You can't please everybody, I guess.
I apparently have a few people who are not fans, though I don't think it has anything to do with my writing. There has been somewhat of an ongoing debate about the rehabilitation of Eagle Lake in Racine County. The DNR at behest of the residents and with input from a privately funded study decided that Eagle Lake needed to be rehabbed. The rahab will involve the drawdown of the water and then poison will be applied that will kill off all the fish. Next year the lake will be restocked but there will be special regulations that will limit the number and size of fish that can be harvested. While I am not thrilled that the lake had to be killed off (there are some big bass still left in the lake), based on what I was told by biologist Doug Welch, it had to be done.
Anyway, what has made me unpopular with a few people is that I have defended the plan to rehab the lake. And, I have mostly spoke up when people have made personal attacks on Doug Welch or when they have tried to sway opinion by either the misuse of facts or outright untruths.
One certain individual named Larry, has been an outright vocal opponent of the plan and has been very unprofessional in his comments about Doug Welch. I say unprofessional, because Larry apparently serves as an elected official in a couple fishing organizations. He also claims to be an editor of some fishing or outdoor magazine. His disparaging remarks towards Welch should be an embarrassment for the organizations he serves.
Larry definitely does not care for me either...mostly because I have been willing to challenge his assertions and challenge his facts. Apparently I stung him pretty bad on his last set of comments when I proved his "facts" were all wrong. He said he wasn't going to post anymore because I had become the "self appointed owner of the forum". Me thinks I just made Larry look bad in front of all the other posters. I can't help it...I blame my mother for my willingness to argue.
Anway, Larry has a history of historonics and the DNR is well aware of his points of new. Larry thinks he is a defender of the "common man" and stands as a bulwark against the PETA policies of the DNR. However a source in the DNR said that they believe Larry has his own agenda...he fights any special regulations because he likes to fill his freezer with fish...basically Larry is not a fan of catch-and-release fishing.
Larry a couple years ago sent me a message saying he would sue me for libel. Can you believe that? An editor of a magazine who constantly disparages Doug Welch and the DNR, threatened to sue me. That was funny. I should have kept that message and showed that to his editors.
One more interesting note about Larry. We were once both members of an organization called Pikemasters (though he didn't know I was a member). Pikemasters was a conservation group that was concerned with promoting northern pike and raising public awareness of how special the fish is. The group was heavily involved with trying to improve pike regulations to protect fish in certain lakes so they could grow to large proportions. I am not sure how long Larry was a member, but he fell on the opposite side of the spectrum of what the group was trying to accomplish (Remember what I said about the DNR believes he just wants to fill his freezer?) and did not believe we should persue special regulations. The leaders were puzzled at why he was a member though some speculated he just wanted access to try and influence another fishing organization.
Larry is an interesting person; however, he definitely does not speak for the "common man" nor for the average fisherman.
Terry