Great Lakes Forum - Albino deer law change?

Citizen Assistance Request Sent To Governor Granholm
April 3rd, 2008

2-22-08 - Citizen Assistance Request

I have been trying to resolve several issues with the Michigan Department of Natural Recourses.

These issues include violating my Constitutional Rights, damage to my property (due to DNR actions), intentional false testimony by DNR Law Enforcement Officers and Obstruction of Justice.

I have tried to maneuver through the proper channels to resolve this, to no prevail.

I contacted the officer’s supervisor- Law Enforcement Chief Alan Marble - referred to Captain Kurt Bacon - no resolution

I contacted DNR Lt. and Sgt. directly trying to resolve the issues. They were not interested!

I next contact the Attorney General Mike Cox office and received a meeting request form. Due to all documents having to be attached to this form, it took several months to gather the information.

I drafted up two retraction letters and sent them to both Lt. and Sgt. - No answer

I contacted the Attorney Generals Office - I received a call back obtaining information - referred to the Director of MDNR

Contacted my State Representative Gary McDowell - he stated I must try to resolve things with MDNR Director first.

Contacted the Director of the MDNR - was referred to the new Chief of Law Enforcement Rodney Stokes.

Had a meeting in Lansing with Rodney Stokes- He admitted the MDNR had made several mistakes! I was instructed to go home and get back to him with a reasonable solution. I complied and sent in my request to Chief Rodney Stokes. I received a reply he can't help me.

Finished the paperwork for my Meeting (349 pages) with the Attorney General Office and mailed it certified mail. Received conformation - no answer

Sent a copy of the Documented facts to Director Rebecca Humphries (349 pages) certified mail. Received conformation- no answer

2-28-08 - Response Citizen Assistance Request

Dear Mr. Ingersoll,

Thank you for contacting the Governor's Office to express your concerns about the Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

To ensure that your concerns are given immediate attention, I have taken the liberty of forwarding your information to Director Rebecca Humphries' office of the DNR for their careful review and consideration.

I have asked them to look into your specific situation and to report their findings directly to you.

Again, thank you for contacting our office on this important subject.

Respectfully,

Monica
Issue Specialist
Constituent Services Division
Office of Governor Jennifer M. Granholm

3-06-08

NRC MEETING in Lansing

I made the following statements!

I have some serious issues with some DNR officers a Sergeant and Lieutenant.

I feel these DNR officers falsely testified under oath which directly affected the judicial process of a civil lawsuit filed in Cheboygan County by myself.

I have several pages of documentation to back up my statements. I feel these officers

• Violated my constitutional rights

• Perjured themselves under oath

• Obstructed justice

While trying to get this situation investigated, I have been shuffled thru a messy bureaucratic process.

This process included

• Talking with the officers supervisor

• Talking with the Chief of Law Enforcement

• Talking with the Attorney Generals office

• Being referred to the DNR Directors office

• Then being referred to the Chief of Law Enforcement Rodney Stokes – which I did meet with and was told to go home and get back with him with reasonable demands to resolve these issues. Only to contact him at a later date to be told that there is nothing he can do for me.

• Back to the Attorney Generals Office

• Contacted my State Representative Gary McDowell

• Referred to DNR Directors office – which I sent a meeting request to along with 349 pages of documentation.

• Sent 349 pages of documentation to the Attorney Generals Office along with a meeting request form.

• Contacted Governor Granholm’s office – received correspondence back stating this was referred back to the DNR Directors Office.

• I received a call from DNR Directors Rebecca Humphries office stating I would be receiving a letter in the mail addressing my issues. WHICH I HAVE NOT RECEIVED YET!

As a citizen I feel if the tables were turned action would have been immediately.

This is my second trip to Lansing regarding this situation. 400 miles each trip! Not to mention the thousands of dollars in expenses this is costing my family and hours and hours of time spend.

How does an average citizen settle a questionable unlawful action of a DNR Officer?

Their needs to be an outside internal investigation!

It’s like your trying to pick a lock or something, trying to crack the code!

I don’t want to have to hire an Attorney and file a lawsuit of the DNR and I shouldn’t have too. I should be able to settle this matter with the DNR.............................

Humphries comments – Well you did sent us several pages of documents to review and that takes time.

My response – I sent you 28 pages of the overview of what happened and the rest of the documentation was for reference to back up my statements.

Humphries response – Well, I want to go over all the documentation in detail, which I am sure that you would want me too. I just want this panel to know that this was not a case that was prosecuted by the department.

My response – This involves me being falsely accused of a crime which was investigated. Which I have no problem with that, but I do have a problem with the MDNR ruining my deer hide I was getting a full body mount on!

Mary Brown comments – What is all this about.

Humphries response – I will write a letter to each one of the members of this board regarding the actions I will be taking on this situation.

Frank Wheatlake – Your concern are being handles by the Director and she has stated that she will be writing you a letter. You may not like her response in the letter, but she will write you a letter. Thank You.

While in the hallway after my 3 minute speech I was approached by the Attorney General Assistant Peter Manning in which he stated – that if I did not get a response that I was satisfied with to contact his office and they would turn it over to the criminal division of the Attorney Generals Office. But we must give the DNR Director the correct the issue first.

3-13-08 Response from DNR Director

REBECCA A. HUMPHRIES
March 13, 2008

Mr. John Ingersoll
7170 Tuscarora Circle
Indian River, Michigan 49749

Dear Mr. Ingersoll:

This letter will respond to the documents received by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) on February 6, 2008. On February 28, the Governor's office forwarded your e-mail to me and asked that I respond to it on behalf of the Governor.

In both the e-mail and from the documents you have provided, I have determined that you contend the following three things: 1) your Constitutional rights were violated, 2) that DNR Law Enforcement personnel intentionally and willfully provided misleading and false testimony resulting in the dismissal of your civil action, and 3) that the DNR's role in these events damaged your reputation.

Let me establish at the beginning, that I have undertaken this review with no prejudice as to the outcome and with an open mind in an effort to provide you with a fair opinion and response to the issues you have presented.

Violation of Constitutional Rights

In your e-mail to Governor Granholm, you allege that your Constitutional rights have been violated by the DNR. In reviewing the documents pertaining to the collection of the hair and hide sample, I assume you believe that those materials were collected illegally as a violation of the 4th Amendment.

Q: "Well, don't you think that that's a 4th amendment search and seizure violation, without a warrant?"

Acting Law Enforcement Chief, Rodney Stokes, addresses this question in his December 13, 2007 e-mail, to which I refer in part:

"It was Sgt's decision to obtain a small hide sample from the taxidermist shop. Since it was at a location where no expectation of privacy was expected or requested, and it was a business that is regulated under DNR laws where we do routine inspections, the DNR did not believe a search warrant was necessary."

While I do not personally have a working knowledge of the various investigative protocols in this case, the actions taken by these officers do not seem unreasonable. The collection of the hide and hair samples proved to be instrumental in determining that the deer you harvested had naturally occurring brown spots. This was critical in concluding that this deer could legally be harvested.

I must disagree that these actions were inappropriate, considering how they supported your assertion that this was a legal deer.

Obstruction of Justice and intentionally providing False Testimony

In the written documents you provided, and in addition to your testimony at the March 6, 2008

Natural Resources Commission meeting, you accuse two current and one former Law Enforcement officers of obstruction of justice and perjury.

Based upon the very serious nature of these allegations, I paid particular attention to the testimony given by the officers in question. From the materials provided, which did not include the full text of each deposition, I do not agree that these officers intentionally provided false testimony. My review of their testimony simply did not reveal this intentional and coordinated effort to mislead.

However, if you believe that these accusations can be proven, I would recommend that you notify local law enforcement or your county prosecutor's office. These officers should have an opportunity to formally respond to these allegations.

Restoration of Your Reputation

Our officers investigated the question of whether or not your deer was a legally killed deer or an illegally killed deer. That investigation determined that it was a legally killed deer. You were not criminally charged, and you were not issued a citation. The fact that you were not charged or ticketed should serve as evidence enough that you legally killed that deer.

As a matter of course, the Department does not publish otherwise legal behavior in the newspaper. It is the duty of these officers to investigate complaints, which in this case they did, and based upon that investigation no further inquiries into the matter were made. Again, you were not charged with a crime, nor were you issued a ticket.

If others, as a result of a media report, believed otherwise, that is unfortunate. If you feel that you have been or are unfairly portrayed in the media, perhaps writing a letter to the editor clarifying that you were never charged nor ticketed would help put the matter to rest. As I indicated in the previous paragraph, the fact that you were never charged with a crime or issued a citation is testimony enough to the fact that the DNR believes this was a legally killed deer.

Conclusion

Your situation has helped reveal to the Department that the rules and regulations relating to albino deer need to be changed. Over 20 years ago, the protections for albino deer were written in statute. As the environmental and natural resources laws were codified in the early 1990s, that law was converted to a regulation in the Wildlife Conservation Order.

I have asked our Wildlife Division to prepare an order for the Natural Resources Commission that would make the harvest of an albino deer legal in the State of Michigan. Truly, in cases whether it is initially difficult to determine whether a deer is legal or not is burdensome to the hunter. Moreover, there is no compelling scientific reason to protect these deer as albinism represents a mutation that is not desirable in a deer herd.

You have obviously gone to great effort to resolve this matter, and I understand the time and resources you have committed to that resolution. The DNR has also committed a great deal of its time and resources to resolving this matter as well. This letter represents the final determination of the Department and, from this point forward, we consider the matter closed. I thank you for bringing the matter to my attention.

Rebecca A. Humphries
Director
517-373-2329

cc:
Governor Jennifer Granholm

Representative Gary McDowell

Natural Resources Commission

Mr. Peter Manning, Assistant Attorney General

Ms. Mindy Koch, Resource Management Deputy, DNR

Mr. Daniel Eichinger, Acting Legislative Liaison, DNR

Mr. Rodney Stokes, DNR

I apologize for not including this information in my last request for help. I forgot that you probably get an extreme about of request per week.

You first contact me by e-mail which informed me that your office referred this to the DNR Director. I did get a response from the Director and the Issues are still not settled or addressed.

The DNR position is "This letter represents the final determination of the Department and, from this point forward, we consider the matter closed."

"While in the hallway after my 3 minute speech I was approached by the Attorney General Assistant Peter Manning in which he stated – that if I did not get a response that I was satisfied with to contact his office and they would turn it over to the criminal division of the Attorney Generals Office. But we must give the DNR Director the correct the issue first. "

I would like to set up a meeting with Governor Granholm to discuss and resolve these issues.

John Ingersoll

Citizen Assistance Request
Thank you for taking the time to share your concerns with Governor Granholm.
Your message has been submitted.

Thank you for contacting Governor Granholm’s Constituent Services Office for assistance. Please fill out the following form completely and include all the information, details and case numbers that will be relevant in reviewing your concern. Once the form is successfully transmitted, Constituent Services will begin working with the corresponding state agency to assist you.

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