Cowlitzfisherman,

Sorry about the confusion in my comments above, I was under the impression that the legalities of right vs. privilege was pretty much common knowledge and that you were citing to a "higher authority" that gave you rights that you ordinarily don't have.

Here's the legal scoop. Remember, this issue is not about opinions, or belief systems, or wild fish, or natural born GGR's, or anything else. This is about the specific legal status of sportfishing in the state of Washington. If you don't like it, so be it.

"...fishing by other citizens and residents of the state [non-Indians] is not a right but merely a privelege which may be granted, limited or withdrawn by the state as the interests of the state or the exercise of treaty fishing rights may require." U.S. v. Washington, 384 F. Supp. 312, 332 (W.D. Wash, 1974).

That's it period. Federal law that cannot be usurped or abridged by state laws to the contrary, or by the opinions of those who hold the privilege.

Now, as for your other comments...

My question one above was requesting that you tell me where your "right" came from, how God passed it on to you...if that's not what you were saying when you said "god-given right", then please ignore the question. If you were saying that, then I'm still waiting for your answer.

Question two...

My question: 2. What if your personal god/religion tells you that you have the privilege of the Earth and its resources? Are you screwed, because a guy like you has the right and the other guy only has a privilege? Perhaps you'd have the right to lowhole him, but not someone who believes the way you do? If so, you really scored being born with your right. We'll all have to put stickers on our boats spelling out if we carry the right or merely the privilege so we know who gets to hit the good holes first.

Your answer: 2; Yes, just look at the Bolt decision!

Frankly, I'm wondering if you read the same question as I wrote. Yes to what? What does the Boldt decision have to do with your GGR?

My number 3...

3. Mankind has not always had the right to fish. Being a fisherman in many cultures throughout time has been a position of honor, and people who weren't granted that position of honor did not fish. Did that honor come as a privilege granted by society, or a right granted by God? If it was a right, why didn't they all have it? Are some people just better than others?

Your answer 3; Mankind has always had the right to fish. Just because a few cultures "might" have done otherwise, doesn't dwarf the overpowering fact that "mankind" has always had the right to fish.

I'm still waiting from #1 where your "fact" that man has always had the right to fish comes from. You're still begging the question. Your argument can still be boiled down to "Do we have a god-given right to fish?", and your answer is still "Yes, because we have a god-given right to fish".

My fourth question...

4. If you have a GGR (God given right) to fish, is it better than the logger's GGR to harvest trees just as you harvest fish? Or the developer's GGR, perhaps order, to conquer the earth through growth and development? They feel just as strongly about their GGR's as you do. Who's takes precedence? Based on your various opinions, I get three guesses and the first two don't count.

Your answer: 4; That's a "loaded one" and you know it! I'll pass! Just for your information, I have been both called and labeled "an environmentalist" in numerous public meetings and also in the press.

Agreed, it is most certainly a "loaded one", point being that your only answer if you believe that you have a god-given right to fish makes your GGR better than someone else's. Your refusal to answer doesn't change that...

Being labeled as an environmentalist, or anything else for that matter, has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with this question, except that I'd guess you were labeled that by folks whose GGR's impacted yours, i.e., loggers, hydropower folks, which is exactly the point I was making in the question...

Do me a favor and link me to a few of the times where I start a new post after getting stuck in a corner, here or on other boards. I think you'll find that I rarely start posts at all, perhaps once every three weeks, much less bail out of an argument...These I really want to see.

Gotta run right now, but I'll hit the rest of it in a while...

Quick summary...

1. What is the "fact" that established your GGR, other than the "fact" that you have one?

2. Is there something unclear from the cited federal court case?

3. Where are those links that I bailed on and started a new one to avoid an argument?

Fish on...

Todd.