ARGU PARR Newsletter V6 No.1 W-S2001

AMERICAN RIGHTS GUARDIAN UPDATE
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VOLUME 6 NUMBER 1 W-S 2001 Bald Eagle

The Only Printed Voice of Opposition to Federal Government Indian Policy in Wisconsin.
Published by Protect Americans' Rights & Resources to maintain an informed membership.

True, the below article is so much ho-hum. I am sure you all read this in the mainstream media, however PARR would like to elaborate on the ramifications of this action, clear the dust off our crystal ball and make the following prediction: Governor McCallum's declaration that he will not allow any of the proposed off reservation Gambling Casinos will result in attempted extortion and intimidation to force the Governor to change his mind. This intimidation will be in the form of Zero Bag limits on the premiere walleye lakes in the ceded territory. This scenario has all the key players, and surely will be spearheaded (pun intended) by the Lac du Flambeau, the band with the overwhelming charm.

Off Reservation Casino Proposals "Kaput"… Finished
(By Bob Manzke)      "It's over! It's done! Put a stake in it," said Kenosha Mayor John Antaramian, referring to the ambitious plan by the Menominee tribe to buy Dairyland Greyhound Park and put a $275 million casino complex there. Antaramian said it was time for Kenosha to move on and pursue alternative developments to bolster the local economy. The tribe and a group of non-Indian investors have spent millions of dollars and three years of effort to try to win the multiple layers of approval needed to create a satellite reservation where a casino could be built. Plans for the Paradise Key Casino in Kenosha envisioned a casino with 4,000 slot machines and 60 blackjack tables and eventual development of adjacent hotels, a water park, golf courses and an up scale shopping mall.
      Another off-reservation casino deal in Hudson likely shares the same fate, given McCallum's opposition. Even though The U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs has ruled in favor of a casino in Hudson, the governor has the power to kill it. "It's done; it's done," McCallum said emphatically of the Kenosha deal before he was sworn in as governor. The plans of other tribes that want to open casinos off their reservations also are doomed, according to the new governor. "I've said there will be no expansion of off-reservation gambling in Wisconsin," the governor said. "There are four areas that have been in the works: Beloit, Lafayette County, Hudson and Kenosha," McCallum said. "If contracts haven't been committed to, if they're not signed, they're done." The U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs approved a long standing and controversial plan to convert a northwestern Wisconsin dog track to a tribal casino, but Gov. Scott McCallum immediately renewed his opposition to the proposal.
      McCallum's approval is essential to the deal. If he sticks to his stance, the Hudson casino won't happen. Federal law gives the governor veto power over any deal to create an off-reservation casino, and McCallum has repeatedly stated he wouldn't approve any. In a brief phone interview, McCallum said: "What the BIA does not impact what we do in Wisconsin. We still have 17 casinos. I think that's enough." Asked if he was saying he would not approve the Hudson deal, McCallum replied that he was. The Lac Courtes Oreilles, Sokaogon (Mole Lake) and Red Cliff Chippewa bands, along with the Florida owner of the St. Croix Meadows Greyhound Park, want to build a casino on the site. That requires the rarely granted approval for essentially creating a satellite mini-reservation for gambling purposes.
      The BIA's action is a reversal of a 1995 denial by the bureau of the Hudson casino, an action that prompted allegations of influence peddling on the part of other Wisconsin and Minnesota tribes that already had casinos.
      The Hudson Common Council has always been opposed to this project. The council's neutral position is a result of a million dollar lawsuit by the Indian tribes against Hudson in 1995. This lawsuit stemmed from an agreement made by the City of Hudson to accept payments in lieu of taxes for city services supplied to the casino property. This agreement was necessary because the tribes' so called sovereign status would allow them to use the city services tax free.
      A judge read into this agreement that the City of Hudson signed away its rights to free speech and could not oppose the casino. Thus, the Hudson council was forced into an official position of no comment.
      The municipalities nearest to this proposed casino oppose it. Also, St. Croix County and the National Park Service oppose it. The municipalities that support the casino did so on the promise of a large payment from the tribes if the casino is built they are anywhere from five to 20 miles away from the proposed casino.
      They do not want the casino, their economy does not need it and if the tribal members need jobs, they are welcome to come to Hudson, as they have plenty of jobs right now.
      So, why after all this opposition did the BIA of this current administration approve the Hudson Casino? Probably because the original refusal driven by donations, by the competing tribes, to former President Clinton stunk so bad that they had to be
overturned.
     After losing the Lafayette County agreement to establish a resort, convention center, casino complex in Shellsburg, the Lac du Flambeau band of Chippewa Indians, who were sent packing from almost every other community in the heaver populated areas of Southeastern Wisconsin, can surely be depended upon to spread their charm as only they know how. Graphic example is the $100,000 extortion by the Lac du Flambeau of George E. Meyer, Secretary of Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, the taxpayers and non-Chippewa fishermen of Wisconsin. Zero bag limits were threatened, the $100,000 ransom was paid, and the bag limits were still highly reduced.
      The Bad River and the St Croix bands of Chippewa also lost their bid for a casino in Beloit. It appears that every band of the Wisconsin Chippewa, have had their dreams of a casino in a populated area crushed. All the conditions are right for a monumental Chippewa hissy fit. PARR

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Tribal Spearing Does Have An Impact On Musky Populations!
(By Greg Graunke)      After personally trying to get answers about the number of musky speared through the ice by the tribes for years, an article appeared in Wisconsin Outdoor News newspaper dealing with musky spearing through the ice by tribal spearers. Following is my response: I would like to respond, on behalf of PARR, to your article on The Winter Spearing of Musky. As an avid musky fisherman I took a keen interest in the winter spearing of musky and its effect on the over all populations and non-Indian fisherman's size limits.
      As you state, the only Information available is from the Chippewa themselves and then the only time The Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission sees fit to check is every five years. The DNR's answer has always been that this is a low efficiency method and, therefore, doesn't really count.
      An impromptu interview with two winter spearers, back in 1994, showed that they were capable of getting at least one large fish a day on the ice, and missing at least one or two more. Moreover, a miss may not mean a clean miss, and as the method of harvest is spear, one can presume, in all probability, that at least one is hit and not retrieved for every fish put on the ice. This fish is then doomed as it has now received one or more holes in its body.
      This estimate Is even low as compared to what a retired warden told me he had witnessed during open water spearing. That being taken into consideration the actual number killed is really twice the number that reaches the ice.
      For one three year period, the winter musky kill was estimated by GLIFWC to be 315, which in some years exceeded the spring kill. If the assumption that at least that many fish are hit and not iced, the real kill count could reach as high as 600 for the winter take.
      The DNR has repeatedly stated that this winter spearing is not a high efficiency, method and therefore, does not need to be monitored, yet when an equal to or even less than equal amount are speared in the spring they must be counted, and in some cases this changes the size limit for the non-Indian sportsman. I would think that the picture you had along with the article speaks for the efficiency rate that is really taking place, a forty inch fish on the end of a spear along with two thirty inch fish on top of the ice shows this method to be anything but low efficiency, as the DNR would like you to think.
      Tribal officials, who oppose having to keep count and records are elated to have a season where they are not required to keep statistics. Why would anyone, tribal member or not, want a season that is unregulated? Unless, with the tribe, the resource is not the main focus. If so, we must remember regulation makes sure it stays a healthy one. Market hunting and the like went out years ago and rightly so.
      GLIFWC has repeatedly questioned the estimates the DNR has on how many musky are taken by hook and line. If the Chippewa can estimate, I would like to hazard my estimate on fish taken by hook and line. I don't believe more than a small amount is ever taken out of the lake. Many musky fishing clubs advocate catch and release, and I personally don't know anyone who would take a musky out of a lake.
      Last, but not least, let us remember that nature has a purpose for these fish and even if it is winter time, their next purpose in life is to reproduce, something that a spear is about to make impossible.
   Equally Yours, Greg Graunke…Chairman PARR. PARR

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BIA Out Of Control!
(By Victor Bellomy)      A newly elected Congressman from Illinois, Timothy Johnson, (R) is vowing to strip the Bureau of Indian Affairs of some of its authority. Johnson told the Champaign Illinois News Gazette the BIA's " …regulatory authority has gotten way out of hand."
      Johnson continued his statement, indicating the powerful Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert will back him up on the effort. "It's Hastert's thinking and mine that Congress ought to be making the laws, not the BIA," Johnson said.
      Johnson has requested a meeting with the Say NO, Stop the Casino group, and also has a copy of the group's legislative agenda platform, which includes a plank on BIA rule making. "We are very excited by this turn of events," says group spokesman Rich Porter. "Johnson is in step with what we are asking, and is beginning his first term with the promise of helping not just the citizens of Illinois, but all the citizens of this country. It's statesmanship in the tradition of Illinois' famous favorite son, Abe Lincoln." Porter says now is the time to get behind the effort so it doesn't get sidetracked by Indian Casino money. He says calling Johnson and Hastert, or writing letters is the first way to show support. "If we can get a groundswell of support, we can keep this on track past the initial introductory stages, " says Porter.
      Johnson is also pledging to introduce legislation that mirrors a current Senate Bill, S2909. That measure would provide relief for property owners by restoring adverse possession rights removed in a 1985 Supreme Court ruling. The Say NO, Stop the Casino group was formed last summer after the Miami Indian Tribe stated they were interested in developing a new
reservation and casino in the Paxton Illinois area. The group has been actively fighting the land grab with a 25 minute video documentary showing the devastating problems facing Connecticut and New York State residents.
      The Miami Indians filed a lawsuit last June seeking 2.6 million acres of Illinois land, and asking a Federal Court to throw the landowners off their property. The case is stalled while a judge is deciding whether the state can become involved as a party to the suit without losing protection against the lawsuit. Currently the Indians can't sue the state because of sovereign immunity protection.
PARR ED NOTE: The state has indicated they would like to financially help the property owners, and the Miami tribe wants the state's sovereign immunity revoked so they can sue to stop the state's help to the landowners. PARR

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More Outrageous BIA Decisions
(By Bob Manzke)      In what would be a first for the state, an Indian tribe in Northern California has received federal approval to acquire a parcel 65 miles from its reservation to build a high end housing development.
      But the deal has triggered protests from local leaders as well as from state and federal officials who are upset because the Hopland Band of Pomo Indians could use their sovereign status to skirt local land use regulations at the site.
      Foes, including a neighboring tribe, argue that the plan could be the start of a new movement in California, which has rarely seen tribes attempt to acquire land far from their home reservations.
      The regional office of the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs gave its approval for the deal late last month, but the county and state attorney general have appealed the decision.
      The Hopland band, which already runs a casino featuring more than 300 slot machines and a bingo parlor near U.S. 101 in Mendocino County, has been trying since the mid 1990s to get permission to develop a 321 acre parcel amid rolling pasture land near Petaluma on the southern flank of neighboring Sonoma County, an hour's drive to the south.
      Once envisioned as a master planned community, the development was scaled back dramatically to meet federal environmental rules and now calls for just a dozen two story luxury homes, which would be offered to well heeled purchasers on long term leases. Tribal members would not reside there.
      Though hardly high density, the development has foes worried that the tribe might switch gears once it has control of the land. They fear a casino or some other project unacceptable for the area, which is now dominated by horse farms and dairies.       "This allows developers to use the shield of sovereignty to do what they'd not otherwise be able to do; build without the scrutiny of local governments," said Bruce Goldstein, deputy counsel for Sonoma County. "There's a concern that the 12 homes could turn into 200. Once the land goes into trust, our ability to regulate it is extremely limited." Cheryl Schmit, co-director of the anti-gaming group Stand Up for California, agrees.
      "They could build a casino, a housing tract, a power plant, a nuclear waste facility," Schmit said. "Tribes can build with impunity, at their whim, disregarding statutes and ordinances that protect the environment and the quality of people's lives."
      Though such a move is unusual in California, tribes in several other parts of the United States have petitioned to get federal permission to take control of far-flung land for development.
      In Minnesota, the Shakopee Mdewaketon Sioux purchased property off the reservation for an industrial park, but the deal was blocked by protests from local residents. And a legal battle is heading to the U.S. Supreme Court over efforts by a casino owning tribe in Connecticut to acquire land to expand their resort. "This sort of thing is worrisome because of the effect it has on communities," said Guy Martin, an attorney who has represented local governments around the country in disputes with tribes over land use. "It forces communities to confront an entity that parachutes in and doesn't have to comply with state
and local requirements."
PARR ED NOTE: Thank God that the Clinton BIA, who is responsible for this extreme approval, is now history. PARR

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Pardon An FBI Agent Murderer?!
(By Bob Manzke)      Ex-President Clinton wanted to pardon convicted double murderer Leonard Peltier, says South Dakota Gov. Bill Janklow, who traveled to the White House in December to argue against the move.
      "I'm probably the one responsible for Leonard Peltier not getting out," the Republican governor told local reporters, adding that Clinton probably would have turned the killer loose without his intervention. Before Janklow's comments, the president's desire to free the brutal slayer of FBI agents Ron Williams and Jack Coler was unknown.
      Peltier committed the execution style murders in 1975 as the agents searched the Pine Ridge, S.D., Indian Reservation for a robbery suspect. Williams and Cole were both shot in the head and dumped on a dirt road.
      FBI agents saw fit to demonstrate in Washington D.C., against Clinton's plan to pardon Peltier. However, Clinton still proceeded with his in-your-face plan to pardon him. PARR

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Mainstream Media Bias?      For weeks after the November election, we were inundated with news about recounts, hanging chads, swinging chads, under votes, lawsuits and counter lawsuits. Quite often, it was with the underlying innuendo that Vice President Al Gore would certainly be the 43rd president, if only all the votes were counted. Miami Dade County was the key, the Democratic faithful preached just count every chad.
      The U.S. Supreme Court ended the argument once and for all no count, so George W. Bush wins. Half the country accepted it, but half didn't. The latter group's discontent has been fed and nurtured by the media with concerns of an illegitimate presidency after all, if the votes were counted, surely Gore would have won.
      Imagine my surprise when I read an article in a major Milwaukee newspaper, tucked away behind the want ads, which explained that The Palm Beach Post counted 10,600 previously uncounted ballots, and Gore lost again (Bush gained more votes than Gore, report says).
      So where are the glaring headlines? Perhaps if this fact is hidden, the legitimacy of Bush's presidency can continue to be questioned. Is Bush's presidency legitimate? Well, lets look at the voter fraud in a medium sized city, Milwaukee.
      In the democrat dominated districts of Milwaukee, at least 361 felons voted illegally in Milwaukee on Nov. 7. Couple that with a dozen or so illegal aliens, and scores of dead people who voted and Gore's Victory of less than 1% of the vote in Wisconsin seems to be more fragile. Project this voter fraud to all the metropolitan areas of the country and the illegitimate votes for Gore escalate. PARR

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How's This For Tribal Sovereignty?      How's this for arrogance? For $4.85 million the Oneidas are claiming the power to run the state. The Oneida tribe is withholding its annual payment to the state negotiated in a 1998 gaming compact extension, saying the state has violated an understanding on where the money should be spent.
      Tribal Chairman Gerald Danforth said he sent a letter to Gov. Tommy G. Thompson, saying the $4.85 million payment will not be made. George Lightbourn, the secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Administration, said the state has not decided how it will respond if the payment is not made, but non-renewal of the tribe's gaming compact would be one possibility." We take this matter very seriously," he said. "They stand to jeopardize, if not entirely rupture, their relationship with the state of Wisconsin."
      The tribe said it will keep the payment in an escrow account until Thompson and the Oneida meet and "get a better understanding on why these monies are being spent the way they are," Danforth said.
      The Oneida agreed in a gaming compact extension signed with Thompson in May 1998 to pay the state $4.85 million a year through 2003, the year the extension expires. A memorandum of understanding with the extension called for the governor to make his "best efforts" to use the money for economic development initiatives to benefit tribes and regions around casinos, tourism promotion and support of programs of the county in which the tribe is located.
      Danforth said areas of funding that the tribe is questioning include snowmobile enforcement programs, elk population management and studies of crop damage by cranes. The Oneida also say the state was wrong in decriminalizing the putting of video poker machines in taverns, reducing the penalties for such an offense. "The elimination of criminal penalties for the use of video gaming machines in Wisconsin tavern promotes illegal operation of Class III games by non-governmental entities, and it opens the door to unregulated gambling in Wisconsin," the letter says.
      The Oneida tribe made its first payment under the extension under protest last year, asking that the governor meet with them about their concerns. "The governor has failed to meet with Oneida to discuss these concerns," the tribe's letter states. Lightbourn, who is the governor's liaison in Indian gaming matters, said he had met with Oneida leaders more often than with any other tribal leaders in the state during the last year.
PARR ED. NOTE: The Oneidas are having a hissy fit because the state didn't give the compact payments back to them. We thought the compact money was paid for services provided to the tribe. If their logic is followed why should they even bother to make the payments, if they want it all back. Talk about demanding to have the deck stacked in your favor. Refusing to pay their debts because they have been given competition e.g. the changing the penalty for tavern video poker machines from felony to misdemeanor. PARR

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Issue Item   Source: Wisconsin Department of Revenue.
      Total county property taxes climbed 8.1%, from about $1.22 billion to $1.32 billion, with three counties increasing levies by more than 30%, the state Department of Revenue reported. Overall, county property taxes have nearly doubled in the last decade. Among those with the highest percentage increases were Vilas County, which jumped 38.5%; Ozaukee County, up 37.7%; and Forest County, up 30.8%.
      Mark Rogacki, executive director of the Wisconsin Counties Association, blamed the overall increase on unfunded mandates from the state, such as the court system, and health and human services. "Counties in Wisconsin support the state court system to the tune of $80 million a year, and that comes out of every county taxpayer's pocket," Rogacki said Monday.
      Wisconsin counties last year also collectively paid out more than $100 million for mental health and developmentally disabled programs than the state gave them for such programs. Richard Scheil, a research associate for the non-partisan, non-profit Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance, said property tax levies are higher primarily because of an increased demand for specific county services. PARR

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Counties Criticized For Assisting Lac du Flambeau The Wisconsin Counties Association takes exception to the Jan. editorial "Counties in a very bad spot," which sharply criticized our subsidiary WCA Services Inc. for facilitating the Lac du Flambeau Chippewa and Lafayette County agreement on establishment of a resort, convention center, casino complex in Shullsburg.
Only 10 short years ago, the press in Wisconsin sharply criticized WCA for resistance to tribal claims to the harvest of forest timber in 28 northern counties. At the time, WCA was widely branded as insensitive to people of color, anti-Indian and racist. Today, they find themselves criticized by the same press for working with tribal governments and people of color to promote economic development and inter governmental agreements between willing counties and tribes consistent with state policies that clearly promote expanded gaming. PARR

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Issue Item      In the People's Republic of Vermont, one of the few remaining conservatives in the state's legislature, Rep. Fred Maslack, has proposed a bill to register individuals who do NOT own a gun, and require them to pay a $500 registration fee.
      Maslack says that his bill is consistent with Vermont's Constitution, which stipulates that those who don't own a gun "shall be required to pay such equivalent" for the protection from tyranny they enjoy at the expense of those who do own guns.
      The bill would require adults who choose not to own a firearm to register their name, address, Social Security number, and driver's license number with state officials. There is a legitimate government interest in knowing who is unprepared to defend the state should they be asked to do so. PARR

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Issue Item      Understanding the intent of Second Amendment should dismiss forever the revisionist anti-gun spin that the Second Amendment was ever intended to protect hunting and sport shooting. By their speeches and by their writings, the founding fathers made it clear that freedom was more at peril from a standing army than an invading army. The legislative intent was to be certain that every man was armed, not just the military and the police.
      Mass murder with firearms was neither invented nor is perpetuated by Americans. Such occurrences are frequent throughout the world, even in countries where citizens are prohibited from having guns. That, however, makes it no less eye opening when it once again occurs in the United States. While considering the headline "7 killed in Massachusetts office shoot
ing" let us take note that Massachusetts has some of the most restrictive gun laws in the nation.
      New calls for waiting periods, prohibitions on Private gun sales between honest citizens and other tempts to ban all guns in America through bureaucracy will have no more effect on the next mass murderer than the current laws had on alleged killer Michael McDermott.
      Sadly, the truth is that we all have to be prepared to protect ourselves and our families from violence. It's hardly a new idea. In most religions, it's a command from God. With only seven states yet abstaining, Americans may just be entering the time where citizens are not only licensed but encouraged to carry a concealed firearm. ( James Fendry-Greendale.) PARR

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NRA's Rosie O'Donnel Awards
(By Bob Manzke)       A collection of hypocritical politicians and just plain wackos are featured in the National Rifle Association’s first annual Rosie awards, given to what the NRA calls the most hypocritical enemies of the Second Amendment.
       Named for talk show hostess Rosie O’Donnell, who demanded a complete ban on handguns and then backed her own bodyguard’s application for a permit to carry a concealed handgun, the awards were announced in the February issue of the NRA’s America’s Freedom magazine.
      Topping the list is President Bill Clinton, who the NRA said did more than any other president to erode America’s gun rights while at the same time insisting he had no desire to interfere with the rights of hunters and recreational shooters.
      Second on the list is former Vice President Al Gore, who the NRA charged spent eight years "spewing anti-gun rhetoric at every opportunity" and then spent the last few weeks of the presidential campaign "trying to reassure hunters that he didn’t want to take away their guns." Among the other winners of this dubious honor are such liberal stalwarts as: Sen. Joe Lieberman, who joined the gun grabbers in an effort to ban so called assault weapons while at the same time maneuvering behind the scenes to have those made by Colt which is headquartered in Connecticut, his home state excluded from the blacklist. Andrew Cuomo described by the NRA as the Clinton-Gore point man on several anti-gun initiatives attempted to disarm some of the nation’s poorest and most at risk citizens, those living in government subsidized housing, on the grounds that as secretary of Housing &Urban Development he had the dictatorial authority to do so. The NRA notes he was also
the government’s "attack dog" on the government’s agreement with Smith &Wesson.
      Martin Sheen, described as being "symbolic of most of Hollywood in its gun hypocrisy," and having spent much of his career making a fortune by glorifying gun violence, had the gall to appear in a commercial sponsored by Sarah Brady’s Handgun Control Inc. attacking George Bush’s history as a supporter of Second Amendment rights.
      Million Mom March When the NRA put up a million dollars to start a fund to introduce a program to teach younger schoolchildren not to touch guns, the Million Mom Marchers refused a challenge to join NRA and put up their own million dollars, showing that their agenda does not include child safety, but merely gun-grabbing. Among the wackier recipients of honorable mention: Linda Strong, a New Mexico sculptress who altered her statue of a water pistol fight to eliminate the squirt gun because she realized it is a symbol of violence. And the list of Looney gun grabbers goes on and on. PARR

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Issue Item "A Democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until voters discover that they can vote themselves money from the public treasury. From that moment on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most money from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, followed by a dictatorship." ( Lord Alexander Tyler on the fall of the Athenian Republic.) PARR

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Plow Newsletter
(PLOW is a Grass Roots Organization Located in Western Wisconsin and is dedicated to retaining individuals Property Rights.)     THIS AND THAT. Every time I write the newsletter, I try to include some thing that seems so ludicrous that most normal people don’t want to believe it is really happening. This month’s “believe it or not” is really happening.
      Spare the Pests. Kill the People! What do the following diseases have in common; Malaria, Encephalitis, Bubonic Plague, Lyme disease, Diarrhea, and Dysentery? Insects such as mosquitoes, ticks, fleas, and cockroaches transmit them all. They are all responsible for killing millions of people around the world every year.
      Why is the EPA taking away every one of the major pesticides needed to eradicate these pests? The answer is that those who decide these matters in the EPA adhere to the genocidal agenda of the environmental movement that sees the elimination of human beings as the best way to protect the earth.
      The EPA’s latest attack is to ban Dursban and its agricultural counterpart Lorisban. In banning Dursban, they will be removing a pesticide at work in 800 products used to exterminate the billions of cockroaches, ants, fleas, termites, and other insects that pose a threat to human health and property.
      This has nothing to do with science. After 30 years of use, when properly used Dursban poses no threat to human beings. It protects them. In deciding to ban Dursban the EPA says it decision will not be based on science. According to the EPA using such data would be “unethical.” What is “ethical” about putting the lives of Americans at risk when a properly used pesticide would protect them?
      Why ban Lorisban, the agricultural companion of Dursban? Why ban a product that for three decades farmers have used to control the pests that attack wheat, corn, and more than 75 percent of the nation’s apple crop?
      Whole generations have grown up deprived of an understanding of the power of nature, and, in particular, the insect and rodent pests that have served as carriers of disease. The real history of men can be divided between the history of warfare and history of epidemics. In the 1400’s a combination of fleas and rats spread the Bubonic plague that killed over 88 million people in China and Europe. It can happen again! An outbreak of Bubonic plague occurred in India only a few years ago. The West Nile Fever, previously unknown in America, invaded the northeast just last year.
      Something needs to be banned and it is the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency whose true agenda is to threaten the lives of Americans and the economy of this nation in every possible way. This agency is depriving our farmers of the means to protect the crops that feed others and us around the world. Only Congress can reverse this assault on our lives and one wonders how high the cost of food will have to rise and how many will have to die before they take action. (“Spare the Pests. Kill the People By Alan Caruba, The DeWeese Report August 2000)
      Our Tax Dollars at Work: The USDA has to take its lumps along with other agencies when it comes to stupidity. The USDA is trying to decide how big the holes in Swiss cheese should be. The debate is whether the holes in Grade A should be reduced from 11/16 of an inch to 3/8 (6/16th) of an inch in diameter.
      The Libertarians had the best lines among which were these: “the only holes that need to be regulated are the holes in the heads of federal bureaucrats” and “Americans don’t need Monterey Jack booted thugs messing with our Swiss Cheese.”
(Wisconsin State Journal, Sept. 5, 2000.)
      The Ultimate in Arrogance by an Environmentalist “Childbearing (should be) a punishable crime against society, unless the parents hold a government license. All potential parents (should be) required to use contraceptive chemicals, the government issuing antidotes to citizens chosen for childbearing.” (David Brower, Friends of the Earth, from the National Wilderness Institute’s website.)
      More Words of “Wisdom” from the National Wilderness Institute’s Website. “...Popular plants and animals can be used as a spoonful of sugar to make the environmental message go down.”(A National Park Service Manual, National Wilderness institute’s web site.)
      “We’ve already had too much economic growth in the United States. Economic growth in rich countries like ours is the disease, not the cure.” (Paul Ehrlich, Stanford University biologist, National Wilderness Institute’s website.)
      Catron County, New Mexico has seen restrictions in logging which caused unemployment twice the national rate; it has seen the Forest service and wolves force ranchers off their range allotments; it has seen its tax monies decline to the point where the school system can only afford to run 4 days a week and its roads deteriorate to the point it can no longer attract tourists and hunters. (Range Mag. Summer 2000). Could this be the fate of some Wisconsin counties if the Roadless Initiative is implemented in northern Wisconsin?
PARR ED NOTE: We Found the preceding pages from the January PLOW newsletter so interesting that we decided to run them almost verbatim. We want to thank the PLOW organization, and if you are interested in learning more write to: Private Landowners of Wisconsin
15930 Shady Hollow Lane
Woodman, WI. 53827.
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A Step In The Right Direction
(By Bob Manzke)      Supreme Court ruled that the Clean Water Act does not give the Army Corps of Engineers jurisdiction over isolated wetlands. The ruling was a major defeat for environmentalists. The 1972 Federal Water Pollution Control Act, generally known as the Clean Water Act, plainly gives the Army Corps of Engineers jurisdiction over U.S. "navigable waters."
      At issue before the Supreme Court was whether those "navigable waters" also included isolated ponds or wetlands. Writing for the majority on an opinion handed down by the court, Chief Justice William Rehnquist said they did not. While the Supreme Court has ruled in the past that the federal act covers wetlands adjacent to navigable waters, Rehnquist said from the bench, "We have never held that it extends to isolated ponds that have no nexus [connection] to navigable waters."
      In the case before the court, the Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County, which represents 23 suburbs of Chicago, bought 533 acres for a landfill in which to dump toxic waste. Most of the land had been used decades ago for sand and gravel quarries and was full of small ponds. A little more than 17 acres of these "wetlands" were earmarked to be part of the landfill. After receiving all the necessary permits, and two rejections of jurisdiction by the Army Corp of Engineers, the agency thought it was in shape to begin construction. However, the officials at the corps changed their minds about jurisdiction after a state nature commission determined that the ponds were habitat for 121 bird species, including several species of migratory birds.
      When the suburban agency applied in 1994 for a federal permit under the Clean Water Act, the corps, as one federal agency doing the reviewing, denied it. The local agency then filed suit. A federal judge ruled for the corps, and an appeals court affirmed the judge's action. The appeals court cited Congress's power to regulate interstate commerce - the Commerce Clause of the Constitution - because of the federal government's large scale efforts to preserve migratory birds. The local agency then asked the Supreme Court for review, citing a conflict of opinions among the federal appeals courts. In its ruling, reversing the lower courts, the Supreme Court majority avoided the federalism issue raised by the use of the Commerce Clause in the appeals court decision. Rehnquist said that because the Supreme Court majority ruled that the plain language of the act did not extend its jurisdiction to isolated wetlands, it was not necessary to rule on whether Congress could extend such jurisdiction to the wetlands. PARR

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Issue Item "It is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us freedom of the press. It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech. It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, who has given us the freedom to demonstrate. It is the soldier, who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protester to burn the flag." (Charles M. Province)
Reporter (in front of Russian sign): "Are you having any trouble with the Russian language?"
Newscaster Connie Chung: "Not at all."
Reporter: "Well, then, why are you standing in the men's room?" PARR

PARR
Editorial   Clinton Legacy,
      The most obvious things, as far as PARR is concerned, that Slick Willy is leaving the American public is, an out of control BIA, and tribal sovereignty. Moreover, his proclamation directing the various branches of the Federal Government to treat Indian Tribes as sovereign nations, reduced the citizenship of the non Indian to second class. Therefore we can definitely proclaim, "we are worse off now than we were eight years ago."
      When Clinton took office, gasoline prices were a far cry from $2.00 a gallon and the energy bill for heating for one winter was not high enough to force people to mortgage the farm to pay them. This is the price we have to pay for Clinton being in bed with the eco-kooks for eight years.
      The federal government now owns millions of acres of pristine land that no one can access, resulting in electric black outs and tremendous hardships for the most of us who can't afford the energy prices caused by the absence of energy exploration on these lands. And, lets not forget that Clinton went to OPEC a year ago and urged them to cut back production, because according to his eco-kook friends, energy prices were too low.
      Clinton took over when an economic upturn was well under way, advancing productivity and the explosion of the technologies (Silicon Valley) sustained continuous growth. He rewarded those responsible for this unprecedented growth by breaking up Microsoft, the forerunner of this expansion. Even though he had absolutely nothing to do with the economic boom that took place during his presidency he sure took credit for it, he used it and contributed nothing. Even though he had very little to do with the economic health during his stay in office, it appears he feels he had the right to put the country in an economic recession when he left office. He plunged the country into a moral recession the day he was sworn in.
What luck for the rulers that men do not think… Adolph Hitler. PARR

PARR
Odds & Ends       A long time PARR member suggested that PARR procure tables at the various gun shows that take place throughout the state. Seems that in discussions with people at these shows no one seems to know that PARR exists, yet most seem to have the same views that we do. The member tells us that the show in Green Bay draws 4,000 people per day.
       If any of you PARR members feel they would like to rent and man a table at one of these shows contact Bob Manzke and PARR will provide the rent for the table, banners and the handout literature necessary.
      A few members indicated at renewal time that they would like to have PARR send them some PARR stickers. We will be happy to do just that; all you have to do is ask. We used to send out thank you notes after renewal and include a sticker in each thank you for renewing. But with our diminishing manpower a few years ago we decided to stop this practice. The date on the mailing label on this document will tell you the status of your membership.

If you find this newsletter informative, and you are not a current PARR member, and would like to see this newsletter continue, click "Membership Application" and follow the directions.

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