Rep. Phil Hart, R-Athol, sent the following to the Lewiston Tribune, which accused him of being a timber thief for taking public timber without paying for it: "In 1995 I contracted with a private landowner to purchase a quantity of logs to build a house. When it came time to deliver, he could not fill the entire order. Due to springtime load limits, several other landowners were prevented from providing such logs, as they were unable to access their property with heavy equipment. After calling nearly everyone within 50 miles, I finally talked to a landowner who had the logs I needed. But he literally talked himself out of a sale by informing me, "I would feel guilty if I didn't tell you that since you're using the logs personally, you can take them off of state land. My dad and I did it when we built his house. He had studied the law and ran it by our legislator who verified this was lawful." I then studied the law and came to the same conclusion. More here.

Thoughts?