My New Book… The Truth About the Missouri Department of Conservation
Last season a game warden by the name of Clare Burch walked into an outbuilding where a man and his son were cleaning and butchering a deer that the boy had killed legally and checked just a few hours before. It had a set of huge antlers, seventeen points and she was there for one reason. I have been told by a source within the department that the deer head was valuable, which she learned only a few hours earlier when the hunters checked the deer by phone. Burch wanted it, I was told so she could make money from it by selling it.
With NO SEARCH WARRANT she entered the property and broke the law, violating their constitutional rights. But… she knew there would be no problem with that. Game wardens for the Missouri Department o Conservation know they can violate your constitutional rights and violate laws without being charged or even held responsible. They are not even disciplined when caught. Burch sold the antlers and took the meat to give away to friends. I wrote letters about this to the Director, the MDC Chief of Enforcement and all four MDC commissioners. The letter basically said what agent Burch had done and I said that I would apologize and print a retraction IF THEY COULD SHOW ME THE ANTLERS.
There has been no response! I put that letter in my magazine and in several newspapers. The lack of response shows the arrogance and the deep corruption of the Missouri Department of Conservation. I talked with a taxidermist who asks to be kept nameless and he told me that another agent comes into his shop often each deer season to go through all his papers to see if she can find a technicality that allows her to charge some hunter and take his deer mount. A couple of years ago she had to go through those papers twice to find one technicality. He had to buy her a steak dinner because he foolishly had bet nothing was out of order and she would find nothing.
Then I talked with another taxidermist who told me an agent takes large deer heads from his business by checking to see what the hunter who owns, and has paid money down for his trophy, has called in when he checked the buck. “If there is any discrepancy, that agent takes the deer head and fines the owner. If the beam of the antler or the number of points varies in any way from what you call in when you check it, the game warden makes the most of it.”
If you are the victim, you’ll never get it back, even if you go to court. No judge goes against the MDC. There is so much corruption in the agency it makes me think of the mob-land rule of Al Capone’s Chicago-land and the mafia of New York decades ago. A retiring director only a few years back gave a friend of his 145,000 dollars as a gift only hours before he left his office. Auditor Margaret Kelly called me and told me about it, disgusted because no one would do a thing about it. It apparently was a scam where the friend gave a large percentage of that ‘gift’ back to the ex-director.
A resigning agent said he was quitting the MDC because his supervisor asked him to lie in court about an innocent man he had victimized, telling him “This is a guy I really want to get.”
It all goes on and on. A few years back a 13-year-old boy killed a huge black bear legally, after drawing a bear tag. In itself the bear season is one of the most corrupt things the MDC has ever been involved in. It allows the killing of less than ten bears and makes them nearly 10,000 dollars each ridiculous “bear season”. At any rate the media reported on what a big bear it was, at more than 400 pounds. I have been told that Bass Pro Shops found out and wanted the bear skin to mount for one of its shops, so three weeks later game wardens moved in, and lied to the father, telling him that if he would pay a fine for littering, they would let his son keep the bear hide. He complied, but they refused to return the bear hide and they say it is now in a freezer in the MDC offices. I’d bet a good amount it is not.
One judge has already refused to return the bear hide but it is now being appealed because the lawyer they hired is an MDC fan himself. The family has exhausted all savings and is now hoping for contributions from those who realize what is going on. But the appeal will be handled by a court in Jefferson City. The boy who legally killed it will never see it again. It is likely that Bass Pro Shops already has the bear hide, because I have asked to see it and the Enforcement Chief has told me that no one can see it. I think that is because it is not there. Proof that many of the top people and a large number of agents are thieves and liars is abundantly clear. The MDC owns most judges in this state. They gave on 235 thousand dollars and built another his own private waterfowl marsh. A higher placed MDC employee confided in me that he knew of at least 14 judges that had been given money illegally by the agency
I did a radio program not long ago with a radio station known as KWTO 560 A.M. in which I pointed out some illegal things the MDC has been involved in, and later their news director, a man by the name of Don Luzader, pointed out that I would never be allowed on their station again. He said the owner was really mad because… and I will quote him exactly “They (the MDC) give us a lot of money.” I asked the head of one of the states larger city newspapers why his paper and so many others would not report on the crimes of the MDC and he told me that since Johnny Morris and the Missouri Department of Conservation were in effect ‘partners’ and since Bass Pro Shops gave his newspapers thousands in advertising, his company could not risk making the company and the state agency ‘dissatisfied’ with them. He said that with the difficulties that newspapers have been having it would be like cutting our own throat. Years before, his editor had told me, “We’ve made a deal with them. We agreed to not print any of your columns critical of what they do.”
Everyone in this state knows what I am saying is the truth. Many times I have asked the Directors to allow a debate between me and any agents, biologists; whomsoever they wish to send. I have stated that I will secure a venue and promised to fill it. It would give them a chance to prove that what I write is not true. In such a debate they can give their side of things and answer questions from what would be a very concerned gathering of hunters and fishermen and landowners that never gets their side heard. There isn’t a chance in hell that any agents or biologists or Commissioners would ever debate me. Right now they have a situation where they can violate laws and victimize people and not be held responsible for anything. They want to keep it that way.
Maybe I can change that with a new book I want to get out next year entitled “THE TRUTH ABOUT THE MISSOURI DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION”. It will have 300 pages detailing what has been happening with this rogue department over the past 20 years, with interviews with ex-employees and present employees. I can give Missourians the results of investigations and interviews I have conducted and we can print the letters and opinions from hundreds of innocent people victimized by agents who lie and steal.
I intend to use names of those who use our money to enrich themselves and victimize large numbers of people via stupid technicalities. When I speak to groups around the state, I am amazed that there are large numbers of Missourians who think they give no money to the Department of Conservation. They know nothing of the 1/8 cent sales tax that every citizen pays them.
I will let that book speak for itself, but I need the help of anyone who will help finance it. Donations will be to the printing companies, not to me. I will put up most of the cost but the more money we have donated, the more copies we can print. I hope to put out a hundred thousand books and will need help too with distribution.
I hope many of you will develop a passion for this and spread the word to others. Against the most powerful criminal organization which this state has, an agency only devoted to money and more of it, any way they can get it, this book and project to start holding them responsible for illegal activities will be a David and Goliath story. But with the help of God, we may save some of our fish and wildlife resources and make real conservation work. And at the same time, maybe the innocent can be protected and the lawbreakers prosecuted. For the rest of us it is against the law to steal, lie in court and trespass. Lets make it that way for them too.
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