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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Local Scene Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us February 27, 2006 LETTER TO THE EDITOR: At Length Cheney didn’t follow ethics of hunting By Nancy Ames Cole Ashland Regarding your editorial, “We Don’t Blame Cheney,” you conclude that based on known facts, it was just a “hunting accident,” and that’s all. That dog won’t hunt. For one thing, we don’t know the facts. We never will, because Mr. Cheney didn’t report to the police when he should have. Mr. Cheney’s choices require a closer look at the nature of hunting — and accidents. Older readers may remember my parents, of Seiber’s Sporting Goods in Talent. I don’t hunt, but I grew up with the standards by which hunters are judged. A good hunter knows tracks, sign, terrain, season, time, wildlife, weather and the importance of making a meal from the hunt. Serious hunters leave their automobiles far behind and are willing to challenge themselves and mysteries of nature. Ancient skills and values are inseparable from honorable hunting. Mr. Cheney ignored the hunters’ code. The so-called “canned hunt” is not hunting, it’s killing. No more, or less. If not seeking food, killing for fun poses ethical questions. But at least the sport of hunting requires skills and a code of honor. Canned hunts involve stepping from a car to shoot tame animals. One day in Pennsylvania, Mr. Cheney killed at least 70 pheasants while his party killed hundreds more. Such numbers rule out going to find the creatures, a basic of hunting. You can’t designate this Texas episode as a “hunting accident.” You’d have to substitute “killing accident,” a phrase which should give anyone pause. If I brought a gunshot friend to ACH, within minutes the police would be there with questions and a sobriety test. Mr. Cheney did not follow this procedure any more than he did the code of the hunter. We’ll never know what he did because the right people couldn’t ask timely questions. If a tipsy driver plows into a pedestrian, is that merely “accident?” The shooter himself raised this question through delay, in effect “taking the Fifth.” It’s time to look closely at hunting and its grotesque modern variations. A Modest Proposal: For various game, each county sets aside two hunting preserves. One is for demonstrably skilled traditional hunters. The other would be for …well, you know who you are. The rules for this preserve are simple: Leave your car at the boundary and eat what you kill. If forced to play by those rules, Mr. Cheney might behave differently, except he does not play by the rules of ordinary citizens. For that, Mr. Cheney is accountable. The Tidings gives priority to letters on local and regional topics of current interest. It seeks to encourage thoughtful, well-reasoned letters and to discourage personal attacks, repetitive messages and personal disputes. Form letters are not published in the Tidings, nor are letters identified as having been published in other publications. Contributions to the Opinion page should be e-mailed in text-only format to [email protected]. DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Deep Muscle Stimulator Ceramic Piggy Banks FREE Entertainment Guide Women's & Men's Slippers Accelerate Weightloss Products Backpacks Merchant Account Vegas Travel Guide Search Engine Optimization Student Loans Hotel & Airline Reservations Hammocks Water Filter Helzberg Diamonds Online Casinos Community Bonus Casino Mortgage Calculator Security Systems Mailing Lists Click Here Advertisement .:Advertisements:. Site Search: RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams