Drizzt
Member
The Sunday Gazette Mail
January 26, 2003, Sunday
SECTION: Sports; Pg. P7E
LENGTH: 727 words
HEADLINE: Unexpected surprise for area hunter who visited Canada
BYLINE: Andy Hansroth
BODY:
BIG BROTHER seems to be showing up just about everywhere these days - even out in the middle of the wilderness.
Last week I heard local folks talking about the Charleston police department installing cameras at intersections - for the purpose of photographing license plates of folks who might roll-stop through or illegally turn at a red light. That idea, in my humble opinion, stinks.
No sooner had I heard that story when a hunter from Logan called to relay his tale. Joe Dress of Logan was tracked down in West Virginia after a hidden camera photographed him inadvertently driving past a tollbooth in Canada. Dress was on his way home from a hunting trip in Ontario last fall. He and his hunting companion both swear they never saw any signs stating they had passed a tollbooth, or that they were on a toll highway, or were being photographed.
Two months after his return to the U.S., Dress received a bill from a private company asking for $ 35 in tolls for using a private toll road in Canada.
Dress has hunted in Saskatchewan five times and Ontario once, but had never encountered a private toll road. He wasn't aware he'd driven on one last year, either - until the bill arrived in the mail in November, and another one in December.
Vic Ryan of Alum Creek was with Dress last September.
"I asked Vic if he remembered us passing through any automated toll booths, and he said he didn't remember anything like that, either," said the hunter. "If we had been on a toll road with marked tolls, as they are on the West Virginia Turnpike, we would have paid them right there on the spot. But we didn't see any booths or any signs."
Dress said the area he believes caused him trouble is located 40 miles north of Buffalo, N.Y.
"They apparently photographed my truck at some hidden place along a highway called 407ETR, which is also the name of the company that mailed me the bill for $ 35," he said.
"We remember being on that road, but there was nowhere we saw that pictures would be taken of our vehicle," he added. "I turned this over to the Attorney General's office and the West Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles."
Dress said he sent the ticket to the AG because the Canadian company threatened to have his driver's license revoked.
"I called the State Police here and they told me that couldn't happen. Man, I've hunted all over Canada and have never had any problem like this," he said. "I've never talked to anyone else who's run into something like this, either.
"I'm mostly concerned about how they got my address. The DMV and the state police both said no inquiries had been made through them."
After he finished telling his story, I asked how he dealt with Canada's restrictively ridiculous firearms laws.
"I borrow a gun while I'm up there [instead of taking one]," he said.
Dress said he will return to Canada because he wants to bag a color-phase black bear. To date, he has killed five bears, all black.
"I really love hunting up there," he said. "I'd like to draw a deer tag, too, but they're hard to acquire. Only 25 are allotted annually to the guide we hunt with."
Canada does have some of the best hunting and most of the best fishing on the North American continent.
But its political posture today turns many sportsmen away. When they began passing restrictive gun laws in the mid-1990s, that's when my trips to Canada came to an end.
Owning and using your own firearms (and taking them with you on a hunting trip) is a major part of the game for people who are serious about hunting. I don't feel welcome in a country that doesn't trust me, simply because I own guns.
I'm also one of those people who believe George Orwell (author of the book "1984," which foretells a future with too much government) made some strange but now seemingly appropriate predictions with his fictional tale. Here it is 2003, and intrusive Big Brother cameras are showing up everywhere, even out in the middle of the wilderness.
Which makes me wonder. After a sneaky stalk from behind, would a 12-gauge 23/4-inch magnum load of No. 4s (a good load for squirrels with thick winter hides) be sufficient to bag one of those sneaky cameras? Perhaps, a load of No. 2s or BBs might work better?
Just kidding, folks.
January 26, 2003, Sunday
SECTION: Sports; Pg. P7E
LENGTH: 727 words
HEADLINE: Unexpected surprise for area hunter who visited Canada
BYLINE: Andy Hansroth
BODY:
BIG BROTHER seems to be showing up just about everywhere these days - even out in the middle of the wilderness.
Last week I heard local folks talking about the Charleston police department installing cameras at intersections - for the purpose of photographing license plates of folks who might roll-stop through or illegally turn at a red light. That idea, in my humble opinion, stinks.
No sooner had I heard that story when a hunter from Logan called to relay his tale. Joe Dress of Logan was tracked down in West Virginia after a hidden camera photographed him inadvertently driving past a tollbooth in Canada. Dress was on his way home from a hunting trip in Ontario last fall. He and his hunting companion both swear they never saw any signs stating they had passed a tollbooth, or that they were on a toll highway, or were being photographed.
Two months after his return to the U.S., Dress received a bill from a private company asking for $ 35 in tolls for using a private toll road in Canada.
Dress has hunted in Saskatchewan five times and Ontario once, but had never encountered a private toll road. He wasn't aware he'd driven on one last year, either - until the bill arrived in the mail in November, and another one in December.
Vic Ryan of Alum Creek was with Dress last September.
"I asked Vic if he remembered us passing through any automated toll booths, and he said he didn't remember anything like that, either," said the hunter. "If we had been on a toll road with marked tolls, as they are on the West Virginia Turnpike, we would have paid them right there on the spot. But we didn't see any booths or any signs."
Dress said the area he believes caused him trouble is located 40 miles north of Buffalo, N.Y.
"They apparently photographed my truck at some hidden place along a highway called 407ETR, which is also the name of the company that mailed me the bill for $ 35," he said.
"We remember being on that road, but there was nowhere we saw that pictures would be taken of our vehicle," he added. "I turned this over to the Attorney General's office and the West Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles."
Dress said he sent the ticket to the AG because the Canadian company threatened to have his driver's license revoked.
"I called the State Police here and they told me that couldn't happen. Man, I've hunted all over Canada and have never had any problem like this," he said. "I've never talked to anyone else who's run into something like this, either.
"I'm mostly concerned about how they got my address. The DMV and the state police both said no inquiries had been made through them."
After he finished telling his story, I asked how he dealt with Canada's restrictively ridiculous firearms laws.
"I borrow a gun while I'm up there [instead of taking one]," he said.
Dress said he will return to Canada because he wants to bag a color-phase black bear. To date, he has killed five bears, all black.
"I really love hunting up there," he said. "I'd like to draw a deer tag, too, but they're hard to acquire. Only 25 are allotted annually to the guide we hunt with."
Canada does have some of the best hunting and most of the best fishing on the North American continent.
But its political posture today turns many sportsmen away. When they began passing restrictive gun laws in the mid-1990s, that's when my trips to Canada came to an end.
Owning and using your own firearms (and taking them with you on a hunting trip) is a major part of the game for people who are serious about hunting. I don't feel welcome in a country that doesn't trust me, simply because I own guns.
I'm also one of those people who believe George Orwell (author of the book "1984," which foretells a future with too much government) made some strange but now seemingly appropriate predictions with his fictional tale. Here it is 2003, and intrusive Big Brother cameras are showing up everywhere, even out in the middle of the wilderness.
Which makes me wonder. After a sneaky stalk from behind, would a 12-gauge 23/4-inch magnum load of No. 4s (a good load for squirrels with thick winter hides) be sufficient to bag one of those sneaky cameras? Perhaps, a load of No. 2s or BBs might work better?
Just kidding, folks.