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Letters to the Editor

We welcome your opinions and letters – with name and address. We will edit when necessary. Include your name, address and phone number for verification. Mail them to Bay Weekly, P.O. Box 358, Deale, MD 20751 • E-mail them to [email protected]. or submit your letters on line, click here

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Still Going to War over Yellow Perch

Dear Bay Weekly:

Mr. Burton missed three key points in his March 2 column, Going to War over Yellow Perch [Vol. xiv, No. 9].

1. Science: Coastal Conservation Association Maryland did not dispute that Maryland Department of Natural Resources was using the best available science in evaluating the proposed regulation. But that doesn’t imply that the science can’t be better. DNR needs to commit to utilizing robust stock assessments for better decision making in yellow perch.

2. Process: The process that DNR uses to develop and implement regulations is flawed. DNR makes an arbitrary regulation, then seeks public comment after it’s in place.

3. Policy: The Department’s management policy does not provide the needed flexibility in the Yellow Perch Fishery Management Plan to provide for a quality recreational fishery. Nor does DNR allocate yellow perch fairly and equitably to all the citizens, as required by state law.

The Department will open the Yellow Perch Fishery Management Plan for review and possible changes. Whether it will result in the Department moving toward a more progressive management policy, in tune with the realities of the 21st century, remains to be seen. The good thing about all those jackasses kicking the barn door down is that now a new one needs to be built, and hopefully we can all help to build a better one that will remain open.

—Sherman Baynard:

CCA MD Fisheries Committee Chairman

Burton and Editorials Off Mission?

Dear Bay Weekly:

It’s a shame that Bill Burton [Omission, Commission or Accident, Vol. xiv, No. 8: February 23] couldn’t write a quality article about gun safety without taking cheap shots at the vice president. Perhaps he should read Bay Weekly’s mission statement; you know, the part about negativity.

Also there has been a fair amount of negativity in some of the editorials. It may be that the mission statement sets too high of a standard and needs to be changed.

—Richard Honafous, Severna Park

Guiding Readers to Good Times

Dear Bay Weekly:

Thirty new people attended the Lothian Ruritan Club spaghetti dinner March 4, and all of them acknowledge reading about it in Bay Weekly. Thank you, thank you, thank you. We fed over 150 people, I cooked more than 40 pounds of spaghetti, and I dished out 13 gallons of sauce. It was the biggest dinner we have ever had.

—Frank, Gouin, Deale