THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, April 17, 1996 TAG: 9604170004
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines
By the end of today, interfering with fishing in Virginia may be a crime.
The General Assembly is scheduled to vote on a drunken-boating bill that has been amended by Gov. George F. Allen to outlaw intentionally impeding with fishing. The amendment contains the line, ``An emergency exists and this act is in force from its passage.''
What emergency?
PETA - People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals - is moving its national headquarters to Norfolk in June, and the animal-rights group has promised to embark on an anti-fishing campaign when it gets here. Vague threats about interfering with sport fishermen, pier fishermen, commercial fishermen and charter boats have been made.
The mere thought of animal-rights activists chanting, skipping stones and generally taking all the fun out of fishing has so infuriated anglers that politicians are falling all over themselves to stop PETA before it starts.
First Del. Glenn R. Croshaw of Virginia Beach announced that he would introduce legislation in the next General Assembly session making it illegal to interfere with fishing - just as similar laws protect the rights of hunters and trappers.
But if Croshaw had an ace with his proposed law, the governor trumped it with his amendment to HB 1080.
Assuming the bill becomes law: Effective immediately, anyone interfering with a fisherman is going to wind up in hot water.
On a more serious note, two other Allen actions on veto and amendment day are noteworthy.
Allen should be applauded for agreeing to sign H.B. 1412, setting reasonable standards for who can challenge the issuance of clean-air and -water permits. Currently, Virginia's standard in water cases is one of the toughest in the country. The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals recently said that the air standard is also too restrictive.
The governor vetoed a bill that would have raised from $100 to $200 the threshold at which donors to political campaigns need to be identified. Supporters of the measure had taken note of a computer analysis by Virginian-Pilot staff writer David Poole showing that campaigns routinely fail to supply the required information.
Since the omissions could be due to overtaxed volunteers, lightening the burden might result in a better response, the sponsors argued.
``This is not the time to be weakening the provisions of Virginia's campaign-contribution disclosure laws in any way,'' countered Allen. He called for ``the broadest practicable access'' to information about those bank-rolling campaigns.
That commendable concern should prompt Allen next year to support computerization of contribution records and other efforts aimed at increased accountability.
KEYWORDS: PETA FISHING INDUSTRY by CNB