Did I Do the Right Thing

[FarmerDave]

Chaz wrote:
No one is permitted to alter anything in the streams of PA without a permit from DEP, I don't care if the entire stream is on 1 property, the stream laws in PA are ver explicit on this. As to whether you tried to educate your family friend if you did that then you've done all you can. The guys that said you didn't do the right thing aren't thinking about anything but their property rights as they see them not what the law says.
Additionally no one may use heavy equipment in a stream with adjacent wetlands from April 1 to June 30(?) if the area has or is suspected to have Bog Turtles.

Well Chaz, I agree with most of that, but I am going to have to respectfully disagree with part of your assessment about all those that disagreed. that is simply not what i was thinking initially and I am a property owner. A lot of people have missed some important details in this. I think he screwed up for reasons that haven't been discussed yet. I didn't want to say anything because it makes him look way worse than any of the jokes. However, I did agree that he did (EVENTUALLY) do the right thing.

Lets review the original message for a minute.

[color=0000CC]"Yesterday I got wind that a old time family friend was going to stock a small section of a creek by their newly aquired cabin so the young children wouldn't have to deal with the crowds. However, the stream is class A and one I fish all the time. When I was there Monday I noticed the stream bed was dug out. Putting 2 and 2 together I realized this is where they are placing the fish. With there **** poir attitudes and "I'll do it anyway" mentality they are gearing up for Sat. "[/color]

Lets look at this chronologically. It was posted on 4/12 which was a Thursday. He noticed the stream was dug out on Monday. He did nothing at that time. If it were as bad as he expressed in a later message, he should have called as soon as he got near a phone (IMO). that is what i would have done. He didn't call until after he got wind that they were going to stock it for the kids. To top that off, he couldn't have warned them about it, because he "noticed" the hole before he found out they were going to stock it.

Based on all that, I had originally assumed the hole was small, because he didn't make the call. I wouldn't have either in that case. It appeared that he made the call because they planned to stock it with fish for the kids to catch. I felt that was a little strong at the time.

At this point, I don't know what to believe other than I ticked him off with my poor jokes. It looks more like the follow-up was to cover his butt because of all the negative responses, but I am not making that judgment. I can only go by what he actually said. Based on that, it looks to me like he didn't care about the hole, and only cared about the stocked trout. You tell me which is the more serious offense. I guess the bottom line is the call was made which was the right thing, but it appears to have been made for the wrong reason.

Anytime anyone sees heavy equipment pawing around in a creek, they should make a call immediately!

and I am dead serious this time. No, really.