to determine if the actions were within federal and state constitutional standards and statutory requirements.”


Among specifics are such items as the establishment of a seven-person internal Natural Resources Department “Critical Action Review Committee” as well as 15-person Natural Resources “Department Critical Action Team.” The latter team must be comprised of exempt law enforcement personnel, the six-page document reads.


Each of these two groups are empowered to review various investigative aspects in response to such things as the discharge of a firearm in a law enforcement situation, if an accused displayed resistance or aggression “in a law enforcement situation,” or if the accidental discharge of a firearm resulted in physical harm.


Such definitions as force, deadly force, physical harm to persons, serious physical harm to persons, reasonable belief, risk, substantial risk, traumatic event, relief from duty while an officer’s case is under review are all spelled out as well as how a commissioned officer is to report on an incident and the subsequent investigation are all likewise spelled out in the six-page exemplar.


The document then hammers out in its “policy and procedure” segment even such seemingly mundane details as how an incident report is to be completed.


The preservation of human life is of the highest value to the State of Ohio and ODNR. Therefore, officers must have an objectively, reasonable belief that deadly force is necessary to protect life before (the) use of deadly force is utilized,” the six-page protocol document says also on that subject of current events importance.


In that regard, the kinds of potential assailant control and restraint devices deployed to Natural Resources commissioned officers is codified in agency strategy. For Parks and Watercraft Division officers, issued besides firearms are pepper spray, batons and Tasers while Wildlife Division officers are issued pepper spray and batons along with firearms, Wickham said in her statement.


Even so, Binkley did say in his comments that “The use of Conducted Energy Devices, i.e. Taser, is not part of the basic training.  However, there may be classroom discussion by an instructor for awareness, and this type of training is provided by agencies that use the device.”


All of which is the word of the day for law enforcement officers. That does not mean these definitions, procedures, standards and such are chiseled in stone, however.

To the contrary. Wickham says also the Natural Resources Department “is currently in the process of updating all of our law enforcement policies and directives”

We will update the use of force policy based on the Governor’s (recent) directive,” Wickham said in her remarks.

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

JFriachk@Ameritech.net

JFrischk4@gmail.com

Thursday, June 11, 2020

Ohio's National Park sites could get $114 million in federal rehabilitation funding

A bipartisan proposal intended to restore the country’s national park system and back by President Donald Trump would infuse $114 million for such operations in Ohio.

Among the monies would include nearly $52 million for the Cuyahoga National Park in Northeast Ohio, $48.4 million for the Perry’s Victory and International Peace Memorial on South Bass Island, and $3.5 million for the Hopewell Cultural National Park in Ross County.

Spearheading the “Restore Our Parks Act” is Ohio’s junior Senator Rob Portman (R).

The measure is part of a broader initiative called “The Great American Outdoors Act” and intended to break free the $12 billion logjam in deferred maintenance projects that has plagued the national parks system for years, says Portman.

In all, says Portman also, more than $20 billion in backlogged maintenance projects has hammered the country’s entire fleet of public lands; a detail the Land and Water Conservation Fund was intended to address.

This fund is fueled from royalties on oil and gas leases and other energy leases to federal lands, with these dollars designated for the country’s national parks in order to take care of deferred maintenance, Portman says.

The National Park Service system now comprises 84 million acres of land and historical sites that attract 330 million visitors annually Portman says.

In fact, from 2006 to 2017, annual visitation in our parks increased by about 58 million people,” Portman said.

The Restore Our Parks Act, is all about stewardship. It’s about taking better care of what we have. Not a penny of it can be used for expansion.”

If passed by Congress and signed by Trump, the following Ohio’s National Park sites would see: Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument (Wilberforce) - $2.4 million; Ohio Cuyahoga Valley National Park (Summit and Cuyahoga counties) - $51.8 million; Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park (Dayton) - $3.6 million; First Ladies National Historic Site (Canton) - $882,206; Hopewell Culture National Historic Park (Ross County) - $3.5 million; James A. Garfield National Historic Site (Mentor) - $1.2 million; Perry’s Victory and International Peace Memorial (South Bass Island) - $48.4 million; William Howard Taft National Historic Site(Cincinnati) - $2.2 million.

A spokesman for Ohio’s senior senator Sherrod Brown could not be reached for comment.

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

JFrischk@Ameritech.net

JFrischk4@gmail.com

Wednesday, June 10, 2020

Fish Ohio program application processing back on line; pins to come (much) later

Anglers looking to log their catch of the day with the Fish Ohio program again can do so.


Yet it will likely be months before anglers can net the most prized trophy of all: the associated Fish Ohio pin.


The Ohio Division of Wildlife was compelled to temporarily end access to its Fish Ohio on-line electronic application system when the parent Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ web site was hacked. As a result, the agency shut down its web site May 8th.


A reboot with basic information started to jell with the intention of eventually integrating the Natural Resources Department’s web site with an executive branch/statewide system. That merger should happen sometime later this summer or early autumn.


The importance of the Natural Resources Department’s website is underscored by the fact that it is visited about two million times monthly, state officials have said.


And more than a little of that activity is directed at the Wildlife Division’s 40-year-old Fish Ohio program. Last year the agency processed 16,196 Fish Ohio on-line applications


Here, anglers catching a qualifying member from one of 25 eligible species earn a Fish Ohio award, based on length only. And an angler catching a qualifying member from four or more eligible species earns a Master Angler title.


Of the 25 eligible species, five have separate Lake Erie and inland waters minimum length, too.


However, while the fishing was being impacted by a wet winter and early spring and then followed by the coronovirus (COVID-19) threat, the hacking of the Natural Resources Department’s web site was more than just another speed bump for submitting Fish Ohio applications. It was a road block.


A detour was created, though, with a patch to the web site that now allows access to the Wildlife Division’s Fish Ohio page. It’s slightly different from the previously experienced web site, but an angler can navigate it without too much difficulty.


Start by typing in the search bar “Ohio Division of Wildlife”, which takes one to the agency’s web site (www.wildlife.ohiodnr.gov). To the left of the page are four titled links; go to “Resources & Programs,” which will open another page that includes 12 photo-illustrated sub-links.


The “Fish Ohio Recognition Program” portal is the one on the far right of the upper column. Click on that one and then follow the submission instructions which includes directions on how to print out your own recognition certificate.


Once at the location and angler can likewise view his or her submission record for at least the past seven years.


At the bottom of the page is a step-by-step instructional guide to electronically determine the on-going submission history of all 25 recognized species, including the dates of catches, the lengths of submitted fish, as well as where all of the submissions have been caught. This information is viewable either as a PDF file or as an Excel file.


And it appears many anglers are making up for lost time by having entered a plethora of submissions they’ve had to keep on hold.


This year honors the program’s 40th anniversary by once more featuring the likeness of a smallmouth bass. It was this species that highlighted the 1980 first year pewter pin, the 1990 tenth-year pin, the 2000 twentieth-year anniversary pin, and the 2015 pin.


Now comes the waiting part for these much-desired, collectible pins, though.


The pins are still in the design stage,” said Wildlife Division spokesman Brian Plasters.


We’re trying to find a new vendor because the one we’ve been using was overseas. We want to bring it back home if we can.”


Thus, Plasters says, he “hesitates to put a date” on when the 2020 Fish Ohio pins will become available.


Complicating matters, Plasters says also, is that the COVID-19 threat forced Natural Resources Department’s officials to vacate the agency’s Fountain Square headquarters in Columbus. Consequently, employees are finding it more challenging to work through the myriad of daily details that typically can be resolved by a simple walk to the next office.


Not to worry, Plasters says, however, the pins will come as will a revamped and complete Natural Resources Department web site.


It’s been a long road to get the system back up and running but it’ll be done,” Plaster says.


- By Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

JFrischk@Ameritech.net

JFrischk4@gmail.com



Saturday, June 6, 2020

Bodies of the two Fairport Harbor boating accident victims found

The U.S. Coast Guard suspended its search Friday (June 5th) after the recovery of one body off Fairport Harbor.


A second body was found “by a good Samaritan” on Saturday (June 6th), also within the search area, said a Coast Guard spokeswoman.


The victim’s names have not yet been released.


The spokeswoman - Petty Officer Second Class Lauren Steenson – said on Saturday (June 6th) the cessation of the search and rescue operations was instructed about 8:50 p.m., Friday (June 5th), following an intensive operation.


Steenson said the search included the use of a helicopter from the Coast Guard’s Air Station Detroit, a 45-foot response boat operating out of the Coast Guard’s Station Fairport Harbor, a helicopter from the Canadian Air Force’s Joint Rescue Coordination Center in Trenton, Ontario, as well as elements with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Parks and Watercraft.


A report was received about 11 a.m., Thursday (June 4th) of an overturned vessel located about four miles north of Fairport Harbor in Lake Erie, Steenson said.


Responding, the Coast Guard found the vessel with the only passenger being a dog that was huddling in the boat’s hold, Steenson said.


Using the boat’s Ohio registration numbers, the Coast Guard contacted a woman at the residence. Of the boat’s owner.


The woman said her husband and son had gone fishing in Lake Erie on Wednesday (June 3rd) but had not returned, Steenson said.


Steenson said the father’s body was recovered Friday (June 5th) near Fairport Harbor and the son’s body on Saturday (June 6th), by a “good Samaritan.”


Also, said Steenson, the Coast Guard and the Ohio Parks and Watercraft agency were jointly working to recover the submerged pleasure craft.


- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

JFrischk@Ameritech.net

JFrischk4@gmail.com

Friday, June 5, 2020

Coast Guard continues search after boat capsizes off Fairport Harbor; one body found Friday

The U.S. Coast Guard is continuing its search and rescue operations off Fairport Harbor following the location of one of two presumptive victims of a capsize fishing boat.


Coast Guard spokeswoman Petty Officer Second Class Lauren Steenson on Friday afternoon said that a report was received about 11 a.m., Thursday of an overturned vessel located about four miles north of Fairport Harbor in Lake Erie.


Responding, the Coast Guard found the vessel with the only passenger being a dog that was huddling in the boat’s hold, Steenson said.


Using the boat’s Ohio registration numbers, the Coast Guard contacted a woman at the residence. Of the boat’s owner.


The woman said her husband and son had gone fishing in Lake Erie on Wednesday but had not returned, Steenson said.


Steenson said the Coast Guard enabled its various Ninth District assets. Among them were several surface vessels along with a helicopter from the Coast Guard’s base in Detroit.


Joining the Coast Guard in the search and rescue operations were a number of state and local agencies involved in waterways activities, Steenson said also.


Search and rescue operations continued throughout Thursday, into the night, and all day Friday, Steenson also said.


On Friday, Seenson said, a body was found near Fairport Harbor, but was unable to say whether it was one of the two boaters who went out on a fishing excursion Wednesday.


However, since a body was located the Coast Guard has extended its search and rescue operations, and added the federal agency does not use the term “recovery.”


As long as we have assets working it is search and rescue,” Steenson said.

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

JFrischk@Ameritech.net

JFrischk4@gmail.com

Tuesday, June 2, 2020

Ohio's 2020 spring turkey-hunting season numbers continues several year slide

Not unexpectedly, Ohio’s turkey hunters hit another rough patch during the just concluded 2020 spring hunting season.

Final – though still unofficial – numbers provided by the Ohio Division of Wildlife show that 17,891 birds were killed this spring season. That figure compares to the 2019 spring season take of 19,168 birds.

Retreating further back into the spring turkey kill numbers, in 2018 the Wildlife Division recorded 22,635 birds as having been taken while the 2017 figure was 21,042 birds.

Put another way, this year’s spring turkey kill number is close to the 2016 figure of 17,793 birds.

Also says the Wildlife Division, young hunters killed 1,843 wild turkeys during their special two-day season. And the youth season results are included in the final harvest tally.

The state has two zones for spring wild turkey hunting: the south zone and the northeast zone. The northeast zone includes Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake and Trumbull counties, while the south zone covers the rest of the state. South zone hunting ended May 17th. Northeast zone hunting ended May 31st.

Trying to make hide and hair of the data, Wildlife Division wildlife biologist Mark Wiley says this year’s numbers “are right about where we expected them to be.”

Although there has been a noticeable decline over the past three years so we’ve been moving toward the lower end of typical average.”

Wiley says while he has not had the opportunity to dive into the data to any great depth his interest was still pricked a little. On the surface it appears that any number of western Ohio counties did encounter improvement in the number of turkeys killed in them, Wiley says.

Which might have an explanation in the fact these counties were among the last to see adult bird transplants coming from other locations around the state. That transplantation process was completed in 2008 and 2009, Wiley says.

The numbers are not like anything we see in southeast Ohio, of course, but those (western Ohio) counties may still be experiencing an expansion of the flock, and have not yet reached their carrying capacity as flocks have elsewhere around Ohio,” Wiley says.

But I expect that if they are experiencing any expansion they are close to be nearing (their carrying capacity).”

It all boils down to how many birds are out there and that is determined by how many birds reach maturity.

Given that a hen may lay up to one dozen eggs but see only two or three offspring develop into adulthood, means that life is tough for young birds, says Wiley.

The reason, bluntly, says, Wiley, is poor poult “recruitment,” largely due to an equally dismal recent series of wet and cool springs and early summers.

Such meteorological conditions do not bode well for young turkeys to survive, especially during a bird’s first three weeks when it is confined to staying on the ground before having the ability to fly into trees.

Persistent, heavy rains are detrimental to all ground-nesting bird species, turkey being no exception,” Wiley says.

Wiley says what happens this spring in terms of poult production and survival will come into play beginning in late July through August. That is when the young birds become large enough that they can be seen and thus counted by people. These individuals then can field their sightings to the agency for tabulation, says Wiley.

Asked if the Wildlife Division will end the fall season in order to bolster sagging flocks in counties that are experiencing a steady decline in spring turkey kill numbers, Wiley says that is not very likely.

The Wildlife Division must think strategically and on a “landscape scale,” rather than on a smaller level, Wiley says.

Even so, says Wiley, that does not mean that a landowner or group of local landowners would not benefit by self-imposing a fall turkey-hunting season closure, says Wiley.

Such a personal restriction could - over time - help throttle up a localized segment of a county’s flock, says Wiley.

Then you could have an influence,” Wiley says. “It is something that biologists think of, but on a larger scale.”

Here is a county-by-county list of turkeys checked by hunters during the 2020 spring and youth hunting seasons. The first number following the county’s name shows the 2020 turkey kill numbers while the 2019 numbers are in parentheses - Adams: 421 (424); Allen: 79 (74); Ashland: 170 (217); Ashtabula: 449 (558); Athens: 379 (464); Auglaize: 54 (42); Belmont: 533 (567); Brown: 433 (413); Butler: 237 (190); Carroll: 368 (386); Champaign: 106 (97); Clark: 17 (17); Clermont: 367 (337); Clinton: 92 (74); Columbiana: 395 (327); Coshocton: 450 (554); Crawford: 59 (67); Cuyahoga: 7 (8); Darke: 68 (61); Defiance: 244 (197); Delaware: 127 (115); Erie: 41 (51); Fairfield: 115 (118); Fayette: 17 (13); Franklin: 21 (21); Fulton: 118 (117); Gallia: 398 (402); Geauga: 213 (259); Greene: 22 (26); Guernsey: 508 (530); Hamilton: 147 (108); Hancock: 48 (34); Hardin: 103 (95); Harrison: 458 (477); Henry: 56 (63); Highland: 412 (390); Hocking: 271 (280); Holmes: 241 (283); Huron: 112 (118); Jackson: 351 (395); Jefferson: 412 (417); Knox: 317 (349); Lake: 70 (73); Lawrence: 228 (237); Licking: 319 (365); Logan: 116 (113); Lorain: 141 (141); Lucas: 54 (69); Madison: 11 (10); Mahoning: 198 (186); Marion: 46 (30); Medina: 118 (148); Meigs: 503 (555); Mercer: 30 (17); Miami: 29 (24); Monroe: 532 (654); Montgomery: 28 (27); Morgan: 322 (400); Morrow: 146 (142); Muskingum: 499 (589); Noble: 399 (488); Ottawa: 1 (5); Paulding: 75 (70); Perry: 283 (309); Pickaway: 33 (23); Pike: 197 (241); Portage: 248 (259); Preble: 125 (136); Putnam: 61 (65); Richland: 221 (318); Ross: 334 (295); Sandusky: 23 (19); Scioto: 272 (288); Seneca: 108 (154); Shelby: 39 (38); Stark: 270 (299); Summit: 79 (80); Trumbull: 378 (431); Tuscarawas: 528 (570); Union: 48 (58); Van Wert: 22 (20); Vinton: 294 (331); Warren: 110 (102); Washington: 484 (595); Wayne: 123 (126); Williams: 192 (228); Wood: 31 (21); Wyandot: 87 (84). 2020 total: 17,891; 2019 total: (19,168).


- By Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

JFrischk@Ameritech.net

JFrischk4@gmail.com