Posted on 11/23/2001 1:50:10 AM PST by 2Trievers
The owner of a Manchester firing range is suing the Fish and Game Department’s top law enforcement official alleging he defamed him by calling him a "criminal." James L. McLoud, owner of the Manchester Firing Line Range (formerly Wolfs Range), alleges Col. Ronald P. Alie embarrassed him in front of legislators, gun enthusiasts and people in the law enforcement community with whom he has business dealings. The incident allegedly occurred after a State House hearing in March on a firearms bill McLoud supported. The firing range owner said he has never been convicted of a crime, but he was wrongly arrested by Fish and Game several years ago and the case was thrown out of court. “This irritated Fish and Game so badly they will do anything to slander me,” McLoud said. “They did not tell the truth, including in the court case . . . I think that’s why the judge threw it out.” The lawsuit filed in Hillsborough County Superior Court alleges Alie described McLoud as “nothing but a criminal on the loose” and accused him of illegal night hunting. “Our position very clearly is that when you accuse someone of being a criminal who is in a regulated business involving firearms, it is highly defamatory,” said McLoud’s lawyer, Charles G. Douglas III. Alie denied the accusations through his attorney. “The allegations regarding the defendant are denied,” said Richard Head of the Environmental Protection Bureau in the Attorney General’s Office, who pointed out that the case was in the initial stages. “We are in the process of investigating what the claim is, as well as the events of 1996 that gave rise to Mr. McLoud’s arrest,” Head said. “All of those issues are going to be raised in defense of the claims brought by Mr. McLoud.” According to the lawsuit, McLoud’s clash with Fish and Game began Nov. 14, 1996, when he dropped off firearms at a relative’s home in Meredith. McLoud and his uncle drove to Meredith Neck to observe deer with night-vision goggles. Neither had any firearms of any type with them, the lawsuit says. Fish and Game officers who were conducting a night-hunting sting pulled the car over and one of the officers placed a gun to McLoud’s temple, the suit says. McLoud was arrested “based on the officers’ erroneous presumption that Mr. McLoud had earlier that evening shot a rifle at a mechanical decoy deer used in the night-hunting sting operation.” Fish and Game officers seized the firearms from McLoud’s uncle’s home. Among them was a “temporarily modified” Thompson Center Contender handgun. The lawsuit says an officer test fired it and concluded the sound the weapon made was the same as the shot he heard when someone fired at the decoy deer earlier that night. The lawsuit says the officers offered McLoud a deal. He would get his gun back if he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor, paid a $50 fine, lost his license for 6 to 12 months and gave Fish and Game the expensive night scope attached to the gun. When McLoud rejected the deal, he was charged with illegal use of a silencing device, trespass, illegal night hunting and carrying a loaded firearm on a public highway. A judge found the Thompson Contender was illegally seized and couldn’t be used as evidence. The charges were dismissed. Nevertheless, the state petitioned for forfeiture of McLoud’s sound suppresser, the gun and the night vision device. The court, according to McLoud’s lawsuit, found the sound suppresser was contraband and ordered McLoud to forfeit it, and also the gun and the night vision equipment. The March 27, 2001, legislative hearing that prompted Alie’s alleged outburst dealt with a bill to change the legal definition of which firearm silencers are contraband. McLoud told The Union Leader the remarks were made in front of people he had encouraged to come to the legislative hearing to speak in favor of the bill. He says as a licensed gun manufacturer he makes sound suppressers and other equipment for police officers, and he is allowed to have them. Referring to the forfeiture of his equipment, McLoud said, “They seized it as contraband. It was not contraband. I had over a hundred of those items as inventory,” he said. McLoud says the officers coveted the night-vision equipment because they couldn’t get state funding to buy it. “I was willing to just get my equipment back and go away,” McLoud said. “They only had to swallow their pride, but they’re so pompous they can’t do that.”
Game wardens, In my experience, are some of the most arrogant of the Law Enforcement types. I had experience with them in two states, and the attitude was pretty much the same. They pretty much felt they were above the law, that the ordinary citizen was always guilty of "something" so it was OK to cite them even if it wasn't clear they had done something wrong. In the State where I worked intensively with them for six months, the fanaticism bordered on the psycotic.
It became clear to me, that they were far more concerned about wielding power than about protecting the resource.
What an apt name.
Truth is stranger than fiction.
FReegards,
"What an apt name."
Reread my post ... I told you I was subtle! &;-)
Imagine if every gunshop or gun show promoter named or clearly referred to in a Violence Policy Center "expose" sued VPC and its "senior policy analyst" Tom Diaz for libel.
Use the civil courts against them - like they did against the gun industry. Pretty soon, VPC and Diaz won't be able to get liability insurance.
Scandals of antigun politicians and activists - from coast to coast
You gotta be kiddin' me...BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Now if the government bureaucrat was named something stupid sounding like Marc Solomon, or lowbridge now that would be cause for laughter.
;-)
Firing range owner sues Fish and Game chief http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3bfe29e75d5b.htm
ROFLOLLOL
OK come clean ... who is it!!!!!!?????????????????
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