Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 17, 1994 TAG: 9402170142
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Several bills crucial to the department are on shaky ground at best.
"We aren't spending any money yet," said Virgil Kopf, chief of the department's Planning, Policy and Environmental Services Division.
Legislation that would reroute the 2 percent boat titling tax from the general fund to the boating fund - where it belongs - easily passed the House, but is facing a tough test in the Senate.
Word is that Sen. Hunter B. Andrews, the powerful chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, doesn't like the idea of the general fund losing the more than $2 million annually the boat tax generates.
A bill that would boost the cost of a trout license from $6.50 to $12 annually was voted down in the House, then resurrected and sent to the Senate by a 63-31 vote. The struggle in the House means the bill isn't a shoo-in for the Senate.
The measure would create an additional $500,000 annually for the trout program, which is operating in the red.
At quitting time Wednesday, the game department was uncertain about the fate of a bill that would let it charge a fee to those who use its facilities but don't support them through the purchase of a hunting or fishing license or boat registration. The bill went to the House floor, then was sent back to committee, an action that got it caught in Tuesday's mad rush for the House and Senate to meet the deadline of completing action on their own bills.
\ HOTTEST LAKE: Philpott Lake continues to be the best spot in Virginia to catch bass. Deep jigging with a Hopkins spoon is the technique that has been hooking big numbers of largemouths and smallmouths.
The latest catch included: 11 largemouths for Leon Hancock of Bassett; 17 largemouths that averaged 3 pounds for Don Hiatt and Jim Ayers of Cana; 16 largemouths and two smallmouths for Curtis and Jeff Newman and Ricky Hardis of Henry County; 11 largemouths weighing up to 6 pounds for Randy Marion; and nine largemouths for Hiatt and Bobby Collins of Cana.
\ WE AREN'T WIMPS: Outdoor sportsmen came away looking like wimps when two major programs - the NRA Great American Hunters Tour and the Bass Fishing Techniques Seminar - were disrupted by inclement weather last weekend. The NRA program was canceled at the Roanoke Civic Center the same night more than 4,000 hockey fans showed up for an Roanoke Express game.
The problem wasn't with weather-weary outdoorsmen, but with program speakers who couldn't get to Roanoke because of ice-covered highways and closed airports.
Rough weather has been following the 100-city NRA show from town to town, thinning the crowds and increasing the likelihood that the program will be a major money loser, not counting the new memberships being picked up along the way.
Unlike the NRA event, the bass program, sponsored by Virginia Tech, has been rescheduled, but under a different format. There will be four sessions, instead of two, and the first will include dinner with Jimmy Houston, a treat not originally scheduled.
Here's the schedule: Jimmy Houston, Feb. 28; Dan Iovino, March 7; Randy Romig, March 9; and Penny Berryman, March 16. Seminar hours at the Tanglewood Holiday Inn are 7:30-9:30 p.m. each day, except dinner with Houston will begin at 6:30 p.m. The dinner has been added to the program without additional charge.
There's still time to join the program. The cost is $74 for a four-session ticket (tickets won't be sold for individual nights). To register, call (703) 231-5183.
\ PARK SETBACK: The Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation mailed a news release this week announcing that state park campgrounds would open March 4. Then came phone calls from rangers at outlying parks saying, "No way!"
Many parks were hard hit by the ice storm, especially Claytor Lake and New River Trail. So now the opening date is March 18, and even then campgrounds won't be in first-class condition because of storm damage, said Gary Waugh, the department's public relations manager.
Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1994
by CNB