Field Guide to Butterflies of Illinois

[Leptraps at aol.com]

I started this issue of "Law Enforcement Officials" several days ago. I asked 
the question because of the statement in the brochure for the "Field Guide to 
Butterflies of Illinois." I received the brochure via snail mail with a 
request to announce the book in the Society of Kentucky Lepidopterists 
Newsletter (I am the Editor of the Newsletter) back in mid-December. The 
typed note enclosed was unsigned and the envelope had no return address but 
was post marked Champaign, IL. At first I did not pay attention to the lack 
of identification. I also ordered the book which I have yet to receive.

When I read the brochure I was surprised by the reference to Law Enforcement 
Officials. I became curious about the reference, so I wrote both of the 
authors and the Illinois Natural History Survey at their Champaign, IL 
address for clarification. There has been no response to my inquirers.

I was more curious as to what others might think of the reference. So I sent 
the message to this list.

I never intended to offend anyone with my inquiry. The explanation of park 
rangers never entered my mind. I do not for some reason equate Park Rangers 
and Law Enforcement Officials as being one in the same. I equated Law 
Enforcement Official as the local police or sheriff's department. The reason 
being, when I collect in places where "park ranger" are employed, normally 
requires a permit. When I meet a park ranger, he knows who I am and what I am 
doing and he knows I have a permit because I check in at the park office 
first. He is usually friendly and inquisitive. When I am out in the boonnies 
running lights at night, it is usually the local sheriff deputy that I 
encounter, or the border patrol, or DEA, or ATF. My last encounters with Law 
enforcement: Jeff Slotten and I were near Brownsville, Texas, as we were 
about the leave at 2AM we encountered the Border Patrol. These guys were 
armed, guns, dogs, flak jackets (Jeff Slotten still is nervous over that 
encounter).  The other was in the Fackahatchee Strand State Preserve in SW 
Florida (Yes I had a permit) with the DEA, and it too involved guns (They 
thought that we were lighting up Jane's Scenic Drive for a drug plane to 
land). These are what I considered Law Enforcement Officials. Although they 
were polite, having a gun pointed at you can be a little unnerving. However, 
it is their job. Most people in the places that I have encountered Law 
Enforcement Officials are places that most people are not at 2AM. And if they 
are, they are either moth collectors, and if they are not, they are usually 
armed.

I only met one of the authors at a meeting many years ago and know nothing of 
them. Many people have written butterflies book and are not members of the 
Lepidopterists' Society. If my comments in my post were out of order, I 
apologize. It was the circumstances and the lack of response along with my 
curiosity that prompted the post.

What have I learned? I need a flak jacket when posting on this list!
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