Post
by Don Wittenberger » Sun Aug 02, 2009 10:22 am
I'd like to join in the thanks and wishes for safe return, but I want more than that for all who serve in our armed forces, not just those serving in war zones. One of the legacies of the Vietnam War is the 18-year-old vote. Today, age 18 is the "age of majority" for most legal purposes, including emancipation, the capacity to enter into contracts, voting, etc. It was not always so. Prior to Vietnam, most jurisdictions set the minimum voting age at 21. While Vietnam was going on, those campaigning for voting rights at age 18 linked the military draft to the right to vote with the rallying cry, "If you're old enough to die in Vietnam, you're old enough to vote." Congress and state legislatures found the argument persuasive, and enacted 18-year-old suffrage. Thus, in a very real sense, the right to vote at age 18 for all subsequent generations was earned by the sacrifices of the young people of my generation who fought and died in Vietnam.
In the same vein, I would like free fishing licenses for all actively serving military personnel, regardless of where they're stationed or where their "home of record" is, to become a permanent "thank you" to the present and all future generations of military personnel as a permanent legacy of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. This is a very small thing to ask the Legislature for, much less than the 18-year-old vote or even the $250 bonuses that Washington State gave to state residents who served in Vietnam (I got one of those bonuses, and used it to start a small business). Those bonuses were funded by a cigarette tax. Unfortunately, the legislature allowed the bonus law to expire (in 1979), but needless to say the tax increase was permanent, and the revenues are now used to retire school construction bonds.
I've tentatively decided to reconfigure my original idea to get the money for the military fishing license by raising cigarette taxes so no tax money will be involved, by combining Craig Bukowski's (currently serving with the Army in Korea) idea of a donation checkoff on fishing license applications with the military fishing license proposal (which was born in a discussion with Lee Burns at a Chapter 57 meeting last year). The idea is to give fishing license purchasers an opportunity to thank our active service members for serving by making voluntary citizen donations to a state-run fund that would pay for these fishing licenses. WDFW already has legal authority to accept public donations, so this should be fairly simple to do, in terms of the legislative mechanics. This program would provide a new source of income for WDFW at the same time it does something nice for our military folks. Between now and next January, I will be looking for a legislator willing to sponsor a bill to implement this proposal. In my opinion, because it doesn't involve raising taxes and won't cost taxpayers anything, there's no excuse for not enacting it. Of course, this isn't nearly enough in the way of thanks to those who have served (or will serve) in Iraq and Afghanistan, but it's a small and symbolically important start. And unlike the Vietnam bonus payments, my intent is that this program, like the 18-year-old vote, will be permanent -- and thus function as a continuing reminder of, and memorial to, those who served in these wars.
I will later post comments about the results of yesterday's IFPAG meeting in Ellensburg. It will take a little time to write these comments, so my IFPAG report may not get posted today. In brief summary, WDFW opposes my proposed rule to make tiger muskies an artificial-lures-only fishery. When I get my IFPAG report posted, I'll discuss in detail why they oppose it, what our options are, and what we possibly can do about it. WDFW is taking steps to implement the 2-pole authorization passed by the Legislature this spring with emergency rulemaking that would go into effect on Aug. 15 of this year, and I now have the list of excluded waters (i.e., waters where multiple lines won't be allowed even if you purchase the $20 2-pole stamp). The 2-pole rule is important to muskie anglers who wish to experiment with trolling for muskies because it makes possible the use of more efficient trolling setups. In my IFPAG report, I'll discuss why Mayfield Lake is on the excluded list. Please note that stamp purchasers will be able to run 2 lines per angler on the other 6 tiger muskie lakes, so this list is largely a victory for the muskie angling community. Finally, I'll discuss the status and changes in the warmwater program in my full IFPAG report, and what I'll be reporting here is mostly good news (I think, and hope, well maybe, anyway).
Last edited by Anonymous on Sun Aug 02, 2009 10:37 am, edited 1 time in total.
