Minutes from Schoharie County Conservation Association Meeting held at the West Fulton Firehouse On January 22, 2004

* -Fellow Sportsmen & Sportswomen- *Attendance is needed from each club for their input on club activities* This months meeting was called to order by Ray Zeh at 7:25 with a salute to the American flag. Present were representatives from: Middleburgh and West Fulton Rod & Gun Clubs, Cobleskill and Richmondville Fish and Game Clubs, Trout Unlimited, Schoharie County Jeep Club, the Schoharie County Chapter of Whitetails Unlimited, and SUNY Cobleskill along with several SCCA associate members. Treasurer's Report--– The monthly budget was discussed, reviewing the expenses and receipts. A motion to accept was made and then passed. Don't Forget Your Dues!!! Clubs $30 & Associates $10 Your dues help in producing this newsletter, as well as all the other activities and donations SCCA gets involved with each year. New York State Conservation Council - The boat launch was one topic discussed at the Council meeting this past month. It was reported that information regarding the boat launch had been forwarded to the Fish and Wildlife Management Board for funding out of the money collected from the Habitat Stamp. NYSCC Region 4 showed their support for the project, but wants a resolution drafted to present to the state. A resolution is needed to gain funding by NYSCC for the project. There has been further talk of a possible bear season in Schoharie County. The discussion centered on having a season opened in restricted areas or just for nuisance complaints. The spring turkey season for kids was also discussed. The first weekend before the start of the regular spring turkey season will be open for the younger hunters. Mark Storti brought out that the Council wants to increase Brown Trout stocking and increases the size of those stocked. They also want more money invested in upgrading the fish hatcheries. Letters to Assemblyman Hooker and Senator Seward showing support for these was suggested and encouraged. A Catskill Park Interpretive Center is being built. The center will be like those currently built in the Adirondack Park. It will include information on the history of the park, as well as guides and brochures of things to do within the Catskill Park. The State has built an educational building in the Albany Pine Bush for schools and other groups, and because of that they are thinking of closing that area to archery hunting. The solution around that, which is being examined, is to have the area open to archery from dawn to 9, and from 2-dusk. This would limit the hunting to the times when the programs aren't being held. If this area is closed completely to hunting, it could be the beginning of the rest of the Pine Bush being closed. The Region 4 Council had meetings with our legislators on February 10, 2004, in which 18 participants from Region 4 attended. They met Wally John at 9:30, and were in meetings with the legislators until 4:00 lobbying concerning the governor's recent budget and anti-gun bill (Addressed later in the newsletter). The Region 4 meeting will be held at Boreali's on March 13 from 9-4. The cost is $14.00, which includes coffee and pastries in the morning and lunch. The Council is seeking $100 from each club to help with the cost of the meals for all the speakers and presenters. Bob Britton mad a motion to send $100 to the Region 4 meeting in support of this; it was seconded by Walt Zeh, and passed. The March On Albany will be March 15 and 16. This is where we meet with our elected officials to discuss issues important to the sportsman in our area and the state. Contact Mike Zeh for more information. Association News - Ray Zeh spoke with Norm McBride about the Angler Diary Program that was being started for the Schoharie Creek. Mr. McBride requested that the program be expanded to include the northern portion of the creek, in Montgomery County. He will be sending diaries to Ray Zeh, therefore if you are interested in participating in the program, contact Ray Zeh at 234-8804. The Association held its annual fishing derby on Saturday, February 14 from 6-2. There were about 75 people at the derby, with several small children and several women as well. A thank you needs to go out to the SUNY students for helping out selling bait, and a thank you to the Times Journal for publishing a nice article on the day's activities. Dave Wood and Larry Hamm manned the concession stand, selling hot dogs and hot chocolate, while Doug Handy help provide transportation to and from the parking area with his snowmobile. Hopefully Dave Wood has recuperated from the sled ride he took, down the hill on the ice at 6 am. He hurt his bottom side. We are again raffling off the canoe that we had for the fair this past summer. The canoe cost about $700.00, so there are 140 $5 tickets being sold only to club members & SCCA associate members. Dave Wood is the point of contact on these tickets. The drawing is scheduled for the SCCA February meeting. We always buy a new canoe for each year's fair raffle. So far there has been $300 turned from this raffle. Doug Handy brought out information about the 3 points on a side debate. Many states in the country, such as Pennsylvania and Ohio, have a 3 points on a side limit. All bucks taken must have at least 3 points on one a side. A resolution is needed to present this to the NYSCC, and more information is being gathered on it to make the resolution. The problem with reporting the deer kill was also discussed. Many hunters experienced difficulty in reporting their take to the DEC. The DEC office in Stamford will be contacted regarding that. Eric Haslun, one of our ECO's, reported that 28 men and 2 women were left in the ECO Academy, with graduation scheduled for June. He also reported that the area was finally assigned a new captain, but days after getting the position he was called back to active duty with the Coast Guard. Therefore, Lt. Duffy will return to acting captain for the area. They are also canvassing for another investigator for the area. The numbers are out for 2004 fish stocking. Schoharie Co. will receive 410 rainbow trout and 2420 brown trout during the spring, which will be stocked into the Schoharie Reservoir (Gilboa Dam), Mallet Pond, Westkill, and the holding pond, town of Cobleskill. These will be a mixture of 9" and spring yearlings. New York Power Authority is having an annual Winter Festival coming up on February 21. Important *BILL ALERT* Important The following bill is one that the governor is proposing in his budget to help pay for the budget deficit. I think you can guess where it will eventually lead. Please send letters to the governor and your legislators. S-6056/A-9556 Budget Bill - Oppose General government budget; includes a proposal to impose 5-year renewable pistol licenses in all counties outside of New York City, Long Island, and Westchester, charges a $100 state fee on all pistol licenses, and allow local jurisdictions to impose addition fees as well. You may want to read the following that puts passage of this bill into a larger perspective. This is a dangerous bill for the working class. The $100 is a STATE fee. The County Clerks will have to raise their fees to compensate for the additional workload, which will require more staff in most of the larger counties. If the transaction fee is $25 for the state, the Clerk will also have to add $5 or $10 more. There is no cap to this addition. If you trade in a gun, that would add $50 plus the county fees. Knowing Pataki, he would most likely make each gun on the permit subject to a fee each time the permit is renewed. This could eventually lead to CONFISCATION BY TAXATION. One way to present the objection to this abomination of taxation is to alert the gun owners and the people who have any sense of fairness that the concept by the politicians, who will support this proposal, is the elitist attitude. They believe that only the rich people can be trusted with handguns. The working class must be disarmed. If they cannot impose this concept by legislative means, they will do it by economic sanctions. For the rifle and shotgun shooters, we can remind them that THEY ARE NEXT! All we have to do is to point out that NY City now registers and licenses long guns. The trap shooters' apathy should come to an end. This is a wake up call and they have a lot at stake and should be taking up the fight with us before they find that owning a long gun will cost them mega bucks. It would also be productive for our members to contact their County Clerks and urge them to oppose this bill. This is like several of the state mandates. The state collects the revenue and the county taxpayers pick up the additional expense. Figure out the math. Erie County has about 35,000 pistol permit holders. If the county got an additional $50 per permit and there are 1,000 annual applications, that would not cover the salary and benefits for the director, and he would have to hire at least two more staff. That alone should add about $75,000 to the overhead accounting fringe benefits. The initial processing fee for the permit would give a large infusion of funds, but it is logical to assume, that many of the permit holders would surrender their permits (which I believe is the real reason for the proposal). This is the time to create our own paper assault (and phone calls) to our legislators and hammer on the theme that Pataki wishes to drive out the most provable honest people in the state with this economic rape. We have to withstand the most scrutiny in investigations of anyone (including lawyers) in order to be licensed. We have, as a group, the lowest violent crime rate in the state. We should not be discriminated against in this manner. The important thing is that ALL of us do it NOW. Emails with cute comments among us won't cut it. Get the activity going where it will be effective. As the old cliché goes, "Go hunting where the ducks are," and "Don't preach to the choir". Do the work with the politicians and hit the gun clubs to alert the long gun owners to the real dangers. CONFISCATION BY TAXATION can be a rallying cry. Write to the Governor at: Governor George E. Pataki State Capitol Albany, New York 12224 Use the following page to send our message to those that represent us!!!! Hon. Senator ______________________ Room__________ Legislative Office Building Albany, N.Y. 12247 RE: S9556/A6059 Dear Senator: As a resident of New York State, a constituent, a firearm owner and a sportsman I vehemently oppose the passage of the firearms fees outlined in S9556/A6059 by the Governor. The economic hardship created by these exorbitant fees will again effect only the less fortunate and create a reprehensible system of Economic Segregation. The burden this legislation will place on local county clerks and issuing officers will create an untenable situation that will cost more money than the fees can generates. As a solution I would strongly suggest eliminating the unworkable and inoperable COBIS system and apply the approximately $4.1million saved per year toward the budget deficit. Maryland and California now know COBIS doesn't work. When will New York State wake up and stop squandering our money on useless programs. Sincerely, ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------ Hon. Assemblyperson ______________________ Room__________ Legislative Office Building Albany, N.Y. 12248 RE: S9556/A6059 Dear Assemblyperson: As a resident of New York State, a constituent, a firearm owner and a sportsman I vehemently oppose the passage of the firearms fees outlined in S9556/A6059 by the Governor. The economic hardship created by these exorbitant fees will again effect only the less fortunate and create a reprehensible system of Economic Segregation. The burden this legislation will place on local county clerks and issuing officers will create an untenable situation that will cost more money than the fees can generates. As a solution I would strongly suggest eliminating the unworkable and inoperable COBIS system and apply the approximately $4.1 million saved per year toward the budget deficit. Maryland and California now know COBIS doesn't work. When will New York State wake up and stop squandering our money on useless programs. Sincerely, <<...OLE_Obj...>> New York State Conservation Council: Become a member and support the council. If you want to be informed of the conservation issues in the state or want to get involved in these issues then become a member. Visit our website at: www.nyscc.com to join. The cost is $25 for Guardian, $60 for Defender and $250 for Life Membership. This includes a monthly newsletter called the Grass Roots News with your membership. Any Clubs that are interested in getting permits to hunt watershed lands should contact Jennifer A. Cairo, NYCDEP at (845-340-7517) or e-mail jcairo@dep.nyc.gov Middleburgh Rod & Gun Club - The kid's archery program is about half over, with over 100 kids joining on Saturday. For more information contact Ed Labaida 868-2025 or Neal Bauman 295-7669, and let's make this year as successful as last year. Adult archery is also running on Tues., Thurs. & Saturday nights. Black powder shoots have started, every 1st Sunday of the month, at 11:00 AM through June. Visit the Rod & Gun Club's Internet website: http://www.middleburghrg.com/and then contact John Osisinki 827-5429 or Pete Lucas 827-7620 with information to update the site. Central Bridge Fish and Game Club - Skeet shoots every Sunday morning, starting around 10:00 am. There is also shooting on Monday nights. Meetings are held the 1st Friday of each month. $10 annual membership dues are due. There is a raffle being held to help pay for sending a youth to Camp Coby this summer. West Fulton Rod & Gun Club - The club held an ice-fishing derby on Saturday February 7, with a great turn out, around 60-70. Prizes were awarded for the largest fish and everyone had a great time. There were a lot of children and women participating as well. Meetings are held every month on the 1st Tuesday at 7:00 P.M. Cobleskill Fish and Game Club - Currently has 41 members. Long Path North Hiking Club - They are working with County officials on a hiking map showing elevation for Schoharie County. The next meeting will be held at Curtis Mott Hall Lounge on February 26 at 7:00. Guest speaker will be Art Johnson from the Schenectady DEC Office. *Remember your dues and the dues for your club*

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