“The Coalition for Nevada’s Wildlife is deeply concerned about the quality of upcoming appointments to the state Board of Wildlife Commissioners. Chairman Clint Bentley has served 2 terms and will be leaving the commission.  Mr. Jim Jeffress from Lovelock and Mr. Jack Robb from Reno have served one term (ending June 30) and are seeking reappointment. Mr. Jeffress is probably the most technically knowledgeable of any commissioner in history; and his awareness of NDOW workings is invaluable. Jack Robb has served well; his proposal to allow  purchase of a lion lion tag along with a deer application has streamlined the process.

“We have been informed that the Governor does not plan to reappoint Jeffress and Robb and instead appoint candidates suggested by HUNTER’S ALERT. We have unfortunately witnessed the conduct of the governor’s latest appointment who was selected “out of the blue” over some very qualified individuals. We can not stand by and allow the Wildlife Commission to be taken over by a handful of disgruntled individuals from hate groups.”

Now let’s critique these ridiculous statements made by Larry Johnson. If Mr. Jeffress was so technically knowledgeable, why then, under his watch as a 20 year biologist for NDOW in Humboldt County, were deer numbers in a steady decline?  By the way, Larry, what has Mr. Jeffress done to bring back our deer while serving as a Wildlife commissioner? The answer is Nothing.  As for Jack Robb’s proposal, Larry you have to quit lying and shooting from the hip. You continually lose credibility when you lie and that’s exactly what you did when you stated that Jack Robb’s proposal to allow purchase of a lion tag with a deer tag. HUNTER’S ALERT will set you straight on this issue, Larry.

It was in the 74^th Legislative session on March 28, 2007 hearing for AB 259. Director Ken Mayer was there and presented a 7 point compromise to the proposed mountain lion bill, AB 259. These 7 proposals were listed in the HUNTER’S ALERT summer, 2007 newsletter. Larry, you need to start reading the HUNTER’S ALERT newsletter. You could learn a lot from it.

Oh Larry, it’s okay to appoint members of NBU but not someone from HUNTER’S ALERT. Please show me where that is written.  By the way, HUNTER’S ALERT has done more for sportsmen than the Coalition has ever done. As for that individual who was selected “out of the blue”, he was a member of a county wildlife advisory board prior to being appointed to the Wildlife Commission unlike Robb and Jeffress.  I guess qualifications didn’t matter when Robb and Jeffress were considered as long as “your boys” got appointed.

As for the disgruntled individuals, wake up Larry. There are literally many thousands of disgruntled sportsmen in our state because “your boys” deserted them on mule deer. As for hate groups, I’m sure you meant that for HUNTER’S ALERT and Nevada Hunters Association. Yeah, Larry. We hate corruption and the mismanagement in NDOW. It was rampant during Willie Molini’s and Terry Crawforth’s administrations.

Of course, you supported these two former directors. So it doesn’t say much for your character. By the way, you got to fly in the NDOW helicopter so the corruption would be overlooked by you. You sold out cheap, Larry. You stated that you worked within the system. The system was corrupt, and many state audits proved this, so you must have approved of the corruption.  Once again, Larry, so much for your judgment of character.

While we’re at it, Larry, sportsmen need to know that you testified against putting three more sportsmen on the Commission. You testified against putting an accountant on the Commission. Audits have since proven this would have saved millions of sportsmen’s dollars.  You testified against removing more lions yet had no solution for solving a serious predator problem in our state. These are just a miniscule number of facts that prove Larry Johnson is no friend of Nevada sportsmen. Larry, you have hurt sportsmen more than you have helped. Anybody can give NBU’s money away so quit patting yourself on the back, step aside and let someone else do it while doing the sportsmen of Nevada a big favor.