60 



Mrs. Chenoweth. It took the Government 4 days to present 

 their case; it took the Governor 20 minutes to present his case, and 

 it took the judge 5 minutes to rule. I find that rather outstanding. 



You know, in the decision, the judge cites this where you stated 

 that in fact — this was in 1991, in July. He is referring to an article 

 entitled "Dove Baiting Laws are a Mess," Southern Outdoorsman, 

 September 1994. The author says of Marty Halcomb, Assistant Re- 

 gional Director of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: "Halcomb says 

 wildlife officers know this situation, leaves hunters confused, and 

 baiting regulations need to be simplified." Then, he quotes 

 Halcomb: "'In fact, baiting laws are being reviewed right now,' 

 Halcomb states. 'Hopefully, proposed revisions will be published by 

 late summer and then adopted by the 1995 hunting season. We 

 need baiting laws that hunters and landowners can understand, 

 something that gets away from this third-party interpretation 

 about whether or not a field is baited.'" I thank you, Mr. Halcomb, 

 for stating that on the record. You are quite right. 



Mr. Oliveros, you were quoted by Karen Voyles, the Sun staff 

 writer, when some of the people involved apparently felt that Fish 

 and Wildlife were targeting these hunters, and you said or were 

 quoted as saying: "We do not target groups. We only target people 

 who bait." Do you stand by that? 



Mr. Oliveros. Well, I think the question that was asked was do 

 we target elected officials was the question I was asked there, and 

 my response was we do not target elected officials; we just target 

 people involved with baiting. 



Mrs. Chenoweth. I think that the article says — and in the es- 

 sence of time, I skip this — but it does say: "Several of those who 

 had been at the dove hunt said they suspected that the event was 

 targeted for Federal enforcement, a charge Federal officials deny." 

 And then, you said: "We don't target groups; we only target people 

 who bait." Is that correct? Do you stand by that statement? 



Mr. Oliveros. No, as I said before, the question I was asked 

 when I gave that statement was do we target elected officials. 



Mrs. Chenoweth. OK. 



Mr. Oliveros. And then, the answer I believe I gave was we tar- 

 get people who are involved with baiting. 



Mrs. Chenoweth. All right; you also testified before this Com- 

 mittee that the first hunter arrived at 10:00 a.m. 



Mr. Oliveros. No, I do not recall — I do not know what time the 

 first hunter arrived. I think the question was asked when the first 

 other officer arrived, and the question was when the other offiicers 

 arrived in the area. And I thought the question was when did the 

 first other officer arrive, and I said about 10:00 in the morning. 



Mrs. Chenoweth. All right; when you submitted the pictures of 

 the grain, you stated this is a representative example of what we 

 found. 



Mr. Oliveros. That is correct. 



Mrs. Chenoweth. Is that correct? 



You know, I find it interesting, though, that there are no points 

 of identification. We see grain, and that is all we see. We do not 

 see any evidence that that grain was found on the property where 

 the hunt took place and the arrests took place. 



