New Project Seems Flushed With Success

The latest poop from Cheney is good news for waterfowl.

A curious combination of biologists, convicts, hunters and Boy Scouts recently completed work to enhance 110 acres of wetlands, which are liberally moistened with wastewater from the city’s 2-year-old sewage treatment plant.

A $3,000 grant from Washington state duck stamp funds - money raised from waterfowl hunters - helped the city clear timber, plant wetland vegetation, and flood the area with treated wastewater.

Inmates from the Airway Heights Correction Center provided cheap labor. Washington Fish and Wildlife Department biologists provided free advice.

Frank Betts, an area sportsman, completed the habitat-improvement requirement for his state Advanced Hunter Education certification by coordinating construction of 12 wood duck nest boxes, nine floating nest platforms and 14 roost sites.

The boxes and structures were installed by Boy Scout Troop 356.

These combined efforts have turned foul into fowl.

Fish and Wildlife Department biologist Jerry Hickman said the project is a wildlife conservation model that other towns should examine.

Wastewater, after all, is a terrible thing to waste.

Bearly sentenced: Teaching sportsmanship to teenagers is difficult when adults can’t grasp the concept themselves.

Last week, a Colville teenager was fined $2,500, sentenced to two days in jail and lost his hunting privileges for a year for shooting a federally protected grizzly bear in September.

The circumstances surrounding the case of Ed Smith Jr. warranted a stiffer penalty. But the judge and prosecutors involved in the Stevens County District Court case apparently buckled to local sentiment that protecting threatened and endangered species is government overkill.

Compare Smith to the case of Robert Wenger, who was convicted last year for shooting a grizzly in Pend Oreille County.

Although he pleaded self-defense, Wenger failed to report the 1993 incident. Authorities said they could have saved the sow’s two cubs had the hunter turned himself in.

Wenger’s spotless record was overridden in this case by his lack of discretion. U.S. Magistrate Cynthia Imbrogno slapped Wenger with a $21,000 fine and banned him from hunting for five years.

Smith, the most recent grizzly poacher to be convicted in this region, apparently was lucky to be 17 years old when he shot the bear last fall in Stevens County. Because he was a juvenile, the case went to a local court rather than to a federal court in Spokane.

While leniency can be justified for the accidental shooting of a threatened or endangered species, Smith made serious errors.

Defense attorney Bevan Maxey, who did not return a phone call Wednesday for clarifications, told a reporter last week that Smith was helping a friend hunt for food.

Maxey might be gullible enough to think a meat hunter would shoot a bear for table fare, but no serious hunter would buy that excuse while there’s still deer scattered throughout northeastern Washington.

The damning facts are that Smith did not have a bear-hunting permit and, therefore, he shouldn’t have shot at a bear. That should be a minimum $500 offense and two-year loss of hunting privileges right there.

Smith said he didn’t know the bear was a grizzly. But something changed his mind about filling his hungry buddy’s freezer and caused him to leave the bear to rot in the brush.

Hunters have received $1,000 fines for wasting elk.

Even in Stevens County, it’s reasonable to expect a much higher fine for wasting an animal protected under the Endangered Species Act.

If he made an honest mistake, Smith should have reported the incident. If he had bonked a bicyclist with the family car, we assume the Smith family would have expected him to face up to the sheriff.

But in the case of killing the grizzly, Smith slinked away.

The resulting investigation and court hearing consumed hundreds of hours that understaffed wildlife agents could have directed toward nabbing other poachers.

Smith owes taxpayers for the tab they paid to hunt him down and prosecute his case.

He owes hunters the incalculable price of another blemish on their image.

Smith should have been given much more than one year to think about all of this before he’s eligible to hunt again.

You can contact Rich Landers by voice mail at 459-5577, extension 5508.

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