unprecedented scrutiny of law enforcement, it is exactly this type 

 of operation that feeds the discontent of the American people. To 

 get an idea of how ridiculous this situation got, the agent with the 

 Fish and Wildlife Service was quoted in the press as saying that 

 technically the First Lady was in violation of the same laws that 

 these ladies were. 



We need a little common sense to be injected into both the stat- 

 utes and the enforcement of such statutes. Now I don't think that 

 Hillary Clinton should be prosecuted for this event. My complaint 

 is not about bird protection laws, but the overzealousness of the 

 Fish and Wildlife Service enforcement. Nobody here wants to see 

 birds hunted down for their feathers or otherwise endangered for 

 any commercial reason, but to treat a bird feather like heroin or 

 enriched uranium is preposterous. If you stop and pick up a blue 

 jay feather, and I have in my own yard, that is laying in the yard 

 or along the street, you are guilty of a felony because of the strict 

 liability of the law. 



The fact that the Fish and Wildlife agent locked these women in- 

 side their store while they were conducting the search is uncon- 

 scionable. These women would be like your mother, your sister, cer- 

 tainly not criminals. The other day at a local picnic a 90-year-old 

 lady said to me almost in tears that she had picked up a bird feath- 

 er and how frightened she was that she might be arrested. 



Monticello, Illinois is a small town that is as typical of mid- 

 America, law-abiding America as any place in the world, and to 

 have this kind of sting operation in that community is just unbe- 

 lievable. People in small toAvns like Monticello respect the law and 

 in return they expect to have respect. We need a more common 

 sense approach, because it is the poachers that Eire the most sig- 

 nificant threat that we should be concentrating on stopping, not 

 the activities of law-abiding citizens. Now a simple warning from 

 the agency, I am sure, would have stopped any illegal action in this 

 community. 



I would suggest that we focus on changing the strict liability 

 statute for simple possession and leave it in place for those people 

 who are target — who are poaching. This is a more responsible and 

 reasonable approach to this problem. 



Mr. Chairman, I greatly appreciate the opportunity to come here 

 and to share this story. It is more than just a story of people in 

 my district. Peg Bargon pled guilty because this was destroying her 

 life, her marriage, her family and she had to get out of a bad situa- 

 tion. She couldn't fight it any longer. We shouldn't treat our people 

 like that. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 



[The attachments to the statement of Hon. Thomas Ewing may 

 be found at end of hearing.] 



Mr. Saxton. I would just say, Mr. Ewing, that members of this 

 subcommittee, as well as the full committee, who are responsible 

 for monitoring, and from time to time reauthorizing, laws that have 

 to do with saving endangered species or other t3^es of laws which 

 are so important to the environmental quEility of our country and 

 our world hear stories like this from time to time and it always 

 makes our job that much more difficult. We have some new folks 

 on this panel, particularly on the full committee, who have heard 

 stories like this that have been carried out by environmental agen- 



