The Mountain Eagle
WHITESBURG WEATHER

Struttin’ Time

Cut fat before raising license fees


The sun is shinning, the temperature is above freezing, and I am alive and well for another day. What more could a person ask for? This is the first day in 21 that I’ve not had a cold, it’s not snowed, and it’s above freezing.

The Struttin’ Time stories should roll, now I feel energized.

I will be leaving for Florida to turkey hunt on March 15. Time is getting short.

First things first. I spent last Saturday with some old friends, Will Connelly, Charles Day, and Wiley Amburgey among others, and really enjoyed.

I need to remind everyone of the Little Shepherd Chapter dinner that will be held at the Pine Mountain Grill, 5 p.m., on March 6. Contact one of their members for more information, Raymond Brown, Richard Brown, Will Connelly, Glen Brown; they all are in the telephone book.

Remember youth turkey season opens on April 3.

I want to touch on the rising cost of non-resident hunting licenses, and get you thinking about the day when they will raise our resident license. My non-resident license in West Virginia for this year has risen about 10 percent. What are the DNR’s thinking? The amount of hunters is declining, and they raise the fees on the one’s still hanging around?

In case my readers and friends have forgotten, I own a 155-acre farm in West Virginia. I have not been there since the last of deer season, but no one has called me to tell me it’s gone. Each year I buy my non-resident license, that is the law. But many DNR’s have woke up to the fact we can’t keep going the way we are now.

How long has it been since you got a 10 percent raise on your paycheck? Some states are holding the line, some are not. I hope the Commonwealth has the willpower not to raise ours.

Let’s look at cutting the fat, i.e., do we really need all the upper brass, such as captains, majors, and right on up? I am a union man, and draw a union pension, so I’m not trying to get anyone to lose their job. But if we don’t correct our problem now, we will later.

Doctor D.L. Moody used to have a sermon he used a lot. Payday someday. That has never been more true than today. The hunter can’t keep paying the high cost of hunting.

Hug a kid, or an old person, give them a kiss, and tell them you care.


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