What is TRUST?
Mark Pidgeon, President
Hunters Heritage Council
Definition according to Merriam-Webster:
Trust: noun
1 a: assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something
b: one in which confidence is placed
2 a: dependence on something future or contingent : HOPE
Commissioner John Lehmkuhl asked why the hunting and fishing communities have no
TRUST in the Commission. I have given you the Merriam-Webster definition of trust. Has anything the Commission said or done given you any reason to TRUST them?!
Commissioner Lehmkuhl, definition 1a of TRUST according to Merriam-Webster:
assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something
When you, and Commissioners Baker, Rowland, Smith, and Ragen had Director Susewind and WDFW staff presented irrefutable science that there was robust bear populations for a spring bear season and the Director begged you to support the season, and you Commissioner Lehmkuhl and the other four Commissioners voted against it. How can the hunting community TRUST you?! You showed no character, no strength, and no reliance to follow the Department’s science. You blindly followed the animal-rights extremists. You expected no anger from our community over this?!
This same gang of five took rulemaking away and stripped spring bear away forever. In the 70’s, Washington used to be a destination state for spring bear, where we had an open season for spring bear. No permits were needed, it was just like fall bear, an open spring season. Now we have nothing. How is this TRUST building? Commissioner Don McIsaac resigned after the stripping of the spring bear rule making vote and in his resignation letter, lambasted the vote, as he should have. No
TRUST!
Commissioner Lehmkuhl, definition 1b of
TRUST according to Merriam-Webster:
one in which confidence is placed
Commissioner Lorna Smith, the most anti-hunting Commissioner had this pearl of wisdom:
"The message seems to be getting out that we have this hidden secret agenda and it’s gonna upset everybody’s apple cart. And that seemed to be a very pervasive message with a certain part of our audience. Not the majority, but a significant minority. And is there a way to correct, set the record straight, so to speak, on that?"
Commissioner Smith doesn’t give two cents about the hunting community’s opinion, nor does Barbara Baker, nor does Melanie Rowland, nor does Tim Ragen and they have explicitly said that. How is that supposed to give us confidence or TRUST? What Commissioner Smith was talking about in her quote is Commission Draft Conservation Policy C-700X and that WAS worked on in secret dating back to 2021. Conservation Policy C-700X has always been worked on in secret. It will upset our apple cart Lorna, because it will end consumptive use. You are flat out lying Lorna. We in the consumptive use community are the vast majority, not the minority. Less than 1% of Americans support the animal-rights radical agenda, while 78% of Washingtonians support the right to hunt. Is working in secret supposed to build confidence? Does lying build confidence?
This is more confidence shattering from our illustrious Chair Barbara Baker:
"We’re gonna have to have discussions about what that means to the people who were yelling at us today or yesterday, because it fuels their fear where possibly it isn’t warranted. We aren’t going to turn our lands into parks. That’s not what the intention is of this. Maybe it is, maybe I just don’t know. So that’s a discussion we have to have."
Commissioner Lehmkuhl, turn our lands into parks? How is this building TRUST with the hunting community? Taking away our right to hunt? Boy, we should really be happy with this! Is this statement a confidence builder? The answer is heck no!
Lastly, Commissioner Lehmkuhl, definition 2a of
TRUST according to Merriam-Webster:
dependence on something future or contingent : HOPE
This may be the biggest crime of them all Commissioner Lehmkuhl. The Commission has destroyed the hunting community’s HOPE for the future. We have no hope, because we know the Commission is out of balance according to RCW 77.04.040, with five solid animal-rights votes, and only three votes that we can depend on. On predator control issues, Woody Myers will be against us and on hunting issues he won’t be a dependable of a vote. We can place no HOPE in this Commission, so there is no TRUST.
There is no HOPE or TRUST in this Governor. We need to bring the Commission back into balance. That is our only HOPE for the future. The only way that will happen is in Thurston County Case # 23-2-01831-34, filed by Washingtonians for Wildlife Conservation. This case is all about suing the Governor and the five Commissioners and bringing the Commission back into balance. If you can help, please do. If your dues have expired, please renew them. If you can upgrade your membership, please do. If you can contribute to the legal fund, we really need your help.
