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September 19, 2005
Honorable Bruce Smith
Chairman: House Game and
Fisheries Committee
Dear Sir:
I am writing
to you at this time as a very concerned citizen of Pennsylvania, a hunter, a
hunter-trapper instructor and an employee of the commonwealth. It seems that the
Pennsylvania Game Commission is totally out of control and needs to be given
guidelines on the rights of those people that they harass and intimidate in this
great state of ours. It seems that the Game Commission is becoming more like the
Gestapo of Pennsylvania or what has been termed the legal malicious militia of
Pennsylvania.
This all
started several years ago when I became involved in the hunter education program
for my club, The Northwestern Sportsmens Club in West Springfield,PA. Our hunter
education director passed away and I stepped up and took it over. I went through
the training and became certified. I believed that since I had worked with youth
since 1978 and I am also a state certified teacher and guidance counselor, I
could continue providing this program to the youth of Pennsylvania. It seems
that the program was doing very well and we received a lot of positive feedback
from parents and young hunters on our approach and delivery of the curriculum.
We made great strides in making this an experience that the parents could share
with their new hunters. We made it interactive with several experienced outside
of the classroom in the outdoor setting. Several months ago an article appeared
in the Pennsylvania Game News about putting the Hunter-Trapper Education program
on the Internet to reach out to those youth who do not have time to attend a
class. The author stated that it would make hunting more accessible for those
youth who did not have time out of their busy schedule. I immediate wrote a
letter to Vern Ross about this new proposal and informed him of the fact that if
these youth did not have time to attend a class they probably would not take the
time to hunt. He ignored my first letter.
I sent another
letter a month later and he responded to the letter. His tone was one of
ignorance and after reading the letter it seemed that he did not think that I
knew what I was talking about. I sent another letter explaining the fact that if
most of the work were done on the computer, the parents would not be included
for the most part in this program and therefore would not be a part of the
experience. He did not respond but rather handed this over to Carl Graybill to
answer. Mr. Graybill answered my letter with a letter much like the letter Mr.
Ross sent me. I wrote him another letter and he responded complimenting me on my
passion to make the program as good as it had become. I responded with another
letter whereby I cautioned him in the area of public safety. These hunters who
take the program on the Internet would not be as cautious as someone who has
gone through the live program. I quoted the current statistics that have been
the lowest ever in the history of statistical records when it came to hunting
accidents. He did not seem concerned with this issue. However I had also
uncovered the fact that the Pennsylvania Game Commission received federal money
and had purchased this on-line program from a company in Texas. I wrote another
letter and outlined the fact that hunting in Pennsylvania and hunting in Texas
are two very different types of hunting. Along with that it seemed that the Game
Commission was trying to align itself with the national hunter education
association called the IHEA.
At this point
and after this letter the Erie County Wildlife Conservation Officer Mike
Wojtecki called me at home. He told me that Regis Senko of the Northwest
Regional Office wanted see both of us and that they would schedule this around
my lunch time. I work at Polk Center in Polk Pennsylvania and scheduled this
meeting around my lunchtime. I arrived for this meeting and was told that the
WCO, Mike Wojtecki, could not attend due to a family issue. I was escorted to an
office and Regis Senko and another uniformed officer sat in on the discussion. I
did not say much at this time but listened to what Mr. Senko had to say. He
complimented me on my work and the number of very satisfied people who had gone
through my club’s program. However he did turn things around rather quickly and
became threatening. First: he threatened to pull my instructors card because I
was questioning the on-line program. Second: he stated that I violated the code
of conduct of the instructors. Thirdly: I asked a question and he told me to
shut up. Fourthly: he told me that I no longer could write about this topic to
anyone. He also told me that I had to follow a chain of command within the
hierarchy of the game commission. I did offer to fix this problem but he was
done with me. This was not a good meeting and I wrote an immediate letter to
Vern Ross that evening and sent it out the next day. I received a response a
week later that he would look into this issue. However that was over two months
ago and no response. In the meantime I outlined the fact to him that I do not
work for the game commission and therefore I do not have to follow their chain
of command. I pointed out to him that I work for the Department of Public
Welfare and I am a union member and a citizen of the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania. I told him that Mr. Senko was dictating to me that I no longer had
freedom of speech and freedom of the press. I asked him how the game commission
has the power to dictate to me my Constitutional Rights. He did not respond. I
compiled all these letters and sent an official complaint to the Attorney
General of Pennsylvania, Mr. Tom Corbet, but was told by that office that they
do not handle this type of case but that the Inspector General office does. I
responded by sending out the same materials to the Inspector General Office and
they stated that they do not have any control over the Pennsylvania Game
Commission. My question is very simple, Who does have control over the
Pennsylvania Game Commission?
Sir with all due respect,
this problem seemed to get worse, the last hunter education program that I
conducted, the deputy presented his part on Friday night. He was done. However
he returned Saturday, out of uniform and started to take over. I was trying to
ask him to leave and that we had the situation under control. He did not listen
to me and dictated what was going on. The Deputy was George Wilcosz. We were
giving the class a 10-minute break prior to the test. Mr. Wilcosz however barked
that they had five minutes. The reason for the break was to give each person
time to focus and use the facilities if needed. However after they returned, Mr.
Wilcosz became very abusive and nasty to the students. He started to verbally
abuse the class and demean the students. He even thrust a shotgun at the chest
of a young man at port arms striking him with the shotgun and telling him to
take it. The young man took it and then he began to yell at him for taking it
and would not take it back. He abused this young man and made the Pennsylvania
Game Commission, myself and my fellow instructor and my club of which I am the
president all look very bad. After this test I took the time and apologized to
every single person there for his brash, rude and degrading behavior. I even
found one student curled up in a ball along side the clubhouse scarred to death
of the deputy. I consoled her and escorted her to her family’s car. I talked
to him about this behavior but he stated that he did not see that he did
anything wrong. I conducted an emergency meeting the next day and asked to ban
him off our grounds for life. I was told that we needed to request another
deputy to do the presentation. I wrote a letter to WCO Mike Wojtecki and made
sure that everyone in the chain of command received a copy. This letter reported
the deputy’s behavior and respectfully requested that he be replaced. I have
received no response to this request of this letter and at this time it has been
six weeks. We are scheduled for our last hunter-education program on September
23 and 24. I was told that Mr. Wilcosz would be there to present the law part of
the class. This is just the first issue that is happening.
The next issue
that was brought to my attention by the WCO Wojtecki and Deputy Wilcosz was
their new side-arm. It seems that everyone in the Pennsylvania Game Commission
was to have the new Glock handgun chambered in. 357Sig. I was shown the
ballistics by both of these men and then I did my own comparison study. This
handgun chambered in this round was designed for only one thing, killing people.
This particular round and the bullet that it delivers will not stop a charging
bear but given the firepower and the fact that the magazine holds 15-shots could
very well be used in a combat situation. This gun and its caliber are not used
by local law enforcement agencies at this time and it is questioned why the
Pennsylvania Game Commission has to have a weapon that would better serve the
United States Military. Is the Pennsylvania Game Commission gearing up for a
war? Are they looking to get into firefights with hunters? What is the need for
this lethal a round that has more knockdown power than a .45 Colt? This round
and its particular bullet, the bullet is on the line of a talon type projectile
that opens up quickly and cuts as it penetrates, is meant to kill people. What
is going on here? Is the PGC at war with the hunters? This weapon holds
15-rounds and they carry three total magazines. Isn’t this a little much to stop
a poacher? And what right do they have to take a human life that may be
violating a game law? Are they looking for trouble? It seems that every month in
the Pennsylvania Game News they have a story about arresting a poacher without
any gunfire and it seems that they do a fine job without enough firepower to
kill several people. What is the need for this weapon? Why this militant
attitude? Sir, this is trouble.
On even a more
troubling note is all the reports that I have received in person from hunters
and land owners who talked to me over the weekend about the behavior of the
Pennsylvania Game Commission. A gentleman by the name of John Dick from
Wattsburg stopped to talk to me during the Albion Fair over this last week. He
had a few questions about the second turkey tag for the spring gobbler season. I
informed him that it was a tag to take a second turkey in the spring season. He
proceeded to become very agitated when he related the following to me. He stated
that the Game Commission comes on his property every year just before the start
of Spring Turkey season and traps out all the birds off his property. He states
that he scouts these birds and watches them and has observed the game commission
trespassing on his property and then removing the birds. He states that after
all his scouting efforts and on his own property, he has no birds to hunt by the
opening of the season. He gave me his name and number and told me to pass it
along and he wants the game commission to quit trespassing on his property and
taking all the birds out of the area. My question to you on this issue is
simple, who gave the game commission power to trespass on private property? Who
gives them this sweeping power to violate the rights of others? Who gave them
the power to do what they want and have no accountability? Sir, this is an
outrage and also seems very illegal. During this time I was at the Albion Fair
I was at a booth that the Northwestern Sportsmens Club has as a fundraiser. Many
men stopped by and talked to me about issues that relate to the behavior of the
game commission and their representatives. Many of these people have horror
stories and since that time have quit hunting. I asked why and they related to
me a very simple statement, they do not want to be arrested by the Pennsylvania
Game Commission for doing nothing more than buying a license and hunting. This
seems to be an issue that people are being arrested and pay a fine for doing
nothing more than sport hunting legally. It seems that a deputy or the WCO can
write a citation for what ever he wants and it seems that it is cheaper to pay
the fine than to go through the expense of hiring a lawyer and having a hearing
before a district magistrate. So another underhanded deed seems to be extortion.
Extorting the hunter because it is a big expense to fight the Pennsylvania Game
Commission and no one seems to want to spend the money to fight a citation that
is unjustified to begin with and deal with possible repercussions such as
revenge and retribution by other members of the Pennsylvania Game Commission.
These are only a few of the atrocities that the game commission has done. These
are violations of human rights, abuse of power and when it comes to
hunter-trapper education- child abuse. Sir, you need to straighten out this
commission as soon as possible or there will be no more hunting. I am asking you
respectfully to look into these matters and do your best to put a muzzle on
these mercenaries that wear a badge and have no one to answer to. I will be
sharing this letter on the Internet and with other members of your Committee.
Thank you for your help.
Respectfully,
Dr. Paul; A. Bensur, Jr.
# 438218
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