Everett, Wash.
Published: Monday, July 28, 2008

PUBLIC LANDS

Citizens must take back control

 The answer to our shrinking use of public lands lies in Washington, D.C. Crumbling roads, overgrown trails, out of control Department of Fish and Wildlife playing god with animals and nature, the DNR, BLM, U.S. Parks Department and environmental groups with their specialists and experts (you don't need a degree or license; anyone can declare themselves, even an idiot). The list goes on. Sadly, there is no Department of Common Sense in our government.

The roots lie in policy decisions made too many times with outright lies and half truths by those we have elected to power positions and the abuse thereof, thinking they own everything. Policies made without the knowledge of the U.S. public, thanks to the media, which often distort or fail to cover the situation. The repeated litany of "Run, run Chicken Little, the sky is falling" by environmental control freak groups and government agencies couldn't be further from the truth. The sky is not falling. Oh, well, so much for the lessons of history; they are not addressing the real problem. If Wal-Mart started importing pants from China with no zippers instead of those with defective zippers it would help to control the population explosion and be a good thing for all of our wildlife and the environment.

We Americans, believing in our fundamental constitutional rights with the freedom to live our own lives in peace, need to change those senseless, idiotic government policies by becoming more aware and more involved in what's going on.

We must learn to keep an open mind and treat each other with respect as fellow human beings, remembering that we are all in the same boat in dealing with nature and our environment. If we work at it, we can change for the better those government policies that are affecting our lives and environment in a negative way.

Charles Kirkpatrick
Darrington
© 2009The Daily Herald Co., Everett, WA