The following blog, dated February 17th, 2012, was deleted without reasoning by the Tribune editors. (For those that missed it--please pass it around your facebook pages...thanks--and lobby the editors not to censor me!)

February 17th, 2012

"Senator Franken Where Are You?"

The big bail out statement our Mn. DNR always runs to when challenged about Tribal harvest at Lake Mille Lacs, is "it's Federal. It's out of our hands and control? Go figure......

  So if it is, exclusively, a Federal  issue, let's call out our own Senator Al Franken on this one. After all, he is quoted as saying, " I will continue to fight to prevent the spread of Asian carp into the Great Lakes, and I’ll do everything I can to help protect the ecosystem and fisheries of Minnesota from this invasive fish.”
 

  With that honorable viewpoint and effort on behalf of Mn. fishermen and fisheries regarding carp, where do you stand, Senator, on 70 tons of walleyes being gill-netted during the spawning season at Lake Mille Lacs? Do you endorse, on behalf of protecting the ecosystem and Lake Mille Lacs fishery, the use of gill-nets taking 70 tons of walleyes while they spawn? Exclusively allowed by ONE race?

 Senator? Over a million voting Mn. anglers want to hear and see how you view the Mn. crown jewel, Lake Mille Lacs.

  Will you side on the Mn. DNR fisheries management history, that has closed walleye harvest during the spawning season for numerous decades? Fisheries management that has banned the use of gill-nets for game fish harvest for numerous decades in Mn.?

 Or, Senator Franken, will you ignore common sense and Mn. DNR history, to allow a racially motivated demise of Lake Mille Lacs walleyes and the local economy that thrives on the lure of the walleye to countless  Mn. voters ?

 Governor Dayton, 99 percent of the Mn. state reps and Mn. Senators and the Mn. DNR ALL ignore this subject. Hiding behind the guise of "it's federal".

  Senator Franken? Will you also turn down media to address this issue upfront and publicly? As 70 tons, in a two week period, of walleyes in your own Lake Mille Lacs, get strangled to death in gill-net mesh while they attempt to spawn this spring? The TV camera's await your answer. Carp but not walleyes?

contact Steve Fellegy at sf1954@embarqmail.com or 651-270-3383