I got an envelope today about the SCI convention. I looked through it . It detailed the entertainment among other things.

I noted that the Saturday entertainment was Huey Lewis & the News. I thought about it for a minute. As I recall, Huey Lewis was involved in stopping duck hunting near his property in MT. See the link below.

http://billingsgazette.com/new...42-001cc4c002e0.html

I am sorry. I just don't get it.

The first sign that SCI actually appreciates that they are at a tipping point will be if they announce a major organizational restructuring. Stripping power away from the executive committee and bringing in a heavy weight executive director to actually manage and take charge of the organization. I give the odds of that happening as less than 10%. So long as they retain the existing structure with the executive committee trying to run the show part time from umpteen locations across the country with an executive director that is more akin to a functionary, they will continue to slowly slip further and further into irrelevancy.

[From the latest issue of Safari Times, President's Message: "Simply stated, our hunter advocacy program is the best and continuing at this level depends greatly on our communication skills. Improved communications have been in development, and are now paying dividends as our advocacy victories stack up." One of two things is going on here. Either the person writing this is delusional or they honestly believe that they can pee on the legs of members and tell them it is raining.]

quote:

Originally posted by MJines:
The first sign that SCI actually appreciates that they are at a tipping point will be if they announce a major organizational restructuring. Stripping power away from the executive committee and bringing in a heavy weight executive director to actually manage and take charge of the organization. I give the odds of that happening as less than 10%. So long as they retain the existing structure with the executive committee trying to run the show part time from umpteen locations across the country with an executive director that is more akin to a functionary, they will continue to slowly slip further and further into irrelevancy.

Mike, you done broke da code!

SCI's executive committees have never been willing to give up an ounce of power.

The problem extends down to the various divisions, with experienced professional directors reporting to committees of volunteers who have absolutely no knowledge of whatever their division does.

It would be like the board of directors of a major oil company going around its CEO and appointing fellow board members to "advise" its various divisions.

Charlie (a surgeon) would get drilling operations, Sam (a TV network executive) would be in charge of site acquisitions, George (an attorney) would cover advertising and public relations, Frank (a trust fund baby) would get the marketing division, and so on.

I forgot to say that none would be paid and all would work only in their spare time.


Bill Quimby

http://www.austinchronicle.com...0-25/heart-and-soul/



He is an archery hunter (see link).


AC: Are you an outdoorsman, a hunter?

HL: I am. I’m a fly fisherman. I’m more a fisherman than a hunter, but I am hunter too – a bow hunter, actually. I have to be careful about my hunting. I’m not a fanatic! We hunt because we cook. We don’t have a lot of great restaurants in Montana to be honest, and so you have to learn how to cook.

I am told his actions were more about property rights than anti-hunting. I took ti the wrong way if this is true.

http://articles.chicagotribune...fowl-ducks-unlimited



We had this one about 50 miles from Chicago when a duck hunter apparently did not want ducks shot after noon.



ON THE OUTDOORS.
Duck Baiter Agrees To Clean Up Act
November 11, 1993|By John Husar.



A nasty dispute that has all but ruined the 30-day duck season for several hundred hunters was resolved for the moment Wednesday in Will County Circuit Court.

Dave Grohne, a millionaire industrialist, had arbitrarily shut down waterfowl hunting in a widespread area by baiting his farm near Coal City. In a courtroom filled with disappointed hunters, he agreed to an extension of a court order that restrains him from spreading any more bait for ducks. Grohne also informed a federal wildlife agent that all the bait-mostly shelled corn and millet-had been removed as of Wednesday.



This means hunters can begin using blinds on numerous clubs and farms along the Will-Grundy line near the waterfowl paradise of Dresden Lake on Nov. 20, after a 10-day waiting period. That is the legal time to wean ducks from a baited area. However, only eight days will be left in those hunters' Central Zone duck season.

Grohne, a prominent waterfowler and deer hunter who reportedly donated $130,000 to Ducks Unlimited last year, said he had no idea his actions would impact so many. But his neighbors at the 1,700-acre Area No. 1 Outdoor Club said Grohne told them on Sept. 17 he would "shut down" their hunting if they refused to comply with his demands.

President Phil McLuckie said Grohne had wanted the 483-member club to cease hunting by noon, presumably to rest the ducks. "But we couldn't agree to that," McLuckie said. "Our members are mostly working class folks, and many of them only can hunt in the afternoons."

Grohne formally notified the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service he intended to spread shelled corn and millet to feed wild ducks on his property. A copy of that letter was sent to the club.

While feeding ducks ordinarily is legal, federal regulations prohibit hunting wild waterfowl that are baited by an artificial feeding situation. Those rules are designed to protect ducks and geese that can become unusually vulnerable. Depending on duck flights and weather conditions, the protection can extend for miles around the actual baited area and close down otherwise legal hunting grounds, such as those in the dispute with Grohne.

Grohne's action shut down hunting at the nearby 1,000-acre CECO Club as well as on several farms in an area frequented by the same flocks of ducks. They included his own 197-acre homesite, which is dappled with strip mine lakes. However, Grohne and his guests continued to hunt ducks at his other properties.

Lawyers for Area No. 1 Club-a former strip mine purchased in 1969 by a membership that now totals 483-hit Grohne with a double chop last week. One was obtaining a temporary restraining order to prohibit him from baiting waterfowl. That order has been extended to Jan. 5, after the close of the Illinois goose season. The other was filing a criminal charge of hunter harassment. Grohne was arrested on the Class B misdemeanor last Friday and has posted bond.

This was Grohne's second brush with baiting laws. According to state conservation police, Grohne lost his hunting privileges for two years for illegally hunting ducks over bait in 1987.

When I asked Grohne why he, as a hunter, would risk exposing other hunters to a similar situation, he said he had no intention of doing that. "This is why I warned them about it," he said.



Grohne's differences with his neighbors stem from a border dispute that began when he bought his property in 1977. According to court papers, he eventually fenced off 13.2 acres of club property. A settlement allows him to use the land for 20 years, which supposedly is the useful life of his fence.

His actions have outraged conservationists, who fear he has exposed a weakness in the law that anti-hunters can exploit.

"What's to prevent a group of anti-hunters from dumping a truckload of corn on a refuge and then informing the game wardens the day before the duck season opens?" said John Fumigalli, president of the Illinois Waterfowl Alliance. "Does this mean anyone can shut down a season for innocent people?"

Regional conservation police commander Rich Powell said the main recourse would be Illinois' hunter harassment statute, which is being upgraded to a Class A misdemeanor next year. That will mandate a seven-day jail term for second offenders.

Meanwhile, Vinnie Iorfida, president of the Northeast Illinois chapter of the Waterfowl Alliance, said Grohne's membership has been terminated and a check for his dues has been returned.

"I never realized the situation would come to this," a chastised Grohne said after Wednesday's hearing. He said he personally cleaned up remaining grain in the morning. Asked why he didn't begin removing grain when the temporary restraining order was issued a week ago, he shrugged: "I wasn't ordered to."

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:
I got an envelope today about the SCI convention. I looked through it . It detailed the entertainment among other things.

I noted that the Saturday entertainment was Huey Lewis & the News. I thought about it for a minute. As I recall, Huey Lewis was involved in stopping duck hunting near his property in MT. See the link below.

http://billingsgazette.com/new...42-001cc4c002e0.html

I am sorry. I just don't get it.

When I saw HL was performing, I had the same thought.

His efforts to stop duck hunting were discussed on AR several years ago when the story broke. If you put his name in the Search box at the AR home page, a couple of discussions come up.

Why would SCI pay an entertainer who has in any way adversely affected hunting? Are they that hard up for talent?

quote:

Originally posted by Kathi:
http://www.austinchronicle.com...0-25/heart-and-soul/



He is an archery hunter (see link).


AC: Are you an outdoorsman, a hunter?

HL: I am. I’m a fly fisherman. I’m more a fisherman than a hunter, but I am hunter too – a bow hunter, actually. I have to be careful about my hunting. I’m not a fanatic! We hunt because we cook. We don’t have a lot of great restaurants in Montana to be honest, and so you have to learn how to cook.

Oh, so he's not a "fanatic" . . . "like a lot of hunters," I imagine was the unsaid end to that sentence.

And of course he's only a bow hunter--can't be touching those nasty guns.

quote:

Originally posted by billrquimby:

quote:

Originally posted by MJines:
The first sign that SCI actually appreciates that they are at a tipping point will be if they announce a major organizational restructuring. Stripping power away from the executive committee and bringing in a heavy weight executive director to actually manage and take charge of the organization. I give the odds of that happening as less than 10%. So long as they retain the existing structure with the executive committee trying to run the show part time from umpteen locations across the country with an executive director that is more akin to a functionary, they will continue to slowly slip further and further into irrelevancy.

Mike, you done broke da code!

SCI's executive committees have never been willing to give up an ounce of power.

The problem extends down to the various divisions, with experienced professional directors reporting to committees of volunteers who have absolutely no knowledge of whatever their division does.

It would be like the board of directors of a major oil company going around its CEO and appointing fellow board members to "advise" its various divisions.

Charlie (a surgeon) would get drilling operations, Sam (a TV network executive) would be in charge of site acquisitions, George (an attorney) would cover advertising and public relations, Frank (a trust fund baby) would get the marketing division, and so on.

I forgot to say that none would be paid and all would work only in their spare time.


Bill Quimby

And what makes it even sadder Bill, if there is any way to make the situation sadder, is that many of the executive committee members are businessmen or advisors to businessmen. They know you cannot run an organization by committee, have a CEO that is micromanaged by non-executive board members, be changing strategy with each change in president every year, etc. These are precisely the sort of people that should look at the organizational structure and declare that no sane organization could be successful with such a structure. Yet they are the very people that perpetuate the structure. With SCI's existing organizational structure it will never be more than a fraction of what it could be.

Exactly what part of this whole fiasco surprises anyone? SCI has bee first for C J McELroy, followed by first for a succession of presidents, followed by first for a long list of free loading board members. It,s now time for the cheerleaders to stand up tell us all about how it is better than nothing.

Seems to me given what a 'spare' (meaning a has-been) Huey Lewis is, the SCI gig has to be more important to him than to SCI.

Just add this to all their idiotic actions.

They are very good at it, so why would they stop??

Larry.
I live 15 miles from Huey.
Talked to him numerous times at local brew house.
Nice guy.
The whole thing was, him and other large property owners were trying to shut down local stream/branch of free flowing river ( duck hunting and fishing ) that was dammed long time ago for irrigation.
In the end it was proved by old maps, it is part of ancient stream and thus public property.
MT Supreme court ruled on it and those property owners didn't like it and expressed their opinion, that MT Supreme court are bunch of dummies.
This is all from local newspapers, so Huey lost lot of respect locally.
All boils down to it. Someone moves into your neighborhoods and thinks they know better.
Kinda sad, but it is like that everywhere.
Too much money simply ruins people's thinking and they forget about their humble beginnings.
Just my way of looking at things.
And of course, the coin has two sides.
Huey has his side against the side of locals.
Fortunately law prevailed and MT Constitution protects all free flowing natural streams and deems them as public property.
So Good luck to all that think they know better.

Ha!

A buddy of mine almost went 'Huey Lewis' on his place.

He owns a huge tract of a cypress brake in MS.

One tiny corner is owned by a guy that brings in his buddies and uses his little corner as a starting point to poach on my friend's land. Local wardens wont do much because they scoot back on their side of the line when they see them coming. He thought about baiting along his line and contacting the feds, who love an easy baiting arrest.

Never did go nuclear over it though, and probably for the best.

They eventually made an uneasy peace over the mess.