Poaching not against law?

[Lee Borgersen]

  ...  Guess poaching isn't always against the law


http://www.startribune.com/local/233328371.html

Judge cites 1837 treaty in throwing out indictments in Minnesota fish poaching scheme

  .......
A federal court judge in Minneapolis on Monday threw out the indictments of three men arrested in a major fish poaching scheme on Indian reservations in northern Minnesota, saying the men were protected under an 1837 treaty.

The three were among 10 men who were indicted on a charge of buying and selling hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of walleyes netted from lakes on the Leech Lake Indian reservation and selling them in violation of federal, state and tribal law.

U.S. District Judge John Tunheim dismissed the indictments against Jerry Reyes, Marc Lyons and Frederick Tibbetts, saying, “The 1837 Treaty protects defendants’ right to fish on the reservation and Congress has not specifically abrogated that right.”

At the time of the indictments, filed April 10, Jim Konrad, enforcement director for the Department of Natural Resources, called it “a very big deal.”

All three men are enrolled members of the Leech Lake Band of Chippewa Indians and Tibbetts is a member of the White Earth Band of Chippewa Indians.

And this is a fellow band of the Chippewa band that sponsors Wisconsin Woods and Waters, and brags how they are so big on conservation and protecting our natural resources.

[ray634]

Other men were brought to a different judge and he did not buy the treaty  .

Any bets as to which judge expects a large contribution to his reelection fund?

[beeker]

re-election fund? judges usually run un-opposed.. which is a bunch of BS.. in chisago county a number of years back a fresh out of law school grad ran and won.. guess she messed up all kinds of cases.