36 



Mrs. Chenoweth. I wanted to ask Bruce — and then, I do want 

 to come back to you, Sheriff. I wanted to ask Mr. demons in your 

 case, did they produce evidence that the field had been baited? 



Mr. Clemons. They produced pictures that the field had been 

 baited, and that was the evidence submitted. It was like 8 by 11 

 pictures. The trial was on the adjacent field, but they were produc- 

 ing evidence that the field was baited — not the field that I was in, 

 but the adjacent field was baited, and that was their evidence. And 

 I think it was Sergeant Alvarez or Mr. Alvarez — I am not sure 

 what his title is. He stated in his testimony that he inspected the 

 field by plane a couple of days prior to and then on foot prior to 

 the hunt, and it was his observation that it was baited. And that 

 is when I think the pictures were taken. I am not positive on that. 



Mrs. Chenoweth. Thank you. 



I want to say, Mr. Clemons, that I am very impressed with your 

 testimony and your actions. I feel very good about the fact that the 

 country will be in the hands of people like you in the future: intel- 

 ligent, tenacious and someone who loves freedoms as much as we 

 do. 



Sheriff, did the Fish and Wildlife enforcement officials make any 

 attempt whatsoever to contact you with their concerns that the 

 field might be illegally baited or other sheriffs? 



Mr. Oelrich. No, they did not. One of the other sheriffs who was 

 there was the host sheriff, if you will. My county is some counties 

 away. It is approximately 55 miles away. But the host sheriff there, 

 they never contacted him as well. Certainly, if any phone call had 

 been made to any of this group, especially Senator Williams or my- 

 self, there would have been no way that we would have gone out 

 there. This was so publicized — and, in fact, in your packet, I put 

 this flier that went out to some 400 people. Combine that with the 

 fact that this was in the newspaper. Goodness; I mean, there was 

 no secret about this whole thing. I was never contacted by anyone 

 about the hunt, but certainly, I would not want to put myself in 

 that position. I have got to run for re-election. This is an embar- 

 rassment to undergo this whole situation, but be that as it may. 



Mrs. Chenoweth. Sheriff, I want to say that I have introduced 

 a law that would require any Federal agency engaged in law en- 

 forcement before coming into a sheriffs county for the purpose of 

 physical activity such as search, seizure or arrest — now, that is 

 outside of other peaceful activities such as investigation — but for 

 physical activities that they be required to show evidence that they 

 have consulted with the sheriff. This has come out of my concern 

 about what happened at Waco. At Ruby Ridge, apparently, the 

 sheriff did know about this. But the Fish and Wildlife Service's ac- 

 tivities in Idaho with regard to a wolf that was apparently shot by 

 someone, and the sheriff objected to the Fish and Wildlife Service 

 conducting a search on a person's ranch. 



So, I think that we need in the future also legislation not only 

 to correct baiting and the definition of baiting and the area that 

 it is to be applied to, but also, we need to think about enhancing 

 the relationship between local law enforcement and Federal law en- 

 forcement. Unlike what Tim Russert has said, my bill does not re- 

 quire that Federal agents check their guns at the border; quite the 

 opposite. But it does require that we know and we can see evidence 



