17 



The Chairman. And I thank you, Senator, and we are reviewing 

 the Fish and Wildhfe budget as we are speaking right now. 

 Sheriff Oelrich? 

 Mr. Oelrich. Yes. 

 The Chairman. Good to see you. 



STATEMENT OF SHERIFF STEPHEN M. OELRICH, ALACHUA 

 COUNTY, GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA 



Mr. Oelrich. My name is Steve Oelrich; I am the sheriff of 

 Alachua County. I really appreciate the opportunity to be here with 

 you today. My wife and I have both come at considerable expense, 

 and we both have a very busy schedule, but I thought this was a 

 very important issue to speak with you on two main topics that I 

 want to cover today. One is the really heavy-handed and unneces- 

 sary tactics of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, an agency of the 

 Federal Government; two, the existence of a law that requires no 

 intent and no knowledge to violate, to be charged, coerced, and to 

 paying a large what they term as a collateral forfeiture, which they 

 call a fee, rather than contest, due to the way the very onerous 

 penalties, completely out of perspective to the proposed violation. 

 In short, the agency needs some major controls, and the law needs 

 some major revisions. 



First, I want to tell you about my background, so you can get a 

 better idea of my perspective. As far as wildlife goes, I have been 

 a hunter and a fisherman, an outdoor person, since I was in the 

 Boy Scouts when I was about 12 years old. So, I have got about 

 37 or 38 years of experience in the outdoors. I am a member of the 

 American Turkey Hunters Federation. I was past president of our 

 Ducks Unlimited chapter here for 2 different years. I am in the 

 Florida Conservation Association, and in the law enforcement 

 realm, I have two degrees in law enforcement, one in police admin- 

 istration and one in criminology. I have 20 years of experience as 

 a city. State and now as the sheriff of Alachua County. 



Part of the thing that I want to talk to you about is this whole 

 idea about the way this thing was conducted from a law enforce- 

 ment standpoint and also from a wildlife standpoint. I went out 

 there that day; I got there late, went to a stand that the chief dep- 

 uty of that county took me to; shot my birds. And to give you a lit- 

 tle rendition of the encounter I had with the Fish and Wildlife, the 

 wildlife agent came to me and said his name and said he was with 

 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. I said fine; I am Steve Oelrich; 

 I am the sheriff of Alachua County. And he wanted to see my li- 

 cense; I showed him my license. He wanted to see a driver's li- 

 cense; I showed him my driver's license, trying to be cooperative. 

 He wanted to see my gun; I showed him my gun. He wanted to see 

 my birds; I showed him my birds. 



Then, he said there is a problem with the field. And I was so 

 taken aback; I said no, man; we have got permission to hunt on 

 this field. And he looked at me right in the eye and said no, the 

 wrong kind of seeds are on the ground. And I was absolutely taken 

 aback by that, but we walked over to a road there, and he showed 

 me where there were some seeds that he said did not come from 

 the plants that were indigenous to that area. 



