Pennsylvania sees first case of West Nile virus in a dove
An ongoing Pennsylvania study that began in 2015 strongly links the ruffed grouse to West Nile Virus. State game species – the mourning dove – was also found to have died from the disease.
A sick dove was observed near Port Matilda in late August. The bird expired before the finders could take it to their local wildlife rehabilitator. Because of the bird’s symptoms and no obvious signs of trauma, Centre County West Nile virus coordinator Bert Lavan was contacted.
Although Lavan said that no doves had ever been known to die from the disease in the state, he offered to have the bird tested.
The following day, Lavan used a sterile cotton swab to collect a sample of saliva from the dead dove, and it was sent to Harrisburg. The results were back a few days later. The mourning dove tested positive for West Nile virus – a Pennsylvania first.
While the Zika virus gets most of the press these days, West Nile virus is another mosquito-borne disease that can kill. It infects birds and mammals, including humans. While people might worry about Zika being spread by mosquitoes in Pennsylvania, West Nile virus is already here and is greatly affecting some bird species – including game birds.
West Nile virus was first isolated in the West Nile province of Uganda in 1937. The earliest-recorded outbreaks of West Nile encephalitis occurred in Israel in 1951, 1954, and again in 1957. It reached the United States in 1999, when it was detected in four northeastern states.
Seven people from New York died from the disease that year.
The virus was first identified in Pennsylvania (19 counties) in 2000. By 2003, West Nile virus was found in all 67 Pennsylvania counties. According to Pennsylvania Game Commission game bird biologist Lisa Williams, this lines up exactly with the time that the state’s ruffed grouse populations sharply declined.
“West Nile virus seemed to peak in Pennsylvania in 2003, with 1,400 dead birds testing positive and 237 documented human cases,” Lavan said. “The birds really took a hit that year.”
The number of counties with “positives” varies from year to year, with another peak occurring in 2012. According to the state website – a joint project of the departments of Environmental Protection, Health, and Agriculture – so far this year, West Nile virus has been detected in 37 counties, including Centre.
Certain species of birds have been shown to be very susceptible to the virus – crows, blue jays, raptors and ruffed grouse. Since mourning doves are not known to be one of the susceptible species, Game Commission wildlife pathologist Justin Brown cautioned about reading too much into one dead dove.
“A high number of bird species can be infected with West Nile virus, but few actually are affected enough to die from the disease,” Brown explained. “Almost all crows and most grouse die if infected with the virus, but the case of this mourning dove dying from the virus might just be the result of individual variability.”
With that said, Brown and Lavan noted that most dead birds are neither found nor tested for the disease. As of mid-September, out of the 30 birds submitted, only seven birds from five different counties had tested positive.
“The Game Commission regularly tests and often does a necropsy on large game animals that are found dead, but a bear is something big and obvious,” Brown said. “The chances of locating a highly-camouflaged forest bird like a ruffed grouse, if it dies, are very unlikely. It would take a lot of luck and the bird would have to be found quickly after it dies.”
Centre Wildlife Care rehabilitator Robyn Graboski has treated many birds with the symptoms of West Nile virus – including a Franklin County turkey vulture that died in May and many other raptors. She described what to look for.
“Birds with West Nile virus show general signs of weakness – they often can’t stand or fly. Sometimes saliva is dripping from their mouths,” Graboski explained.
“Another sign is head tilt or a bird that flips backwards on its perch. We recently had a red-tailed hawk with West Nile virus. Its head tilted back, and it would fall off of its perch,” she said.
“In 2012, we had a real deluge – over 60 birds with West Nile virus symptoms, mostly crows, red-tailed hawks, great-horned and barred owls and even a couple bald eagles.”
Citizens can help by reporting dead birds to their county West Nile virus coordinator. Twenty-five counties have coordinators. That list and a general number for all counties can be found at the state website www.westnile.state.pa.us. Sick birds can be transported to the closest wildlife rehabilitator.
Hunters can help, too. Last year, cooperating hunters used a special free kit supplied by the commission to collect more than 200 grouse blood samples for the agency. Thirteen percent of those grouse tested positive for West Nile virus antibodies.
Grouse hunters can help by becoming Grouse Hunter Cooperators. Simply download the forms from the ruffed grouse page on the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s website (www.pgc.pa.gov) or by calling 717-787-5529.
Humans can get West Nile virus, too. Common symptoms for humans include headaches, fever, fatigue and body aches. For most, the symptoms dissipate – even if untreated. However, for about 1 percent of the cases, the disease becomes more severe – developing into encephalitis, meningitis or worse.
Source: PA Game Commission
CCRKBA Rips Media For Telling Only Part Of Story About Mall Hero
The “mainstream press” is once again trying to spin away from positive coverage about armed citizens and the fallacy of so-called “gun-free zones” in its reports about the St. Cloud, Minnesota mall shooting and the hero shooter, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today.
“There have been very few references to the fact that Jason Falconer owns and operates a private business in which he teaches firearms and self-defense skills to armed private citizens,” noted CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “He is a firearms instructor and competitive shooter, and his skill with firearms certainly paid off for the citizens of St. Cloud last Saturday.
“The media has made only passing reference to the fact that Mr. Falconer was out of his police jurisdiction, and off duty at the time of the shooting,” Gottlieb added. “In effect, he was essentially an armed citizen on a shopping trip to the mall who acted in defense of himself and others who were attacked by a dangerous man armed with a knife.”
Crossroads Center’s website lists a “code of conduct” that includes a prohibition on “firearms and illegal weapons.” Gottlieb said it was fortunate that Falconer was armed despite this prohibition, because having a gun stopped the carnage and may have saved lives.
“How many times must it be repeated before the public understands that ‘gun-free zones’ can be magnets for mayhem,” Gottlieb wondered. “It goes against all common sense that malls and other public venues would mandate disarming visitors, thus leaving them vulnerable to attack.
“It is disgraceful that the mainstream media has downplayed Falconer’s vocation,” Gottlieb observed, “focusing only on his part-time occupation, as if to conceal the fact that he is a devoted shooter, civilian instructor and active competitor. It’s a story they evidently don’t want to tell.”
Source: With more than 650,000 members and supporters nationwide, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms is one of the nation’s premier gun rights organizations. As a non-profit organization, the Citizens Committee is dedicated to preserving firearms freedoms through active lobbying of elected officials and facilitating grass-roots organization of gun rights activists in local communities throughout the United States. The Citizens Committee can be reached by phone at (425) 454-4911, on the Internet at www.ccrkba.org or by email to InformationRequest@ccrkba.org.
Anti-Gunners Already Exploit Mall Tragedy
The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms today expressed relief that a suspect in the horrible incident at the Cascade Mall in Burlington, Washington is now in custody, and offers its heartfelt sympathy to the victims and their families for their painful loss.
“All of Washington State and the Pacific Northwest, including our members and supporters and more than a million law-abiding firearms owners certainly grieve for those directly affected by this inexplicable crime,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “We will learn more about the suspect and his motives as the investigation continues.
“What has been reported, however, is that the suspect apparently had three firearms and that he used a .22-caliber Ruger rifle,” he continued. “These firearms were all legally purchased, but the suspect apparently stole all three from his father.
“Already,” Gottlieb observed, “the gun prohibition lobby is trying to exploit this tragedy via an e-mail message in which it vowed to end what it alleges is ‘an epidemic of gun violence tearing our communities apart.’
“Before the anti-gun rights lobbying organizations beg for one more penny to support their demonstrably-failed agenda,” he said, “they should explain just how they think one more gun control law might have prevented Friday’s mayhem. Two years ago, they pushed a poorly worded and ridiculously complicated background check measure into law. But it appears the suspect stole the gun he used, so how well did that work? Published reports say the suspect has a record that includes domestic violence charges and that a judge ordered him in December not to possess firearms.
“Exploiting this tragic event to press for more ineffective laws that simply erode the rights of honest citizens is dishonest,” Gottlieb said. “If these reports are accurate, this is proof that background checks don’t stop determined, violent individuals from committing crimes that affect us all.”
Source: With more than 650,000 members and supporters nationwide, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms is one of the nation’s premier gun rights organizations. As a non-profit organization, the Citizens Committee is dedicated to preserving firearms freedoms through active lobbying of elected officials and facilitating grass-roots organization of gun rights activists in local communities throughout the United States. The Citizens Committee can be reached by phone at (425) 454-4911, on the Internet at www.ccrkba.org or by email to InformationRequest@ccrkba.org.
Pa. Bill for Mentored Hunters Advances to Full Senate
Legislation that would allow Pennsylvania middle- and high-school-aged kids to try hunting under the direct control of an experienced mentor has cleared the final committee, allowing the bill to be voted on by the full Senate. House Bill 1452 would extend mentored hunting privileges to kids ages 12 to 17. Mentored hunting is already permitted for people under 12 years old, and for adults.
“Pennsylvania is the only mentored hunting state that currently prohibits high school and middle school kids from participating in mentored hunting,” said Evan Heusinkveld, president and CEO of the Sportsmen’s Alliance. “Mentored hunting has been shown to be the safest and most effective means of attracting newcomers to hunting. We strongly encourage Pennsylvania senators to allow teenagers to join younger kids and adults in this opportunity.”
House Bill 1452 was approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee, the final hurdle preventing it from receiving a vote before the entire Senate. The bill was unanimously approved by the Senate Game and Fish Committee on March 22. If approved, it must also be voted on by the full House because of the mentored hunting changes inserted into the bill. HB 1452 also provides discount hunting licenses to trapping instructors.
The Sportsmen’s Alliance, and the other Families Afield partners (National Shooting Sports Foundation, National Wild Turkey Federation, National Rifle Association and Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation), have successfully championed mentored or apprentice hunting in 39 states since the Families Afield program was launched in 2005. The result has been more than 1.6 million licenses sold, many to suburban and urban people as well as women and girls.
Pennsylvania was the first state to adopt a Families Afield-style mentored hunting bill for kids in 2006, and has led the nation in mentored hunting license sales ever since. In 2013, the Pennsylvania legislature approved legislation allowing adults to join the program. However, the Pennsylvania Game Commission reported that it needed special authorization to include kids ages 12 to 17. House Bill 1452 would correct that age loophole in the law and open the opportunity to them.
Source: The Sportsmen’s Alliance
Department of Health Reports First Human Case of West Nile Virus in Pennsylvania in 2016
Pennsylvanians Reminded to Take Steps to Avoid Infection
Pennsylvania’s first probable human case of West Nile Virus (WNV) infection in 2016 has been detected in an Indiana County woman. The Departments of Health and Environmental Protection strongly recommend that all residents minimize their exposure to mosquitoes.
“Detecting the first human case serves as a great reminder for Pennsylvanians to take the proper precautions when they are outside or near areas where mosquitoes are prevalent,” Secretary of Health Karen Murphy said. “There are some simple steps you can take to protect yourself and your loved ones from mosquito-related diseases.”
Although mosquitoes can bite at any time of the day or night, the mosquitoes that transmit WNV are most active at dawn and dusk. When outdoors, people can avoid mosquito bites by properly and consistently using DEET-containing insect repellants and covering exposed skin with lightweight clothing. To keep mosquitoes from entering a home, make sure window and door screens are in place and are in good condition.
The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) conducts regular surveillance and control to manage mosquito populations around the state. So far, DEP has detected WNV-infected mosquitoes in 10 counties.
“DEP monitors the mosquito population across Pennsylvania,” said Acting Secretary Patrick McDonnell. “Today’s announcement serves as a reminder that all Pennsylvanians should take precautions to protect against mosquitoes. Using a personal insect repellant or staying indoors during dawn and dusk will help prevent exposure to mosquitoes.”
The mosquitoes that transmit WNV breed in areas with standing and stagnant water. These areas can include urban catch basins, clogged gutters, discarded tires, poorly maintained swimming pools, flower pots and other types of plastic containers.
Simple steps to eliminate standing water around the home include:
Remove tin cans, plastic containers, ceramic pots, discarded tires or any object that could collect standing water. Drill holes in the bottom of recycling containers left outdoors.
Have roof gutters cleaned every year, particularly if the leaves from nearby trees have a tendency to clog the drains.
Turn over plastic wading pools and wheelbarrows when not in use.
Do not let water stagnate in birdbaths.
Aerate ornamental pools, or stock them with fish.
Clean and chlorinate swimming pools, and remove standing water from pool covers.
Use landscaping to eliminate standing water that collects on your property.
Treat standing water that cannot be eliminated with Bti products which are sold at outdoor supply, home improvement and other stores. Bti is a natural product that kills mosquito larvae, but is safe for people, pets, aquatic life and plants.
DEP will continue to survey affected communities to monitor mosquito activity and WNV. DEP biologists have initiated a survey of the mosquito population to determine the risk for further human illness. If necessary, adult mosquito populations will be reduced. These efforts will continue through October.
For a fact sheet on WNV, including symptoms, please click on the Department of Health’s West Nile Virus Fact Sheet.
For more information, including current WNV test results for mosquitoes, birds and horses, visit www.westnile.state.pa.us and click on Surveillance Maps and Tables, or call 1-877-PA HEALTH.
Penny Ickes, Health, 717-787-1783
Source: PA Department of Health
What’s really behind the ongoing push for gun control?
The gun grabbers tell you they want more gun control in order to keep you safe. But that is the Big Lie.
If they really wanted to limit guns used most to murder people they’d target handguns, which are used in almost half of all homicides. Of 8,124 murders using a firearm in 2014, handguns were used 5,562 times. Rifles were used to murder someone only 248 times. And the dreaded “assault weapon” the politicians make such a kerfuffle over is a subset of rifles, so the number of people killed by those is much lower.
That is evidence the government assault on so-called “assault rifles” is just a show designed to confuse, deflect and cause conflict and a means to begin the incremental steps to a complete gun ban.
According to the FBI, shotguns were used more than rifles (262 times), and Joe Biden says you ought to buy one to shoot from your front porch to scare intruders away. Knives (1,567 times) were the most-used weapon of choice after firearms, followed by “weapon not stated (830 times), what the FBI calls “personal weapons” (hands, fists, feet, etc., 660 times) and blunt objects (clubs, hammers, etc., 435 times).
Of course, keeping us safe is not the goal of the politicians or the gun grabbers or anyone else who would deign to make your choices for you. If they wanted to keep us safe, they would institute “doctor control.” Doctors kill almost a million soon-to-be-born babies a year and more than 1 million more Americans die each year of iatrogenic deaths (doctor or hospital error) and adverse reactions from prescription drugs. The total number of annual homicides using all means (less than 12,000) pales in comparison to doctor-caused deaths.
It’s not politically correct to say it, but most homicides are gang bangers killing other gang bangers, gang bangers killing people standing near their gang banger targets or gang bangers killing people they’ve targeted for crime. Your chance of dying from a gunshot if you are not a gang banger or not committing suicide is 0.0005417721518987342 percent. The media won’t tell you that.
As I’ve told you before, when you hear a politician say he wants “to keep you safe” or he’s doing something “for the children,” what he’s really saying is he wants to steal your liberty. If there’s one constant in politics it’s that the law being considered will do the opposite of what the politician tells you it will do.
All modern governments are organized crime legitimized by the police power of the state. There is illegal crime and there is legal crime. We tend to accept government crime because it has made itself politically legal and politically palatable with such propaganda myths as “democracy.”
All economic power, political power and religious power are vested in the state. The state manages the system backed by police power. Police power is civil and military.
The German state under Adolf Hitler was organized crime protected by visible military power, whereas American so-called democracy is a police state without the jack boots and the swastika. Police power in a modern “democracy” appears more benevolent because it is more subtle or more invisible. But police power is ever present. It normally isolates and prosecutes enemies of the state, radiating its presence through the controlled media for public obedience. This type of police state is accurately described as benevolent totalitarianism. Sometimes, however, it misfires and rears its despotic head in actions like Waco and Ruby Ridge.
All national states have one thing in common. They want all uncontrolled arms of the people confiscated. And just as governments occasionally misfire, so do politicians. In the wake of the alleged Sandy Hook school shooting, Democrat Congressman Jerrold Nadler let slip how the agents of the state feel about the people owning guns:
One of the definitions of a nation state is that the state has a monopoly on legitimate violence. And the state ought to have a monopoly on legitimate violence.
If the premise of your question is that people are going to resist a tyrannical government by shooting machine guns at American troops, that’s insane.
Yes it is insane to think that and the government has made it so. Americans, except for a very small percentage, do not own any “machine guns” they can shoot at “American troops.” Thanks to illegal and illegitimate laws, they cannot own them without jumping through hoops and paying large sums of money required by the 1934 National Firearms Act, the 1968 Gun Control Act and the Hughes Amendment to the 1986 Firearm Owners Protection Act.
The only example of controlled arms in the hands of the people is Switzerland. And even this situation is quasi-military for home defense.
Why do all governments want to confiscate the firearms of their people? It is quite simple. The government political system fears an armed citizenry.
The gun grabbers’ useful idiots are quick to say that Americans with their AR15s are no match for the American military and to think that they could stand up to the U.S. military armed with AR15 is ludicrous. But Afghans resisted the Soviet Army and ran them off with their tails tucked. The Taliban in Afghanistan and the Iraqis resisted the vaunted U.S. military armed with AK47s and improvised exploding devices.
The authorities know full well that they, with all their high tech weapons, cannot subdue a determined people with private arms. This is why they want your guns. Therefore, they use all manner of spurious persuasion to get you to give up your arms and to exert hostility toward others who won’t. Same old divide and conquer.
The man or woman who silently keeps arms and learns to effectively use them is the greatest force there is in defense of freedom.
Organized crime, no matter how legitimate it may appear, wants no risk of being overthrown and no personal risk to the politicians and bureaucrats. It wants no threat to the state that it cannot calculate and control.
The state is therefore the enemy of the people. Otherwise it would not fear the people and want to disarm them. We can clearly understand disarmament because we recognize that the state and its bureaucrats and politicians are on one side and the people are on the other.
The frivolous debate of public safety against crime and criminals is laughable except media hype actually persuades more and more people of this pacifist nonsense. The bold and insane issue of gun control is that the cause of so-called “gun violence” is guns. Meanwhile, the U.S. government is creating violence with weapons of death all over the world.
The strategy of public persuasion with propaganda is far less risky to the state than physical force. Although, keep in mind that propaganda is force and leads as certain to conclusions in favor of the government.
Disarmament propaganda has been going on in the U.S. for many years, along with increased calls for stepped-up requirements of gun registration and piecemeal and continuous legislation. It ebbs and flows in intensity depending upon the political winds.
Before the final act of turning in your guns, as has happened in Canada and Australia, there appears every conceivable ruse of entrapment to make sure that the government can identify every gun owner and every pro-gun sympathizer. And every attack on gun ownership brings out the National Rifle Association’s marketing blitz appeals for new members.
Affixing your name and identity to the NRA is like putting the fox in charge of the hen house. Anyone naïve enough to believe that the NRA membership list won’t end up with gun confiscation authorities is too naïve to own a gun.
Gun confiscation is not child’s play. It has to do with the basic survival of human liberty. Americans should protect their private guns and keep their guns private. This is the first law of survival against the organized crime of the state.
Gun confiscation can be and is being speeded up. As we have seen, all the government needs for an excuse is a massacre or even the pretense of a massacre as in Sandy Hoax and the Orlando Pulse nightclub false flags. Then there is the overwhelming onslaught of propaganda in the form of public outrage and calls for the immediate outlawing of all guns owned by individuals. Yes, a lot of well-meaning dupes join in on the government media hype for gun control. But guns do not cause violence.
What happens to our safety when all guns are in the hands of power-hungry goons? They will plunder and kill under any pretext and without any pretext at all.
Rent the 1998 movie “Enemy of the State,” starring Will Smith and Gene Hackman. Alas, the wimps and simpletons who go along with gun control propaganda will discover to their horror that they are enemies of the state. Mind control is awesome power.
Get your defense gun before it’s too late. Incidentally, short handguns are of little use to most people who have had little or no experience with them. If you choose to buy a handgun you must also choose to get serious instruction on how to use it. And you must practice, practice, practice; and then carry it with you religiously.
Of course, if you are unfamiliar with guns, instruction on their use should come before you make a purchase, or at the very least at the time of purchase.
No liberty lover’s home should be without at least one long gun like a 12-gauge shotgun loaded with buckshot – which discourages attacks upon person and property far more convincingly than a handgun with very little instruction required for proper use — and a sporting rifle like an AR15.
Do it NOW. Home defense is a human right, not a privilege.
Source: By Bob Livingston
Pennsylvania Politicians Announce Their Intent to Violate the Commonwealth’s Preemption Statute
In response to a recent Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling, several local Pennsylvania politicians announced their intent to enact or continue to enforce local gun control laws. These politicians are either seriously misinformed about the effect of the court’s ruling or they intend to knowingly violate Pennsylvania law because they think there will be little, if any, recourse to their actions.
The court’s ruling last week in Leach v. Commonwealth effectively voided Pennsylvania Act 192 (2014). Act 192 provided gun owners who challenge local ordinances with the opportunity to recover their costs, if their challenge is successful, and made it easier for organizations, like NRA, to sue in order to block enforcement of local gun control ordinances. The Leach decision simply held that Act 192 was not passed with proper procedure, so its provisions are not enforceable. The decision does not affect the legality of Pennsylvania’s long-standing firearms preemption law.
Pennsylvania’s firearm preemption law was first passed in 1974. While it has been amended several times, its basic provision remains unchanged. Under the law, “[n]o county, municipality or township may in any manner regulate the lawful ownership, possession, transfer or transportation of firearms when carried or transported for purposes not prohibited by the laws of this Commonwealth.” As with the preemption laws in the vast majority of other states, this law has been interpreted to generally prohibit local governments from enforcing any firearm ordinances that are more restrictive than the laws of the state, or in this case, commonwealth.
Despite the fact that Pennsylvania’s preemption law remains in full force, local officials, emboldened by the court’s decision, seem intent on violating Pennsylvania law by passing new local gun controls. In a press release on the Supreme Court’s decision, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said “[t]his is a great victory for . . . the ability of local governments to adopt common sense gun regulations without fear of financially crippling litigation.” Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski went even further when he told a local news outlet of his plans to reintroduce an ordinance banning firearms in public buildings or parks. Allentown already had such a ban, but repealed it rather than defend the illegal ban in a lawsuit brought under the provisions of Act 192.
The boldness of these local officials in describing their intent to violate the law and their constituents’ civil rights is disturbing, but it also underscores the importance of firearm preemption laws and especially Act 192’s provisions that provide clear remedies for gun owners who sue to overturn illegal local gun control ordinances. An NRA-supported bill to reenact Act 192’s provisions has already been introduced in response to the court’s ruling.
Source: NAR / ILA
Call For Probe Of Fatal Shooting Of Legally Armed Citizen
In the aftermath of Wednesday’s shooting of a legally armed citizen in the St. Paul, Minnesota suburb of Falcon Heights during a traffic stop, the Second Amendment Foundation and Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms are calling for an independent investigation.
“Wednesday night’s shooting of Philando Castile is very troubling, especially to the firearms community, because he was a legally-armed private citizen who may have done nothing more than reach for his identification and carry permit,” said Alan Gottlieb, SAF founder and executive vice president. He also chairs the CCRKBA. “We have received calls of alarm today from many of our members across the country. They are justifiably concerned that a law-abiding citizen may have been wrongfully killed.”
Gottlieb has viewed a video that was reportedly broadcast live on Facebook in the aftermath by Castile’s girlfriend, Diamond “Lavish” Reynolds. She was in the car, along with her 4-year-old daughter and witnessed the shooting.
“America’s 13 million citizens who are licensed to carry deserve to know exactly what happened and why,” Gottlieb stated. “There are conflicting explanations, and only an independent investigation can hopefully reveal the truth.
“We understand that Gov. Mark Dayton has asked the White House for a federal investigation,” he added, “and we believe that either the Minnesota State Patrol, or an agency of equal stature from another state could also be invited to investigate.
“We are cognizant of the racial overtones arising from Mr. Castile’s death,” Gottlieb noted. “The concerns of our members, and honest gun owners everywhere, go even deeper. Exercising our right to bear arms should not translate to a death sentence over something so trivial as a traffic stop for a broken tail light, and we are going to watch this case with a magnifying glass.”
Source: The Second Amendment Foundation (www.saf.org)
Ohio River Sweep 2016
Saturday, June 18, 2016
Since 1989, River Sweep has been organized by the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission, an interstate water pollution agency for the Ohio River Valley, along with environmental protection and natural resource agencies from Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania.
The Allegheny County Sportsmen’s League (ACSL) decided that since the Ohio River is formed by the Monongahela and the Allegheny rivers the member clubs of the ACSL could band together and clean those river banks. Together with the PA DEP we have collected many tons of debris from the river banks.
Later the Beaver and Youghiogheny rivers and their tributaries were added to the task.
The River Sweep is the largest organized volunteer river cleanup effort in the country, winding through Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, West Virginia and Illinois, covering more than 2,400 miles of shoreline.
2016 marks the 26th year of the ACSL’s involvement. Let’s hope that the next generation of ACSL member clubs will continue this excellent project.
Source: Jack Walters (ACSL)
CDC discovers new bacteria species that causes Lyme disease
Researchers have discovered a second type of bacteria that causes Lyme disease that is carried by the same deer tick, but that veers from the condition’s typical symptom of a “bull’s eye” rash.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) with the Mayo Clinic and health officials from Minnesota, Wisconsin and North Dakota said in a press release Monday that the bacteria Borrelia mayonii, as well as the previously known bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi, can cause Lyme disease.
“This discovery adds another important piece of information to the complex picture of tick-borne diseases in the United States,” Dr. Jeannine Petersen, microbiologist at the CDC, said in the release.
Lyme disease, a tick-borne illness, infects more than 200,000 Americans per year, and, if left untreated, can cause potentially life-threatening damage to the heart, joints and nervous system. If treated early with antibiotics, its early symptoms of fever, headache and fatigue can pass after two to four weeks, according to the Mayo Clinic.
The CDC said in the release that the newly discovered bacteria is associated with those symptoms plus nausea and vomiting, as well as diffuse rashes and a higher concentration of bacteria in the blood. The first-discovered bacteria was associated with a rash that forms a “bull’s eye” shape.
Scientists discovered the new species when six of 9,000 samples of people suspected of having Lyme in Minnesota, Wisconsin and North Dakota were found to have bacteria that was genetically distinct from B. burgdorferi. After DNA sequencing, researchers found the bacteria belonged to a different Borrelia species. According to the release, a culture test at the CDC analyzed blood from two of the patients.
The CDC said their findings suggest the new bacteria is limited to the upper Midwest. The agency couldn’t identify it in any of the other estimated 25,000 blood samples drawn during the same period from residents suspected of having Lyme in the other 43 U.S. states— including in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, where Lyme borne of B. burgdorferi is most common.
Source: FoxNews.com
Claim that jet stream crossing equator is ‘climate emergency’ is utter nonsense
Two bloggers have made a stunning claim that has spread like wildfire on the Internet: They say the Northern Hemisphere jet stream, the high-altitude river of winds that separates cold air from warm air, has done something new and outrageous. They say it has crossed the equator, joining the jet stream in the Southern Hemisphere. One said this signifies that the jet stream is ‘wrecked‘, the other said it means we have a “global climate emergency.”
But these shrill claims have no validity — air flow between the hemispheres occurs routinely. The claims are unsupported and unscientific, and they demonstrate the danger of wild assertions made by non-experts reaching and misleading the masses.
The two bloggers who have perpetuated this misinformation are Robert Scribbler, who describes himself as ” a progressive novelist, non-fiction writer and emerging threats expert,” and Paul Beckwith, who is working on a PhD with “a focus on abrupt climate system change” at the University of Ottawa.
Scribbler says the cross-equator flow is a manifestation of man-made global warming, supported by the hypothesis that disproportionate heating of the Arctic is destabilizing the jet stream. “The Hemispherical Jet Streams have moved out of the Middle Latitudes more and more,” he writes. “More and more it has invaded regions both within the Polar zone and within the Tropics. Now, it appears that the old dividing lines are so weak that flows of upper level air between Hemispheres can be exchanged.”
He concludes that this “violation of dividing lines” is “a kind of weather weirding that we are not at all really prepared to deal with.”
Beckwith writes that the jet stream behavior is “unprecedented” and represents “climate system mayhem”: “Our climate system behavior continues to behave in new and scary ways that we have never anticipated, or seen before. . . . We must declare a global climate emergency.”
I reached out to several atmospheric scientists, who have graduate degrees and are trusted sources in the profession, for their reaction to these claims. Without exception, they said air flow between the hemispheres is not at all uncommon.
“This is total nonsense,” said Cliff Mass, a professor of meteorology at the University of Washington. “Flow often crosses the equator.”
Mass added that the cross-equator flow identified by Scribbler and Beckwith is not between mid-latitude jet streams, as claimed. “The analysis is making mistakes that even one of my junior undergrads would not make,” Mass said.
Ryan Maue, a senior meteorologist with a doctoral degree who works at WeatherBell Analytics, agreed with Mass that the cross-equator flow is totally normal and not evidence of a joint hemispheric jet stream. “Cross-equatorial flow at both upper and lower levels is part of the seasonal transition of the Western Pacific monsoon through boreal summer,” he said.
“Sometimes the flows connect up with each other and make it look like a larger flow structure is causing the jet stream to flow from one hemisphere to the other, but it’s in no way unprecedented,” Roy Spencer, a professor of atmospheric science at University of Alabama-Huntsville, explained on his blog.
To be clear, the hypothesis that global warming is destabilizing the polar jet stream is a legitimate idea that has been published in peer-reviewed journals, though it remains controversial. But even the scientist who developed the hypothesis, Jennifer Francis, a professor of meteorology at Rutgers University, suggested it had been misapplied by Scribbler and Beckwith. “I’d say cross-equator flow cannot be unprecedented, maybe not even all that unusual,” she said.
Sam Lillo, who is working on his PhD in meteorology at theﾠUniversity of Oklahoma, said the cross-equator flow evolved from twin areas of high pressure on either side of the equator while a parade of atmospheric waves in the Southern Hemisphere had pushed the subtropical (which is distinct from the mid-latitude or polar jet stream that Scribbler and Beckwith are discussing) jet stream northward, allowing the link to occur. “None of this is unusual,” he said. “There isn’t a wall at the equator separating the two hemispheres, and air is free to flow from one side to the other.”
Scribbler had cited a tweet from Lillo to support his argument of a strengthened equator-to-pole connection, but Lillo countered that the tweet referred to some unusual behavior of a phenomenon known as the QBO or Quasi-Biennial Oscillation, which is “a separate story” from the cross-equator flow. The QBO, he said, is an oscillation in equatorial stratospheric winds, which has been “out of phase.” He chalked up the weird QBO behavior to natural variability “even though I’m an advocate for identifying connections to human-caused climate change.”
Unfortunately, the thoroughly specious claims of Scribbler and Beckwith have gone viral, getting picked up Raw Story, Reddit and Inhabitat.
Such information viewed through the lens of a non-specialist may come across as both credible and alarming but damages the reputation of the science when ultimately shown to be flawed.
“This fear-mongering helps no one,” Maue said.
Examples like this demonstrate the pitfalls of extraordinary claims posted on blogs and the importance of consuming science that has been vetted and peer-reviewed.
UPDATE, 9:20 a.m., July 1: Robert Scribbler has modified his blog post and written a response to the criticisms of his claims. See at bottom of his original post:
Source: By Jason Samenow Jason is the Washington Post’s weather editor and Capital Weather Gang's chief meteorologist.
People Have A Fundamental Right To Own Assault Weapons, Court Rules
Certain semiautomatic firearms deserve the highest level of protection the Constitution allows, says appellate court.
In a major victory for gun rights advocates, a federal appeals court on Thursday sided with a broad coalition of gun owners, businesses and organizations that challenged the constitutionality of a Maryland ban on assault weapons and other laws aimed at curbing gun violence.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit said the state's prohibition on what the court called "the vast majority of semi-automatic rifles commonly kept by several million American citizens" amounted to a violation of their rights under the Constitution.
"In our view, Maryland law implicates the core protection of the Second Amendment -- the right of law-abiding responsible citizens to use arms in defense of hearth and home," Chief Judge William Traxler wrote in the divided ruling.
Provisions that outlaw these firearms, Traxler wrote, "substantially burden this fundamental right."
Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, who recently suspended his Democratic presidential campaign, signed Maryland's Firearm Safety Act of 2013 in the wake of the school massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, which spurred similar initiatives in other Democratic-leaning states.
The legislation mostly targets specific kinds of semi-automatic firearms -- such as AR-15s and AK-47s -- and large-capacity magazines, and adds certain registration and licensing requirements.
But gun rights advocates, including the National Rifle Association, quickly moved to challenge these laws in the courts, claiming that the restrictions they imposed on lawful gun ownership were overly broad and weren't proven to save lives.
"This case was a major victory for the NRA and gun rights advocates."Adam Winkler, UCLA law professor
The legal attacks have largely failed. Last October, a federal appeals court in Manhattan upheld the most iconic of these laws -- those passed in New York and Connecticut in direct response to the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown. And in December, the Supreme Court declined to review a ruling out of Illinois that upheld a similar ban on assault weapons.
The high court's reluctance to intervene in these disputes has left the Second Amendment in a bit of a state of flux. Since the Supreme Court established in 2008 and 2010 that the amendment protects a personal right to keep and bear arms for self-defense within the home, judges have struggled to apply those decisions to the newer spate of gun legislation. And inconsistent rulings and standards across the country have left the scope of the law unclear.
When the Supreme Court refused to take up the Illinois case, Justice Clarence Thomas complained that the Second Amendment was being relegated to "a second-class right."
"If a broad ban on firearms can be upheld based on conjecture that the public might feel safer (while being no safer at all), then the Second Amendment guarantees nothing," he wrote, and added that those earlier decisions enshrining the right to gun ownership shouldn't be expected to "clarify the entire field."
The lack of clarity since then underscores why Thursday's decision may be a boon to those who want to see a broader interpretation of the Second Amendment, setting the stage for the next Supreme Court confrontation.
"This case was a major victory for the NRA and gun rights advocates," said Adam Winkler, a law professor at UCLA who specializes in Second Amendment law. "This opinion is an important one because it subjects important gun control laws to the most strict form of judicial scrutiny."
Indeed, the biggest surprise in Chief Judge Traxler's 66-page opinion is the words "strict scrutiny," a stringent constitutional test that most government laws and regulations fail. Other courts have applied more forgiving standards to similar gun legislation and upheld it.
The 4th Circuit's decision didn't outright strike down the Maryland legislation. Instead, it instructed a lower court to subject the provision to the higher legal standard, meaning more litigation and the possibility of a future showdown at the Supreme Court -- though maybe not yet, according to Winkler.
As if to illustrate the volatile politics and legalities of gun control, dissenting Circuit Judge Robert King all but declared that the court's ruling would lead to the next mass shooting.
"Let's be real," King wrote. "The assault weapons banned by Maryland's [law] are exceptionally lethal weapons of war."
Source: Cristian Farias Legal Affairs Reporter, The Huffington Post
One of the guns used in the November 13, 2015 Paris terrorist attacks came from Phoenix, Arizona where the Obama administration allowed criminals to buy thousands of weapons illegally in a deadly and futile “gun-walking” operation known as “Fast and Furious.”
A Report of Investigation (ROI) filed by a case agent in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF) tracked the gun used in the Paris attacks to a Phoenix gun owner who sold it illegally, “off book,” Judicial Watch’s law enforcement sources confirm. Federal agents tracing the firearm also found the Phoenix gun owner to be in possession of an unregistered fully automatic weapon, according to law enforcement officials with firsthand knowledge of the investigation.
The investigative follow up of the Paris weapon consisted of tracking a paper trail using a 4473 form, which documents a gun’s ownership history by, among other things, using serial numbers. The Phoenix gun owner that the weapon was traced back to was found to have at least two federal firearms violations—for selling one weapon illegally and possessing an unregistered automatic—but no enforcement or prosecutorial action was taken against the individual. Instead, ATF leaders went out of their way to keep the information under the radar and ensure that the gun owner’s identity was “kept quiet,” according to law enforcement sources involved with the case. “Agents were told, in the process of taking the fully auto, not to anger the seller to prevent him from going public,” a veteran law enforcement official told Judicial Watch.
It’s not clear if the agency, which is responsible for cracking down on the illegal use and trafficking of firearms, did this because the individual was involved in the Fast and Furious gun-running scheme. An ATF spokesman, Corey Ray, at the agency’s Washington D.C. headquarters told Judicial Watch that “no firearms used in the Paris attacks have been traced” by the agency. When asked about the ROI report linking the weapon used in Paris to Phoenix, Ray said “I’m not familiar with the report you’re referencing.” Judicial Watch also tried contacting the Phoenix ATF office, but multiple calls were not returned.
The ATF ran the Fast and Furious experiment and actually allowed criminals, “straw purchasers,” working for Mexican drug cartels to buy weapons at federally licensed firearms dealers in Phoenix and allowed the guns to be “walked”—possessed without any knowledge of their whereabouts. The government lost track of most of the weapons and many have been used to murder hundreds of innocent people as well as a U.S. Border Patrol agent, Brian Terry, in Arizona. A mainstream newspaper reported that a Muslim terrorist who planned to murder attendees of a Muhammad cartoon contest in Garland, Texas last year bought a 9-millimeter pistol at a Phoenix gun shop that participated in the ATF’s Fast and Furious program despite drug and assault charges that should have raised red flags. Judicial Watch has thoroughly investigated Fast and Furious and has sued the Obama administration for information about the once-secret operation.
Source: Judicial Watch (www.judicialwatch.org)
DCNR leading statewide forest buffer planting effort to help improve water quality
Close your eyes and listen for a babbling brook. In your mind’s eye, does it have trees along it, making the picture cool and green?
Not only are trees along streams beautiful, they also help provide a filter between polluting landscapes and receiving waters.
In the past, location near water made our farms, cities and towns grow. As we grew, we altered the stream banks, replacing trees with buildings, lawns and crop lands.
Restoring trees and shrubs along waterways can help provide a “buffer” between the non-point source pollution that comes from the general drainage of the land—one of the greatest threats to our water quality.
Many partners at local levels using federal, state and private funding already have planted tens of thousands of acres of buffers during the past 15 years that are providing significant water quality benefits.
DCNR’s Bureau of Forestry is now leading a rejuvenated effort to work with numerous agencies, partners and landowners to expand forest buffers along waterways in the commonwealth.
“Water is a significant part of our work at DCNR, including protecting aquatic habitats and water resources on state forest and park lands; providing and promoting water-based recreation; grant support for green infrastructure and rivers conversation; and groundwater knowledge,” DCNR Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn said.
“With our service foresters already providing private landowners with advice on forest buffers and how to manage their forested lands and metropolitan trees, it makes sense for us to lead this work as part of the department’s strategic effort focused on water resources.”
A goal under DCNR’s water initiative is to plant 95,000 acres of buffers along waterways in Pennsylvania by 2025.
Trees and shrubs along streams—technically known as riparian forest buffers—help filter the runoff of sediments and the fertilizers we apply to our lawns and provide the canopy and shade needed to keep the water cool, which is important for certain fish species like the brook trout.
Volunteers help to plant trees along the lake at Yellow Creek State Park.
They also help improve the recreational opportunities that make our communities better places to live.
Secretary Dunn noted the importance of this best management practice for improving water quality, and recently joined about 40 volunteers from the Senior Environmental Corps and Friends of Yellow Creek State Park on April 14 planting about 400 trees along the lake at the park in Indiana County.
The department is at work creating a plan that will look to complement existing programs and provide greater flexibility in landowner eligibility, buffer designs, widths, plant species and innovative maintenance practices. A 40-member advisory committee met last month and will gather again in early summer.
Source: PA DCNR
Hillary Clinton to Attack Gun Owners Her “Very First Day” in Office
In what has become as reliable as clockwork, with the passing of another week comes another Hillary Clinton attack on gun owners. This time, the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination explained to supporters her intent to make an assault on gun rights and NRA one of her top priorities. A video of her comments has been distributed by Breitbart.com and can be viewed by clicking here.
Addressing an April 25 MSNBC “townhall” hosted by left-wing commentator Rachel Maddow, Clinton stated,
I really support everything President Obama said he would do through regulation on guns but we're going to start the very first day and tackle the gun lobby to try to reduce the outrageous number of people who are dying from gun violence in our country.
Later, the candidate spoke of her party’s chances of taking control of the Senate, stating,
The Democrats have decided they will be led by Chuck Schumer and Chuck Schumer has been one of the most effective legislators in taking on the gun lobby. He and I worked together to get the Brady bill passed way back in my husband's administration. So I think that it's the kind of issue you have to start early, you have to work on it every day and we need to make it a voting issue.
A visibly agitated Clinton concluded her remarks on the subject by noting,
I'm going to keep talking about it, and we are going to make it clear that this has to be a voting issue. If you care about this issue, vote against people who give in to the NRA and the gun lobby all the time.
These comments make clear that gun owners and NRA would be in Clinton’s crosshairs from the moment she assumes office. And thanks to Clinton’s recent candor, gun owners don’t have to guess at the types of restrictions Clinton has in mind for them. Clinton has supported a ban on popular semi-automatic firearms and endorsed an Australian-style confiscation scheme for carrying out her vision. Clinton has expressed her vehement opposition to the Right-to-Carry. Most disturbing, under Clintonﾒs false interpretation of the Constitution, the Second Amendment does not protect and individual right to keep and bear arms and allows gun bans.
Somewhat of a political pragmatist, Barack Obama waited until he secured a second term before launching most of his efforts to restrict firearm ownership. Hillary Clinton is continually making clear that under her reign gun owners would receive no such reprieve.
This is why NRA members, along with their families and friends, must get involved in our efforts to secure a victory for gun owners this fall. At the bare minimum, gun owners must ensure that they and their loved ones are registered to vote. For those that can contribute more to our fight for freedom, NRA-ILA’s Grassroots Division can connect you with volunteer opportunities anywhere in the country, and NRA has made it easier than ever to participate in our efforts. To register to vote or explore further opportunities to help, please visit NRA-ILA’s Election Center at https://www.nraila.org/about/election-center/.
Source: NRA-ILA
CABELA’S HELPS GAME COMMISSION COMBAT WILDLIFE CRIMES
Outfitter provides gift cards to reward tipsters in poaching cases.
DNC Should Put Up Or Shut Up By Dropping Armed Convention Security
The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms called on the Democratic National Committee to show its commitment to gun control by giving up armed security at the national convention in Philadelphia July 25-28.
CCRKBA launched a national petition drive aimed at pressuring Democrats to gather at the Wells Fargo Center without the protection of armed police, Secret Service or private security personnel. The building is already a so-called “gun-free zone.”
“Democrats have become known as the party of gun control,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “Virtually all recent gun control proposals at the federal and state levels have been launched and championed by Democrats. It’s time for the party to ‘put up or shut up’ about guns. The best way to do that is to forsake armed security during the convention.”
He noted the “overwhelming hypocrisy” of privileged liberal elitists who have traditionally opposed expanded concealed carry rights for average citizens while they continue to enjoy the protection of armed security. Front runner Hillary Clinton has stated that the Supreme Court was “wrong” in its 2008 Heller ruling about the Second Amendment. She has pushed gun control for average citizens, yet she enjoys Secret Service protection.
“If a political party believes that guns do not make us safer,” Gottlieb observed, “they should set an example by rejecting any and all forms of armed security at their national convention. A party that does not believe in the right of individual citizens to keep and bear arms should not benefit from the safety provided by others who bear arms.
“No group, organization or political party that makes erosion of a constitutionally delineated fundamental civil right part of its agenda should benefit in any way from the existence of that right,” Gottlieb stated.
Source: the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms
Envirothon to draw hundreds of high school students in late May
More than 300 students and teacher-coaches from Pennsylvania’s 67 counties will be converging on Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Synder County, and Camp Mount Luther in Mifflinburg, Union County, on May 24-25. The students will be utilizing their year-long “Envirothon” experience to vie for the championship title at the Pennsylvania Envirothon.
During the two-day competition, teams accept the natural challenge and participate in a series of field-oriented tests that focus on soils/land use, aquatic ecology, forestry, wildlife and a current environmental issue. Teams also prepare and deliver oral presentations to panels of judges who evaluate each team on its problem-solving capabilities and presentation skills to help solve the specific environmental challenge posed during the competition. Students compete for a share of more than $10,000 in educational scholarships and the honor to represent Pennsylvania at the NCF-Envirothon, North America’s largest high school natural resource education competition.
DCNR collaborates with many partners for the annual event. Visit the Envirothon website for more information.
Source: PA DCNR
People Have A Fundamental Right To Own Assault Weapons, Court Rules
Certain semiautomatic firearms deserve the highest level of protection the Constitution allows, says appellate court.
In a major victory for gun rights advocates, a federal appeals court on Thursday sided with a broad coalition of gun owners, businesses and organizations that challenged the constitutionality of a Maryland ban on assault weapons and other laws aimed at curbing gun violence.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit said the state's prohibition on what the court called "the vast majority of semi-automatic rifles commonly kept by several million American citizens" amounted to a violation of their rights under the Constitution.
"In our view, Maryland law implicates the core protection of the Second Amendment -- the right of law-abiding responsible citizens to use arms in defense of hearth and home," Chief Judge William Traxler wrote in the divided ruling.
Provisions that outlaw these firearms, Traxler wrote, "substantially burden this fundamental right."
Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, who recently suspended his Democratic presidential campaign, signed Maryland's Firearm Safety Act of 2013 in the wake of the school massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, which spurred similar initiatives in other Democratic-leaning states.
The legislation mostly targets specific kinds of semi-automatic firearms -- such as AR-15s and AK-47s -- and large-capacity magazines, and adds certain registration and licensing requirements.
But gun rights advocates, including the National Rifle Association, quickly moved to challenge these laws in the courts, claiming that the restrictions they imposed on lawful gun ownership were overly broad and weren't proven to save lives.
"This case was a major victory for the NRA and gun rights advocates."Adam Winkler, UCLA law professor
The legal attacks have largely failed. Last October, a federal appeals court in Manhattan upheld the most iconic of these laws -- those passed in New York and Connecticut in direct response to the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown. And in December, the Supreme Court declined to review a ruling out of Illinois that upheld a similar ban on assault weapons.
The high court's reluctance to intervene in these disputes has left the Second Amendment in a bit of a state of flux. Since the Supreme Court established in 2008 and 2010 that the amendment protects a personal right to keep and bear arms for self-defense within the home, judges have struggled to apply those decisions to the newer spate of gun legislation. And inconsistent rulings and standards across the country have left the scope of the law unclear.
When the Supreme Court refused to take up the Illinois case, Justice Clarence Thomas complained that the Second Amendment was being relegated to "a second-class right."
"If a broad ban on firearms can be upheld based on conjecture that the public might feel safer (while being no safer at all), then the Second Amendment guarantees nothing," he wrote, and added that those earlier decisions enshrining the right to gun ownership shouldn't be expected to "clarify the entire field."
The lack of clarity since then underscores why Thursday's decision may be a boon to those who want to see a broader interpretation of the Second Amendment, setting the stage for the next Supreme Court confrontation.
"This case was a major victory for the NRA and gun rights advocates," said Adam Winkler, a law professor at UCLA who specializes in Second Amendment law. "This opinion is an important one because it subjects important gun control laws to the most strict form of judicial scrutiny."
Indeed, the biggest surprise in Chief Judge Traxler's 66-page opinion is the words "strict scrutiny," a stringent constitutional test that most government laws and regulations fail. Other courts have applied more forgiving standards to similar gun legislation and upheld it.
The 4th Circuit's decision didn't outright strike down the Maryland legislation. Instead, it instructed a lower court to subject the provision to the higher legal standard, meaning more litigation and the possibility of a future showdown at the Supreme Court -- though maybe not yet, according to Winkler.
As if to illustrate the volatile politics and legalities of gun control, dissenting Circuit Judge Robert King all but declared that the court's ruling would lead to the next mass shooting.
"Let's be real," King wrote. "The assault weapons banned by Maryland's [law] are exceptionally lethal weapons of war."
Source: Cristian Farias Legal Affairs Reporter, The Huffington Post
Snake sense or nonsense? Good snake or bad snake?
By Kenneth Stairs Contributing Writer
Have you ever heard the old adage, “the only good snake is a dead snake”? If that is correct, then there are a lot of good snakes lying on the roads each summer here in Pennsylvania.
And why did the chicken, or in this case the snake, cross the road? It has been said, it is to get to the other side, but maybe it is just to lie on the pavement, concrete or dirt that has been warmed by the sun. Or maybe it is to scare passersby as they drive through the countryside.
A few years ago a regional snake expert/aficionado received a call from a very excited local Keystone State police chief asking if he wanted a really good, big snake that had crawled onto a distant rural back road and spooked two small Amish boys as they walked their cows down the road from pasture to barn for the evening milking.
Turns out the key word here was a “good” snake because as it turned out the snake was a really good snake in the sheriff’s eyes – meaning it was dead.
It had been not only stoned, clubbed and maybe spit upon, but then a passerby worked it over with a shovel.
The snake in question was at first thought to be a large black rat snake, which is undoubtedly the longest snake in Pennsylvania. A 6½ footer is considered about the maximum length for these big constrictors.
There are stories – likely exaggerations – of this species stretching the entire width of a rural road. In any event, this particular snake turned out to be a 10-foot-long Burmese python. Just goes to show that most, but not all, “big snake stories” are far-fetched.
Poisonous vs. venomous
There are no poisonous snakes found in Pennsylvania; in fact, there are no “poisonous” snakes anywhere in the world. There are, however, three venomous snakes in the state.
They are the northern copperhead, the timber rattlesnake and the small and endangered eastern Massasauga rattlesnake.
Poisonous refers to things such as certain mushrooms and other plants and animals that if eaten would be toxic to other organisms. Venomous means that there is a toxic substance in that organism, i.e.: some snakes, most spiders, and various others that use an apparatus such as fangs, stingers and such to deliver the toxin.
Therefore, eating a venomous snake is not dangerous, but eating a poisonous mushroom is.
Unusual questions:
“Do black snakes and rattlesnakes interbreed?” The short answer is, “no.”
“How long do timber rattlesnakes get in the wild?” There are tales of 6, 7 and even 8 footers. Experts who have seen thousands of timber rattlesnakes in the wild say they have seen very few over 54 inches long.
A really large Pennsylvania timber rattlesnake will weigh approximately 4 pounds, making them the heaviest snake in the commonwealth.
“Do copperheads co-mingle with other snake species including rattlesnakes?”
Another short answer, “yes. “
Snake bite
The first thing you should do if bitten by a venomous snake is try to remain calm.
This is easier said than done. Experts do not recommend capturing or killing the snake to take along to the emergency room. That is a good way to be bitten a second time. It also wastes time and adrenaline.
Most emergency rooms don’t have snake experts on staff and actually identifying the culprit is of little value anyway. You see, a snakebite from one of the Pennsylvania venomous snakes is treated the same, regardless of species.
Treatment is based on the symptomology. Bites are graded on severity of symptoms. Very few snake bites are fatal if the victim receives prompt medical attention.
The best advice is remain calm, immobilize the bitten extremity at or below heart level, go to the nearest hospital.
Pennsylvania snakes are very complex and their behavior and place in our ecosystem is very important. Learn more about them and you may find out that the only good snake is, in fact, a live one.
Hunting for shed antlers
I get a surprising number of questions about shed antlers for some reason, with the leading inquiry being the best time to go. This is a loaded question, of course, because the best answer is to shed hunt whenever you can before spring green-up. That’s not typically the answer most people are looking for, however.
They want to know when to stroll through the woods so their odds are highest of finding the most antlers. This is not unlike bowhunters waiting for the pre-rut to kick in before they get serious about stand time. In my experience with antlers, I like March the best. This is because where I live, some of the most productive shed hunting days are those when the snow first melts. When we have normal snowfall years, this is a pretty good strategy.
This year looks like it might not be so wise to wait. We’ve had very little snow, which means antlers that fall now are visible now. To a shed hunter such as myself, who spends most of his shed time on public land, that means that my competition can find antlers right now. And they are out there in full force.
It has become evident over the past five years that shed antler hunting is growing in popularity, which means they are harder to find for most of us. I don’t mind that because I know enough about shed hunting to know that I’ll never find that many to begin with, which is a topic for another blog.
The reality of anyone looking to find sheds is that the antlers are most likely to hit the ground between now and the end of the February. There are outliers, naturally. Bucks can drop anywhere from December to April, with the latest I’ve ever seen a deer still carrying both sides being April 8. Exceptions aside, the bulk of the bone will drop in the next month, you can count on that.
If you have to pick and choose your antler hunts, wait until mid-February, at least. If between here and there your deer woods gets dumped on with snow, bump back your dates to coincide with warmer temperatures in March.
Or, just go now and go later. That’s what I plan to do.
Tony Peterson Blog
REGISTRATION TO OPEN FOR STATE STUDENT ARCHERY TOURNAMENT
Participants in the National Archery in the Schools Program can begin registering Feb. 1.
A huge opportunity is “nocking” for Pennsylvania’s student archers.
The 2016 National Archery in the Schools Program State Tournament is set to be held March 11 in State College. It’s shaping up to be the biggest student archery tournament ever in Pennsylvania. And the Pennsylvania Game Commission is encouraging all schools participating in the program, commonly referred to as NASP, to register to compete.
There is an $11 fee per archer to register, and the first day for registration is Monday, Feb 1. Registration remains open through Friday, Feb. 19.
The NASP state tournament has been growing each year since its inception in 2011, and the March 11 tournament to be held at the Penn State Multi-Sport Facility figures to include close to 1,100 participants from more than 45 schools across Pennsylvania.
The program has been growing in Pennsylvania and worldwide.
NASP, which started in Kentucky in 2002, came to Pennsylvania in 2005. The Game Commission began coordinating the program in 2010 and, so far, the program has expanded to 210 schools.
The tournament always is a sight to see. Ninety-five lanes, each with two archers, will be operating at once. About 9,000 arrows will fly each hour. And somewhere near 46,000 arrows will be fired on the day.
This year, more than $5,000 in scholarships will be handed out to the state’s top performing student archers, helping them pay for college.
Registration can be completed online through the Game Commission’s website, www.pgc.state.pa.us, or directly through the NASP Tournament website, http://nasptournaments.org. To use the Game Commission’s website to register, place your cursor over the “Education” tab, then click “National Archery in the Schools Program.” Registration is just a few more clicks away.
Teams are encouraged to register early this year as space is limited.
NASP helps school districts in Pennsylvania meet physical-education curriculum requirements set by the state Department of Education, and at the same time introduces students to the world of competitive archery.
Tournaments are held at the state, national and international levels, and Pennsylvania sent over 100 students to the 2015 national competition, which was held in Louisville, Ky.
To get NASP started in a Pennsylvania school, contact Todd Holmes, at the Game Commission headquarters, at 717-787-4250, ext. 3330. Also, “PA NASP” can be found on Facebook at www.facebook.com/PennNASP.
Italian Mayor Has Right Response To Prison Releases, Sanctuary Laws
Noting public frustration over the Senate Democrats` blocking of legislation to crack down on sanctuary cities and their renewed push for new gun control laws, plus the announced plan to release thousands of prison inmates early, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today that an Italian mayor faced with rising crime in his region may have the right plan to alleviate public concerns.
“Mayor Gianluca Buonanno of Borgosesia in Piedmont in northern Italy has offered 250 Euros apiece to citizens to help them pay for a gun,” noted CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “This is no tongue-in-cheek joke, either. The mayor has made that offer after accusing the Italian government of failing to protect honest citizens with laws that seem soft on bad guys.”
According to the Daily Mail, Mayor Buonanno`s offer is “to allow people to defend themselves from delinquents, who the government is privileging.” Here in America, Gottlieb observed, Senate Democrats working to protect their far left urban political allies have essentially given the same “privilege” to often dangerous illegal aliens for whom sanctuary cities serve as magnets.
“The Justice Department is about to release thousands of prisoners to relieve overcrowding,” Gottlieb said. “About two-thirds are supposed to be supervised and the rest will be deported, but considering that the suspect in the murder of Kate Steinle this summer in San Francisco had been repeatedly deported, after being convicted of crimes in this country, that's not reassuring.”
“Many of these people may quickly return to lives of crime, no matter where they're from,” he added. “Honest citizens, especially those in low-income inner city neighborhoods, deserve some means of personal protection. How sad that a solution should come from a mayor half a world away; a man who understands that armed citizens are a strong deterrent to such predators, while our own politicians genuflect to political correctness.”
“When government becomes part of the problem rather than part of the solution,” Gottlieb said, “the citizens must act. Mayor Buonanno`s offer to help his constituents buy defensive firearms is an example that his American contemporaries could follow, instead of pushing gun control and protecting this sanctuary city nonsense.”
Source: Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms www.ccrkba.org
ACSL Archives 2016
PLEASE NOTE: We have tried to maintain links where possible,but due to the archival nature of these articles,some links may have changed or be otherwise unavailable.