NC State Parks: For Sale or Rent

A couple of years ago I caught some good natured grief around the office when I purchased a N.C. State Parks license plate for my car.  Sometime later in a meeting, the person leading the meeting said, “I got behind Dale this weekend heading out of Raleigh.  I knew it was him because of that state parks plate.  I figured he was heading over to Umstead (State Park) for one of those ranger walks.”  We all laughed.

Hammock Beach State Park
www.ncparks.gov

North Carolina’s state parks are true gems and worthy of our support ($20 of each personalized tag goes to the Parks and Recreation Trust Fund).  I’ve been fortunate to experience the parks from Jockey’s Ridge to Hammock Beach over to the Lumber River back to the Dismal Swamp, slept in the cabins at Morrow Mountain and climbed all over Hanging Rock and Stone Mountain.  A favorite experience (I'm a simple guy) was watching a potato chip bag swell to the point of bursting on top of Mt. Mitchell, the highest point east of the Mississippi.  And while there is a charge for concessions, entry into the parks is free.  So, I figure an extra $20 for my license plate is worth helping support the parks.

Recent news articles in the Winston Salem Journal and the Raleigh News and Observer reveal a  move to grant exclusive access to Pilot Mountain State Park to a vintage car club, the Vintage Triumph Register.  On the surface, this seems like a perfect collision of two of my interests – cars and state parks.  The thought of sports cars winding their way up the approach road to the top of “Jomeokee” sounds exciting and challenging.  But, there are two aspects that are disturbing.

Pilot Mountain State park
www.ncparks.gov

First, I experienced the Chimney Rock Hill Climb during my days as an officer in Rutherford County.  At that time the park was privately owned (it is now a state park) so the owners determined what activities to hold and who would/could attend.  The event drew a large number of spectators who lined the road to watch the competitors.  After several years, the owners decided that the trampled vegetation and noise were not worth the money.  The environmental impact was significant.

Second, shutting out the public to benefit a small number of people goes against the premise of our parks being a public trust resource that is managed for all people.  I am completely in favor of multi-use of those lands and I support concessionaires who help others enjoy the park.  It makes perfect sense to charge a reasonable fee for using shelters and campsites.  But, to consider closing the largest section of the park for a few guys in their little British sports cars strikes me as wrong.  Would this even be a consideration if this request was from the good ole boys in Surry County who wanted to race 4x4 trucks up the mountain?  I think not.

I guess the most troubling aspect is the decision process (or lack of) for this request.  There is nothing that indicates staff requirements and the impact of the natural resources has been considered.  In all fairness, it would probably be minimal – they are requesting one day.  And afterall the park will be closed to all except a select few. 

It seems as though our parks can become the private playground for the wealthy donors to political campaigns.  Not only can a shelter be rented for the day, for enough money you can get the whole dang park.

Wardens Tales: Sgt. Lewis Barts

This week I made a trip down to Raleigh to visit my friends back in the office.  It was a time to catch up on what is going on in their lives and hear the latest news.  It reinforced how much I miss those folks.

The trip also gave me an opportunity to look through some old issues of Wildlife in North Carolina, the agency’s national award winning magazine.  I read through copies back to 1947, but focused on one from 1968 in which Lewis Barts was highlighted as the Wildlife Protector of the Month.

Lewis was the officer in Cleveland County where I grew up.  I would like to say that I heard lots about him growing up or that I had an encounter with him while hunting of fishing that led to me becoming a wildlife officer.  But, none of that applies.  I hunted out the back door as a kid and only fished in farm ponds.  Later, as a teenager, I hunted in the surrounding counties and trout fished in the mountains.

Lewis Barts
Protector of the Month - Jan. 1968

But after working a few years as a wildlife officer and moving down to Rutherford County, I begin to hear stories about Lewis.  He referred to most people as “cowboy" as in, "Let me take a look at your license cowboy."  How, he ate breakfast most mornings at Don’s Pancake House in Shelby where future country singer Patty Loveless waited tables.  About his service as a sniper in the South Pacific with the Marine Corp during World War II (he was awarded the Purple Heart for being wounded in action).  Retired Captain Bill Townsend worked with Lewis during Bill’s early days as an officer.  Years later, Bill and I were working together along the Dan River and had a verbal confrontation with a loud mouthed, bully type.  As we left the guy fuming over a littering ticket, Bill said, “Lewis Barts would have pressed that guy into either fighting or backing down.  Lewis would’ve seen what he was made of.”  Bill later said that Lewis wasn’t scared of anyone or anything.

Thumbing through those old magazines, it was obvious that our agency and division have always had a variety of characters like Lewis – if nothing else you can tell by the angle of their hats.  But just being colorful doesn’t necessarily equate to having impact.

The recovery of our deer herds, turkey populations, bear numbers and a number of other species can be directly traced to men like Lewis diligently enforcing the game and fish laws.  Their impact on the resources are obvious as you look back over a span of time.

District 4 officers prior to a night deer hunting detail - late 1940s

Officer helping boy with binoculars - 1951

An impact that is more difficult to measure is that made by officers with the people in their communities.  Field officers encounter an extremely high number of people over the course of their work week.  Some are through compliance checks, arrests, or during educational programs.  Most are casual encounters at a local store, garage, courthouse or any other the other countless places where officers have only a brief interaction that is usually quickly forgotten by the officer.  Some of these “casual” contacts make a lasting impression on the public.

My only contact with Lewis came after I had applied to become an officer.  He called me and setup a time for us to meet at the Highway Patrol station in Shelby.  He passed along a packet of information that I needed to fill out to move me to the next round of the selection process.  He also gave me an overview of what to expect as I moved through the various stages.  Lewis retired a short time after that evening and I never saw him again.  He was succeeded by Chester Ragland who later became my sergeant.

I realize that that packet would have been delivered by someone else if Lewis wasn’t available.  So, it isn't accurate to say he is singlehandedly responsible for me being hired by the agency.  But, his willingness to take on this mundane task helped launch my career.  “Just another day” for him was a pivotal moment in my life. 

Warden Tales: Law 'em All

I had the good fortune of having lunch with wildlife officers on two occasions this past week.  It was nice to catch up on current events within the agency and division.  More importantly, it was nice to just to spend time with those guys.  I miss the comradery of being a wildlife officer.

As always seems to be the case when officers get together, we swapped a few “war” stories.  While the characters change and locations are different, the stories generally take on a similar script: (1) the officer faces an unusual situation or challenge; (2) the officer is forced to take a “creative” action; (3) the action succeeds or fails; (4) the officer walks away with new knowledge.

not George Ford and or dove hunters

The other common theme is “how we did it in the old days” stories.  I recall an older officer, George Ford, telling me about working in the early 1970s when he would park his car on the opening day of dove season in Surry County and walk from field to field checking hunters all day.  Or officers that would load up during the short deer season and only swing by their homes long enough to restock their supplies of sardines and beanie weinies, and hopefully grab a hot breakfast before going out again.  I fell into a “good ole days” story yesterday at lunch.

I went to work with the Commission on Wednesday May 1, 1985.  There were three of us from my recruit class in that patrol area at that time.  So, our sergeant, Travis Whitson, was spread pretty thin with a bunch of green officers.  That weekend, my captain, Ben Wade, came over to work with me on Santeetlah Lake.  I was ill prepared in general, having only three weeks of preservice training and three days of on the job training.  I had never operated a motorboat before that day.

Ranger Station (Massey Branch) Boating Access Area today
www.ncwildlife.org/Boating/Wheretoboat

We launched the boat at Massey Branch Boating Access Area and began our patrol.  We checked a couple of boats and soon found one in violation.  Capt. Wade was doing most of the talking at the point – I didn’t know the boat law at all.  Capt. Wade informed the boaters that they were in violation of what I found out later was normally a warning offense.  He turned to me and asked for a warning ticket.  I fumbled around in my pack and realized that I didn’t have any.  

He turned back to the boater and informed him that we would be issuing him a citation that carried a fine.  After we finished and pulled away, I apologized for not having any warning citations.  He told me not to worry about it.  He explained that we issue warnings as a courtesy but it wasn't mandatory.  We would just issue regular citations that day - no big deal.

And that’s what we did.  We wrote 7 or 8 tickets that day.  Later when we met some of the other officers, they asked how we did (meaning “How many have you wrote?”).  We told them the number and said about half should have been warnings but we didn’t have any.  So, we had let everyone “hold a hard ticket.”  The other officers just shrugged it off - the boaters were breaking the law.

When I think back on that today, I’m a little embarrassed.  And it wasn’t just that day.  The prevailing guidance was that we would deliver fair, firm and impartial law enforcement.  Most of us took that for how it was meant – if someone is violating the law we let them hold one – no matter the circumstances.  "Law them all and let the courts sort it out."  Ben Wade was not a heartless guy - he was a good captain who was doing what was expected of him and communicating those expectations to a new officer.  I recall another incident when I checked a mother out fishing with her children on Mother’s Day.  She didn’t have a fishing license and protested that she didn't know she needed one.  Her gear reinforced that argument.  But without much thought, I cited her as her small kids looked on.  I reasoned that a good Mother’s Day gift would have been a fishing license.

That was the culture back then.  We were funded almost solely by sportsmen’s dollars so there was a near zero tolerance for anyone that violated the wildlife laws.  That made for a pretty simple, black and white sort of job.  Nowadays we ask officers to look at the totality of the circumstances and then take what they determine to be the appropriate law enforcement action.  That is much more subjective approach but overall the public is treated better when each incident is evaluated on its own.  And in the long run, the conservation benefit is stronger than before.

We often grumble about how disrespectful the public is of law enforcement officers.  The fact is, many of us have contributed to that perception.  We sometimes justify our actions by blaming it on the culture (like I did in the previous paragraph).  Other times we use the end justifies the means argument.  My personal favorite was that any criminal activity leads to a breakdown of social order.  So, by writing that ticket to an unsuspecting, pseudo-sportsman, I was saving society - sounds rather dramatic when I say it now. 

There’s not a whole lot of things I would change about my career – I had a great ride.  I met many interesting people, saw some fascinating places and caught some violators that threatened public safety or were harming the resources.  I was reminded this week that I had fun doing it with a great bunch of officers.  But, I would like to have a do-over with that mom on Mother’s Day.

Independence Day - Balancing Freedom

I must admit to having an enjoyable 4^th of July week.  The week was split between four days at the beach and then back home visiting with family.  It was a nice, relaxing week.

Maybe the most enjoyable part is a calm Monday morning afterwards.  For the previous four years, I braced myself for the complaints against wildlife officers that always came in on the Monday morning after a busy holiday weekend, especially the 4^th of July.  Occasionally the complaints had a measure of justification.  Officers do sometimes bump citizen’s boats during checks and cause damage (heavy boat traffic create wakes that make checks difficult for even the most skilled boat handlers).  Those calls are easy to handle – we repaired the damage.  And on even rarer occasions, officers say something to a boater that shouldn’t be said by a professional officer.  Again, those are easy to address.

The difficult complaints are those in which the officer has done nothing wrong, but the citizen did not like the officer’s actions.  Those complaints seem to be on the rise throughout the law enforcement community.  The pivot point that balances personal freedoms and public safety has shifted.  One of the most obvious is with airport security.  Shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the public applauded the increase in security at our airports.  By 2010, people were beginning to question whether all of the screenings and scans were truly necessary.  That same shift is happening in boating law enforcement.

After a high profile accident such as the one on Lake Norman in 2011 where a woman lost her arm, high officer presence and aggressive patrol efforts are expected and encouraged by the public.  However, as the TSA has found, time erases those bad memories.  Last year, a website devoted to Lake Norman took a very anti-law enforcement stance and accused officers of overzealous tactics (the moderator of this site has been charged on and off the water for alcohol related offenses).

In particular, wildlife officers have wrestled with public concerns that there are “too many bluelights on the water” in the Wrightsville Beach/Masonboro Inlet area.  This is an area with heavy tourist traffic and a high officer presence has been viewed by a vocal minority to be bad for business.  However, a combination of boaters who are unfamiliar with tidal influenced waters and heavy traffic creates problems for boaters and those who are trying tap into those tourist dollars.

So where is the freedom pivot point?  Can it be in a fixed location or will it always float back and forth as the social climate changes?  This was a question that the founding fathers had to deal with as they wrote the constitution.  It is an issue at the core of most modern political issues – how do we balance the freedoms of an individual against the needs of the community as a whole?  Muddying the answer is the knowledge that some folks will make really poor decisions that place themselves or others are risk of injury.  I have found over the years that most people want to be left alone, but want their neighbor policed so their neighbor's freedoms don't negatively impact them.  Total freedom for me, but not so much for you.

Pontoon nearly capsizes near Masonboro Inlet - 7/4/14
http://luminanews.com/

In the middle of that debate are officers being pulled by those at either end of the argument.  It is a reminder that Independence Day is about much more than fireworks and hotdogs.