20 



United States of America, you are not guilty unless you are proven 

 to be so." 



He lacked the financial means to get representation in Federal 

 court, and this ag student from the University of Florida served as 

 his own attorney in Federal court and was acquitted, thank God, 

 by a judge in the United States of America who could distinguish 

 between the bare mechanics of the law and justice. He was pro- 

 vided justice in Gainesville, Florida; he certainly was not provided 

 justice in that dove field in Dixie County. A week later, another 

 student also went up, defended himself, and was also acquitted. 



Though my time is short, one of my primary concerns is the im- 

 pact on these young men's future. Ajid I contend to all of you in 

 here that a young man or woman attending the University of Flor- 

 ida should not begin their professional life with a stain branded on 

 their character from the overzealous enforcement of an impractical 

 law, and no, you cannot inspect effectively an undefined area for 

 10 consecutive days before hunting in it; this is an impractical law. 



The members of this Committee did not create the law that has 

 had a negative impact on the lives of the young men that I work 

 with and respect, but you do have the ability to improve the law 

 to make it functional and make it fair for sportsmen and law en- 

 forcement agents. Under the current laws, the doves died; the hun- 

 ters were massively fined; and I guarantee you that Federal Gov- 

 ernment units in the State of Florida have lost a lot of public sup- 

 port and respect. 



I was handed by an aide to Congressman Stearns a few minutes 

 ago a fax from Florida, and I would like to share this with you. 

 This is from one of the young men whose family decided to pay the 

 fine to provide this boy not a Federal stain on his future: 



"Dear Congressman Stearns: 



"I am a student at the University of Florida and decided this 

 past spring to enroll in the Army ROTC program. Because I had 

 not enrolled as a freshman, I was scheduled to attend Camp Chal- 

 lenge at Fort Knox, Kentucky, beginning June 4, 1996, to com- 

 pensate for training I had missed. The ROTC staff at the Univer- 

 sity of Florida advised me that I would need to have a waiver for 

 a hunting violation that I received last fall, but they did not believe 

 there would be any problem receiving the waiver. 



"Yesterday, May 13, 1996, I was advised that the waiver commit- 

 tee denied the waiver and that I would not be allowed to attend 

 the camp and would not be able to contract to become a United 

 States Army officer." 



And I see the light is about on. The point is that this was a 

 young man who had the desire to serve his country in an honorable 

 fashion. He was a victim of a law he did not identify; he had no 

 knowledge of the law being there or any intent to violate it. This 

 country will be denied his service. 



Thank you. 



[The statement of Mr. Boe may be found at end of hearing.] 



The Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Boe. 



Mr. Pelham, Florida Power Corporation, Crystal River, Florida. 



