There you go again.

I come here to provide information and answer honest inquiries, but you of course just see the plot thickening. I don't know what you mean when you say WT made the hatchery site visits "mandatory." (If you mean that WT purposely worked to exclude the rest of the public from visiting the hatcheries, that's not true.) If you would like to visit a WDFW facility, try giving them a call. They say in all of their public pronouncements about this process that they want to make their hatchery planning as "transparent" as possible.

And I have no idea what you mean about WDFW not being allowed to talk about any of this. First of all, they're talking about it plenty (in the State register, on their website, in a press release they issued on Wed, and of course in the HGMPs themselves; that IS their case, you ought to read them; of course, then you'd have to muddle your viewpoint with facts). Second of all, I don't know of any external force that would make them stop talking. Plus, the most important part of this whole process will be WDFW's published responses to the public's comments.

WDFW is in the driver's seat, not WT, and we will all be able to read their responses to WT's and everybody else's comments. This is an opportunity for everyone, hatchery proponents, hatchery "reformers," and hatchery "closers" to ALL make their cases (never mind that WT's position is more complex than you insist on painting it).

If nothing else, we'll all get to see WDFW's written responses to WT's and others' concerns. (including every independent science review panel in the region)

I know you like to make stuff up, and use innuendo and insinuation to help make your case. It's easier than trying to understand the facts and make an honest argument, and it must be fun, but you ought to cut it out. It doesn't serve your position very well.

There's really no point in you and I going round and round again, so you really don't need to bother responding. You have here an opportunity to make your case in a forum that has the potential to actually make a difference. Why not take advantage of it, instead of merely trying to demonise your opponents.

I know that yours is a time-honored strategy that the right has made into an effective art form; the legacy of Willie Horton, I suppose.

Ramon Vanden Brulle
Washington Trout