law news and legalese

Mark Walker mwalker at aisvt.bfg.com
Wed Aug 27 17:14:01 EDT 1997


Doug Yanega wrote:

> Mark Walker wrote:
> 
> >My bet is that Mr.
> >Teobaldelli loves nature, and is within the top 2% of the world population
in
> >terms of nature-friendliness.
> 
> First off, do you know that for a fact?

If I knew it for a fact, then I wouldn't bother making it a wager.  I'd just
state the fact.

Jumping to the conclusion that he runs a clearing house in Italy is by far the
more presumptuous (and ludicrous) conclusion, yet the one implied by the cited
report.  I reserve the right to jump to my own conclusion.  My conclusion is
that we wasted the taxpayers money prosecuting part of the solution, not part
of the problem.  And we prosecuted on account of a hype that is not
substantiated - and that is that the Mr. T's of the world are depleting the Lep
population to the point of extinction.

>         The big problem is that we should have so little of the natural
> world left that we have to struggle to keep it from getting damaged or
> wiped out from simply having people visit it to enjoy it. That things have
> gotten so bad that we have to WORRY about folks like Mr. T because they
> MIGHT be a threat, even unintentionally. I'm also sure there's someone
> somewhere who would love to buy up all that park land Mr. T visited and
> then sell it piecemeal, too, and is trying to find a way to do just that -
> THAT is a much bigger problem, no question. THAT is what scares me, really.

I certainly do not condone collecting in highly sensitive areas (that is, areas
where habitat is diminishing or species have become listed).  That is not the
case here.  Your fear of depleted wilderness does not justify the treatment of
Mr. T.  He is contributing no more and no less than you or I to the rate of
destruction of the natural areas.  Prosecuting the Barney's and Muriel's in
their Bermuda shorts is not effective legislation.

I've said it before on this newsgroup - if we are prepared to close off the
wilderness areas to ALL human traffic, then I will not argue.  But who will be
the first to step up?  If  Barney and Mr. T. are not responsible enough to
visit these areas, then either are you or I.  Would you be so outspoken to
protect areas that you will never be permitted to enjoy?

Selfishly, the thought of never again enjoying the lands that I love so much to
roam is precisely why I fight development in the first place.

Mark Walker.
Castleton, VT

By the way - I'd love to collect down in your neck of the woods...



More information about the Leps-l mailing list