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Biologists write very few tickets Last summer, while fishing on the Upper Sacramento River, I crossed paths with a fish and game officer in California who threatened to write me a ticket. And it made me wonder, can state fish and wildlife biologists write tickets for hunting and fishing violations? -- Bob R., Central Point The old-style "game wardens" of Oregon who worked for the old Fish and Game Commission and wrote tickets to salmon-snaggers and deer-poachers are no more this side of the Siskiyou Summit, Bob. For decades, Oregon's fish and wildlife biologists carried ticket books while in the woods or on the waters around the state. But that changed in the 1990s and now the biologists from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife have no more authority to enforce fishing or hunting laws than the rest of us. Sensing that biologists did not have the training to safely deal with outdoor outlaws, ODFW officials took away their ticket books about six years ago, says John Thiebes, the biologist in charge of the ODFW's Central Point office. To get the ticket-writing authority returned, the biologists had to take a series of training sessions from the Oregon State Police, which handles fish and wildlife enforcement issues in Oregon. Thiebes says only a handful of biologists have taken that training. They include Vic Coggins, a Medford native and ODFW biologist in Enterprise. "Everyone else takes the information down and gives is to the OSP, just like any other citizen," Thiebes says. NOT THAT MEDFORD: We talked to Medford parks director Greg Jones last week to answer a question from a Medford reader about parking at Medford's dog park. So why did we call Jones Ashland parks director in the column? Even we don't know. For the record: Yes, Jones directs Medford's parks department, and yes, he was talking about the Medford dog park. ("Since You Asked'' is a daily feature in the Mail Tribune that answers questions from readers on virtually any topic of general interest. To submit a question, e-mail us at [email protected] Please include your name, address and phone number for verification. If you have specific questions about our Web site or other questions about the Mail Tribune, please send them to [email protected] ) Today's Edition : News | Sports | Business | Weather | Tempo | Classifieds Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA