OK - I have created an online petition against the Rhode Island Saltwater Recreational License. Please go to this site and voice your opinion!

http://www.petitiononline.com/riswrl/petition.html

Thanks,

John

All signed up, here's my comment

"I will purchase as little as possible in RI, if I have to purchase a licence to fish saltwater."

DONE

:wave:

I'm signed up and I sendt emails to Senator Algiere and Rep. Lewiss.

where are the tea bags when I need them

Nils

My name & comments are there!

I expressed the same sentiments as fishsmith.. altho I realize that most bait n tackle owners are not the ones at fault there...:smash:

Nice work, John. Your earlier letter was great too.

John,

I took the liberty to post the link to the petition on a couple of other boards I'm on. I hope that was OK with you, in the heat I forgot to ask first.... :smash: so now I'm asking for forgiveness again.:D

If it's OK with you I would ask people to post this link on other boards that they frequent...

Nils.. Fishing in RI for at least another week.

JohnR, If I forward this to unregistered friends and fellow anglers, will they be able to sign?:)

By all means - spread the word. This has nothing to do with Striped-Bass.com and all to do with another stupid TAX!

Well in that case, everyone in the old address book gets it!
(Dad already got it!)

Done.

Thanks & PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD!

Um, John - of course I'd gladly sign it but does a non-resident signature carry much weight?

I'm only a RI resident on the weekends (I don't know if sleeping in the truck counts though). ;) :laughs:

done

:btu:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 23, 2003

CARCIERI TAKES STEPS TO END
FISHING LICENSE FEE AND
RESTAURANT MEAL AND BEVERAGE TAX PROPOSALS

Governor Donald L. Carcieri said today he is taking steps to address particular problem areas in the General Assembly's FY 04 budget, including proposals to establish salt water fishing license fees and restaurant meal and beverage taxes.

The Governor noted that he met today with House and Senate Republicans to set the stage for a series of floor votes later this week when the full House considers the $2.8 billion spending plan. Among the budget items the Governor intends to challenge: saltwater fishing license fees, restaurant meal and beverage taxes, state subsidies to greyhound kennel owners and personnel reforms relating to pensions and COLAs.

"We are the Ocean State, and saltwater recreational fishing is our heritage," said Governor Carcieri. "It is basic family recreation that all Rhode Islanders should be able to enjoy free of charge. These proposed fees are a perfect example of what happens when state spending balloons year after year. Once that happens, there's no turning back and taxpayers are left to foot an ever growing bill."

Patagonia - welcome to S-B!

Good news - looks like we have the Gov behind us! It's a start, now to get the Democrat House & Senate behind this too....

For those of you out of staters: It is almost as vital that you sign the petition as we can tell them how we'll vote but you out of staters will also vote with your wallets... It would be encouraging for them to know...

DONE

all signed. non-resident might carry some weight. why should i go to rhody to fish when i can do it for free in conn.?

Done :D

Fishing is a birth right. To its like taxing life.

if they try this: they will be voted out of office and the license will be a declaration of war against the citizens of New england!!
this is the straw that breaks the camels back! NO way !!!!

Link up & voice your opinion! :btu:

Its worth signing but it will have little effect. The problem with RI is politics. These are the same people who supported putting a russian factory ship parked in the bay for months as a "job creation" move and now wonder why there are no herring and other forage fish showing up? (must be the airport...couldn't possibly be we are overfishing them)

You need to vote out the liberal tax-it-all-bias...mark my words...if this keeps up your boat tax will be back on top of RI's insane property and business taxes. MA ain't much better. You have blue collar workers that have been brainwashed by unions et al into thinking that bigger gov't and the robin-hood approach of re-distribution of wealth via taxing the "rich" (read: working people and those creating jobs and taking risks) and giving to the "poor" (read: govt and non-workers) is the "right" way to go..well guess what....your the rich.
Sign all you want but your better off voting the dems out.

signed, nice job John putting this together

Name State of Residence Will this proposed license influence how you vote

Comments 334.
Al Brackett Massachusetts
I will not pay to fish Rhode Island, or buy bait plugs or food, gas whatever. when I can fish in Massachusetts and other New England states for free, and spend my money there as well.Thank you for your time. / albrackett

(must be the airport...couldn't possibly be we are overfishing them)
Duhh - when you can smell the de-icer like I have 5 out of 7 days, there is little doubt. When the stream bottoms are very orange in color, there is little doubt, when you can watch the slicks passing downstream, there is little doubt...

I'm not saying too many nets aren't part of the problem but those same nets were there in past years and that plkace was rocking.

Done. I will never pay to fish any salt water they will have me in court 365 days a year but thats the only way they will stop me from fishing!

Nay to the license.

Proposal for saltwater fishing licenses catches flak

http://www.projo.com/news/content/projo_20030625_fish25.5d0cd.html

House Finance Committee Chairman Paul Sherlock, D-Warwick, says the license idea was among "a number of fees and license kinds of issues that were put on the table as sources of revenue," though he would not say by whom.

John,
You may be right I really don't know the facts on the de-icer issues...but isn't the streams and rivers a good distance from the location of the de-icing station? Is the airport runway runoff directly into the streams?

As a whole I think most of the runs (RI and beyond) did not produce as well this year as in the past and measures are being discussed (among wardens anyway) to close some runs or take drastic measures in MA too.

IMO herring should *only* be taken on the way OUT not on the way in...It just seems to me that they go through great pains to establish run only to deplete the future source of the stocks by taking roe-laiden females on thier way to spawn....let them spawn and take them afterwards. Seems like common sence to me.

526 signatures....c'mon we can do better than that. Instead of just forwarding this link to a friend, you should type it up as a personal email...and include the link in your email. I normally delete anything that's been forwarded to me, but when it has its' own header...I open it. Just a thought.

Gilly

Posted with comment and forwarded to fishing friends.

Ps- Budget also has an axe in it for some of DEM's budget. Approximately 11 jobs to be lost from State. Some programs vital to the health our local waters(stormwater mitigation) will be shifted out of control of local jurisdiction and transferred to Regional EPA office.

I signed last night and got a comfirmation today. Told them that if costs become a problem that I can take my vacation in CT.

Sandman - it's legit deicing. They hose it off the airplanes and walla. Not doing a proper containment job. Apponaug was pretty strong this year - just Buckeye Brook was weak (IMO) and it often REEKED of chemicals - I know, I go by 4 parts of it on my way home

S-B Members,

Yesterday I received a call from Mario of Mario's squid strips. Mario stated that he spoke to a friend in the Governers office and that the Govener would veto the bill, as he is opposed to the bill.

I had also left a message with Attorney Peter Lewis of Westerly RI(also a state rep). Mr Lewis called this morning and stated: I beleive this bill will be pulled.

Looks as though all the flack hit home.

Don M

I have seen significant excerpts where state senators & reps talk about squashing this I have recieved numerous e-mails in return (see below). It looks good that this will die off BUT any Govenor's Veto can be overturned by the legislature if they cobble together the votes - which they have if they vote party ticket. AND if it remains included in the grander scheme, it might still slide through so please keep up the excellent work. 676 Signatures!

First from Govenor Cacieri's office (like many other's recieved) June 25, 2003

Dear Mr. Redmond:

Thank you for your e-mail regarding the House budget proposal that will impose an $18 a year license fee on people who fish in saltwater.

I can assure you that I strongly oppose this proposal to implement a saltwater fishing license program! I believe people in Rhode Island think of saltwater fishing as a birthright and I can assure you I will do all I can to make sure this budget proposal is defeated. I thank you for your comments and urge you to contact your state representatives on this important matter. I firmly believe that active citizen participation is the most certain path to good government.

Sincerely,

Donald L. Carcieri
Governor

From my state senator: Thank you for your email regarding fees for salt water fishing. I was surprised and disappointed to see this article in the Budget. I will do all that I can do to have these fees stricken from the Budget.

Thanks for your concern.

William A. Walaska
Senator - District 30

Sadly - I have yet to here something from my almost neighbor and state representative Peter Ginaitt - the recipient of most of my e-mails. Gee, maybe he had something to do with this??

John,

Is there any way to find out who proposed this legislation?

We'll see buy it was the busget commision or whatever it's called

I gladly signed the petition and submitted it.

Then I read the fine print on the petition. Will those who signed the petition, and released their email addresses, unkowingly provided their addresses to a firm that will sell the addresses to spammers?

Any thoughts?

Article 20, calling for a marine recreational fishing license, in the state budget has been removed.

Done !!!!
:af:

Originally posted by BruceinRI
I gladly signed the petition and submitted it.

Then I read the fine print on the petition. Will those who signed the petition, and released their email addresses, unkowingly provided their addresses to a firm that will sell the addresses to spammers?

Any thoughts? Did some further looking and this hopefully answers the question: "Information regarding visitors to 24/7 Media sites is aggregated for the purposes of reporting to advertisers, ad sales organizations and the Web sites. Information about specific visitors is not made available to any of these organizations. "

done signed.

Thanks Katie :btu:


Well, as the issue was removed from the budget, time to unstick this thread and see about dousing the petition. Thank you everyone! It made a difference too!