Friday, December 17, 2004

Silver lining to Vang murders rapidly tarnishing

Ugh. Not too long ago, I wrote a hopeful little post discussing the chances of the Northwoods coming out of the Vang-deer hunter murders a stronger place. Here's one line from that post:
With any luck, outdoors organizations in Wisconsin will develop programs which will further this communication.
Yeah, that ain't gonna happen. The Eau Claire Leader-Telegram reports that Norman Rademaker, a member of the the Exeland Rod and Gun Club, warned the Hmong to stay out of the woods in future hunts, insinuating that it will only lead to further violence. With any luck, this guy is just is just an isolated idiot. What scares me is that this will lead to a lot of otherwise isolated idiots banding together to become an unruly mob of idiots. Just the same, the Leader-Telegram reports the reaction of the crowd to Norman Rademaker's comments:
Rademaker’s comments drew gasps from some and groans from others. Several people responded to the remarks, saying it’s unfair to blame all the Hmong for the actions of one.

That is a hopeful sign. I do not recall much sanity around the idiots of the spear fishing controversy. This is also a hopeful sign:
Instead, he said, conservation groups around the state may raise money to pay for added hunter education efforts.

Still, I know that there are enough fools like Mr. Rademaker around to get their idiotic voices heard next fall. What is more concerning is that violence during the Chippewa spear fishing controversy was largely quelled by the presence of a lot of police and non-violent witness programs which filmed and photographed the events. Hunting is such a dispersed activity that this type of presence cannot be duplicated, which could lead to individual morons doing very stupid things next year.

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