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Park Service may lose authority over Wilde Alaska river showdownThe battle for the Yukon River took another turn on Tuesday when the U.S. House Committee on Appropriations approved legislation banning the National Park Service from enforcing regulations on that international waterway running through the heart of the Yukon-Charley National Preserve. Angry about the handcuffing of an elderly Alaskan on the river last fall, Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, managed to attach the language to the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill, according to a statement from the congressman. Whether a ban on federal law enforcement on the Yukon ever becomes law remains to be seen. The park service and the state of Alaska have been locked in a showdown on the Yukon since rangers confronted 70-year-old Jim Wilde on the river in September 2010. They wanted to check his boat registration and ask him a few questions. Wilde, a strong-willed military veteran and Interior Alaska resident, decided he wasn't going to stop to chat in the middle of the fast-flowing river. Everything went downhill from there. Wilde took off. He said at a trial earlier this year in Fairbanks that he was simply headed for shore to beach his boat so he and the rangers could talk safely on the riverbank. The rangers gave chase. They said at trial that they didn't know what was going on, but thought Wilde might be trying to flee upriver for Canada -- a day's run and a boatload of gas away. During the chase, things got a little crazy. Rangers said they signaled for Wilde, who had his wife and an elderly friend in the boat, to stop. He didn't. Rangers then pointed guns at the people in the boat. Wilde kept going for the beach anyway. There, he said at trial, he got out of his boat and marched over to rangers to chat. According to testimony from the rangers at trial, Wilde got out of his boat and charged at them in a threatening manner. The young rangers jumped the old man, got him to the ground, handcuffed him, and then took him on a lengthy road trip by boat and then truck back to Fairbanks, where he spent three days in jail, before he was released on bail. Eventually, Wilde was charged with four federal misdemeanors: interfering with an agency function, violating a lawful order, disorderly conduct and operating an unregistered boat. Wilde pleaded not guilty. There was a trial in Fairbanks in April before a federal magistrate, who has yet to rule on Wilde's alleged crimes. The judge did, however, deny a request from Wilde's attorney to dismiss the charges on the premise that the National Park Service had no authority over the Yukon. The state Department of Law had filed a friend of court brief in support of Wilde's claim arguing the actions by rangers constituted "unwarranted intrusions by federal agents" on navigable state waterways. The state and the park service are engaged in a long-running disagreement over who has authority over navigable waters and the land beneath them within the tens of millions of acres of new parks created by the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980. The act, which was as widely unpopular in the 49th state as it was widely popular in the all of the other states, opened wounds that have yet to heal. After the Wilde trial ended, Fairbanks residents held a "Fed Up With the Fed'' rally to protest what they believed to be heavy-handed law enforcement by the park service and other federal agents in Alaska.
The Park Service Rangers have been heavy-handed goons in Alaska ever since statehood. Remember the D-2 land swaps? Remember the young woman killed by these goons in the upper end of the Wrangell-St. Elias Park for the "sin" of having a 4-wheeler trail to her cabin, which had been there long before the Park was ever declared. These idiots need to be taken out, flogged, disgraced, and sent home to wherever home is, and I for one am glad to see that at least one member of the Congressional Delegations understands that. This is OUR home and OUR land. As long as we aren't hurting anyone else by our actions, it behooves the park service to keep its guns and its long nose to hell out of our affairs. Those rangers are lucky they didn't get a belly full of lead. I hope they learned a lesson and stop acting like Dudley Do Right on the Yukon. This is the very reason that we better vote in all elections. We went from a society of people who could voice our problems and lock our doors, to being told to shut up and put your hands behind your back. They knock your door down and shoot innocent people, just because they thought and without warrant plus.., you may or may not be released from a jail/cell and to me, that's communism terrorist or something non american. It may hurt to lose some of our welfare benefits we have grown accustomed to but this is trying times, our liberty is fast leaving sight. We have a chance to vote a man whom by the way is the only one who served in the military himself running as a person driven by value. Ron Paul only needs to serve one term to turn this sinking ship around. Our grand kids will thank us, and we just might find out how many foreign countries are our friend. When we take them off the welfare list, we should have jobs here at home, money in our pockets, most importantly liberty first and foremost. The feds need to get over it - they don't own us, and we do need to hunt and fish. In fact, to support Wilde, the Governor should have ordered the arrest of the two Park Service thugs for assault, kidnapping, and reckless endangerment. The State is supposed to have authority over all navigable waters within the State. There should be no federal enforcement of anything here. It is time our Governor, Legislature and Congressional delegation got it in gear and put forth legal and legislative challenges, and encouraged peaceful demonstrations against federal oversight of anything in Alaska. "Back in the day", it was NPS policy to take the least invasive method necessary to gain compliance. My, how the times have changed. If it's in a Federal Park then the Park Service has the right to enforce regulations. What's with the Alaskans idea that they can be rebels and refuse to acknowledge the Park Services rights to enforce the laws and regulations? Do Alaskans think they are special? Well if they are so special then they ought to stop requesting so much federal handout. You need to read Alaska's Statehood Compact, buddy. You don't have a clue. Tell you what IMHO, Thankyou Don. I guess that a move like this must have had a price but it seems well worth it from here in Alaska. |
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