88 



I felt it was interesting when I asked Mr. Oliveros why he did 

 not arrest the sheriff if he felt that there was a sheriff who was 

 intoxicated. Of course, he arrested them for hunting in a baited 

 area, but something that might really be dangerous, he did not ar- 

 rest them. And he answered that question properly: he said I do 

 not have the jurisdiction. And he is quite right, I believe. I am not 

 instructing you, but it is my understanding that he is quite right. 

 He does not have the jurisdiction. 



But this is my question to you: I just wonder where they arrived 

 at the jurisdiction even under the Federal Migratory Bird Treaty 

 Act, where they arrived with the kind of jurisdiction that would 

 allow them to get into the kind of law enforcement activity that 

 they have, in other words, are they not overstepping the bounds 

 that Congress laid out for them in their authority to engage in law 

 enforcement activities? 



Mr. BOYNTON. Unfortunately, I do not think they are. I think 

 Congress has given the full authority to the Secretary of the Inte- 

 rior through the Fish and Wildlife Service to promulgate those reg- 

 ulations which allow them to trespass and properly so to go on land 

 and check guns and do the things that they should do. One of the 

 problems that is hard to legislate is attitude. I think the gentleman 

 answered the jurisdictional problem properly, that he did not have 

 the enforcement authority. But if he thought that there was reck- 

 less endangerment because of that — and apparently, he felt per- 

 sonal safety problems — he would have the authority to do that. And 

 I believe there were State officials on that bust, as I understand 

 it, and they have broader jurisdiction. They have the same jurisdic- 

 tion as a State trooper. And even though he may not have the Fed- 

 eral authority, the State people did, and if he felt that was a prob- 

 lem, they could have removed those firearms from those people 

 whom they felt might be endangering the lives of others. You can- 

 not just walk away from it. 



Ms. Chenoweth. I just want to say something personally here, 

 and that is that I am not convinced that a law enforcement officer 

 in the State of Florida was intoxicated, as was represented here in 

 this Committee, and I think that is one of the saddest things that 

 we have heard offered to this Committee in the way of testimony. 

 I think that law enforcement officers — and certainly Federal 

 agents — have a standard that is higher than the average citizen of 

 setting the standard and not making wild accusations, as I believe 

 that probably was. 



But I look forward to working with you in the future. This is a 

 very interesting subject to me. And I sincerely hope, Mr. Chairman, 

 that this is the bottom of the trough, and I hope we can reach back 

 to when you were a young man, and you sat at a drug store over 

 a Coke with a fish and game officer, and that man was 7 feet tall 

 in your eyes. I hope we can return to that point, because Ameri- 

 cans will respond best when they are educated, just told of the 

 facts. We really are a people who want to do what is right, and 

 Americans will. 



And Mr. Chairman, before you finish the hearing, I wanted to 

 ask Mr. Boe with his influence at the University of Florida if there 

 is not some way that we can make sure that that young man is 

 admitted back into the ROTC program. 



