Gillnets not forgotten

It has been a few weeks now since the tribal gillnets went missing under the ice of Garrison Bay. While 10 of the 15 nets have officially been recovered, as I write, they are investigating the possibility of two more found near Myr Mar yesterday (waiting for confirmation from GLIFWC) which would bring the official recovered net count to 12. That means three are still missing.

A gillnet was found on the east side of the lake near Big Point. However it has not been determined if that is one of the infamous Garrison Bay ghost nets. It was an old net and no tag. And it is still under investigation.

The remaining nets may indeed become ghost nets. Then again, perhaps they are not really missing at all. Maybe they have already been removed from the lake without telling anybody.

Is that a possibility? Sure it is. I can imagine the questions: What about citations? Why are the people responsible not being held accountable? Why can't they find them all? Somebody must pay.

GLIFWC has answered the citation question on a weekly basis. And here it is again: There is an ongoing investigation. Until such time when the investigation is complete, there will be no citations. They have also said, if the outcome of the investigation indicates, people will be held accountable.

It has been less than three weeks since the nets went missing. But there are those who want heads to roll now. Including my head.

The issue of agendas has been brought up recently. I have to wonder about some agendas. Why are people so excited and want justice and punishment for what they see is a crime that may or may not have even been committed in the first place when it is about fish, or fishing rights, or netting?

But when a drive-by shooting occurs, or a woman is assaulted, no one cries for immediate justice. There doesn’t seem to be an outcry for justice when habitual offenders continue their cycle. There doesn't seem to be a demand for a speedy investigation when a cop lost his gun in January (that investigation remains ongoing). No one cares that there is a growing need for the services of our local food shelves and the supplies can't keep up with the demand. No one cares when people we know are losing their homes to foreclosures.

No one cares. Unless there is a fish involved. And that fish belongs to a tribal member.

I don't see the entire angling community up in arms when when some angler catches a 20-inch smallmouth bass thinking it is the world record rock bass. What about culling or keeping illegal length fish or going over the limit? Or saving fillets in the freezer for a fish fry? You all know it happens, and no one cries out angerly for justice. Why is ok to take a female walleye in the winter, summer or fall and not the spring? Either way, that female is removed from the reproduction cycle. No one cries out if a handful of anglers "make a mistake."

Absolutely these things happen. And absolutely wrong doing or mistakes are not an every day thing. Only a handful of the thousands of anglers who visit Mille Lacs annually try to bend the rules to suit themselves. But it happens.

Only a handful of nets were lost, but that it is a big thing.

Since the day they went missing there have been some pretty fantastic comments from all sides of the issue — the good vs. evil, the black and white, the we and the they. I have heard and read comments that have been spun-sugar bullcrap, cut-throat arrogance and some with clearly no grip on reality at all.

There has been a lot of name calling directed at me. My favorite was from a guy in Sartell, who compared me to a dog who barks too much and suggested my boss put a muzzle on me.

I have been accused of having an agenda, of not reporting facts, of not doing proper investigating. I was practically accused of signing the treaty in 1837.

While I appreciate the sentiment behind the accusations, I truly must confess: I wasn’t around then.

Steve Fellegy wrote what he called his last column for the Mille Lacs Messenger published in last week’s paper. He wrote that for the last 18 years the Messenger has been consistently reporting on a “racially based issue” of the gathering rights lawsuit with disregard to the facts, merits and what the mirror reflects. Perhaps Jim Baden and Joel Patenaude would take issue with that remark.

He wrote the proof of that is in plain view on staff blogs — mine and Brett’s. I don’t believe I ever wrote about the gathering rights lawsuit — blog or otherwise. I didn’t live here, nor had I even heard about the treaty rights lawsuit 18 years ago.

Fellegy wrote that Messenger readers have been denied what the mirror truly says. Those are his words. And quite frankly, it does not make sense. He talks about potty training and the birds and the bees and a need for change and looking in the mirror. What I heard was smoke and mirrors.

Some folks sent comments online claiming they are pulling their subscriptions and advertising in the Messenger because they have had enough.

Other comments say the facts in the Messenger are twisted and distorted to fit the agenda of the writer. (I believe that was meant for me.) This person also wrote that I have been “back stabbing” to reinforce my agenda.

So, I am confused. Readers want facts reported. Not lies. Good. I agree.

When I wrote the facts readers said I had an agenda. Because the facts didn’t fit with what they wanted to hear. They wanted blood. And not your blood but that of the netters. And possibly mine. Is this the racially based issue Fellegy spoke of?

I have no agenda about fishing (or cops losing guns for that matter). I have no agenda except the public’s right to know the facts and truth. I wrote the truth.

If I had an agenda, maybe it would be to end world hunger and homelessness. Or stopping domestic assault. That might be my agenda. If I had one.

Where are the facts to support the claims that I did not write the facts? If there are pictures of hundreds of dead and rotting fish found in the water, still in the nets, where are those photos? Why is it that the lost nets that were recovered within the same time period contained only a few fish and all were alive? Those are facts that are backed by biologists and law enforcement.

Mr. Fellegy said on the Fox News piece: "They're doing it (gillnetting) because they can just to spite our government and our society. That's the only sound reasoning you can come up with."

Maybe that is the only reason you can come up with Mr. Fellegy.

Who is doing what for spite?

If we, the Messenger, really wanted to give readers misinformation, write lies and cover-ups, we wouldn’t be dumb enough to let readers comment on our website or our Mailbag page. If we are really as bad as Steve Fellegy says, why would we have let him write for us in the first place?

The story of the lost gillnets will slowly be moved to the back burner where it will continue to simmer. In time, it will come back to a boil. But how long until it boils over?

“Don’t make me use uppercase.”

Peace.