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Here’s what’s worth reading today, Saturday, July 6, 2019:
Suspected drunk boater accused of striking Texas game warden crew on Lake Travis had prior DWI convictions: A 56-year-old man accused of crashing his boat into a Texas game warden patrol boat on Lake Travis Thursday night has had prior DWI convictions. Officers arrested Rodney Barefield and charged him with boating while intoxicated, a third-degree felony, after the crash, which sent two game wardens and their intern to the hospital. Barefield admitted to officers he had drunk a beer and had taken prescription pain medication prior to the crash, according to his arrest affidavit.
Colleton Co. Animal Control facing lawsuit over neutering of hunting dog: Colleton County Animaland Environmental Control has been named in a lawsuit after owners of a dog say the department neutured the pet after picking it up without permission. According to a lawsuit filed by the dog’s owners, the hunting dog, named Cletus, went missing during a hunt last year. The dog, described in the suit as a male treeing walker dog used in raccoon hunting, disappeared after being picked up by an unknown party in February 2018, the suit states. The suit states that sometime between the end of June or the beginning of July 2018, Colleton County Animal and Environmental Control picked up the dog running loose in northern Colleton County. Cletus’ owners say the shelter placed him up for adoption and neutered him.
Texas shrimp population could be decimated by non-native diseases
Minnesotan charged with fishing while naked: Michael W. Blake seems to have trouble keeping his pants on. The 59-year-old man with residences in Brooklyn Center and Underwood, Minn., was charged Tuesday in Otter Tail County District Court with indecent exposure for the third time since 1995 after some residents complained that he was fishing naked from his pontoon just 50 feet off their dock and in full view from their picture window. According to a criminal complaint, Sheriff’s Deputy Steve Brandner arrived at the scene and with binoculars spied Blake — still nude — fishing on Turtle Lake near another house. When the water patrol caught up with him he donned “a very small pair of shorts” and admitted he had been fishing in the buff, the complaint says.
Flesh-eating bacteria not just in the water: Concern over the flesh-eating bacteria continues to grow heading into the Fourth of July weekend. Doctors said the bacteria is not just in the water. Vibrio Vulnificus is everywhere, including the sand. James Paldeino took his family to Gandy Beach Tuesday. He’s cautious, like everyone else, of what’s lurking in the water. Flesh-eating bacteria has beachgoers on high alert. “I have a 6-month-old, definitely want to make sure, all the time, be clean and healthy,” said Paldeino.
Florida allows openly carrying guns when fishing, camping, hunting: Openly carrying a gun typically is illegal in Florida. The second-degree misdemeanor can come with a $500 fine or a maximum of 60 days in jail. But not if you also are carrying fishing or hunting equipment. Walking through a public place with an AR-15 strapped around your shoulder is legal if you happen to be carrying fishing equipment as well. Florida Statute 790.25 addresses lawful ownership, possession, and use of firearms and other weapons, and section 3(h) specifies: Anyone “engaged in fishing, camping, or lawful hunting or going to or returning from a fishing, camping, or lawful hunting expedition” can openly carry a firearm.
Tribal hunting ruling raises questions in Wyoming: A recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling affirming tribal hunting rights has Wyoming officials worried about the potential effect of unregulated off-reservation hunting — a concern some tribal officials dismissed as “misguided.” With the case likely still far from settled, state officials told lawmakers on Thursday during a meeting in Gillette that they were concerned the ruling could complicate wildlife management if more tribal members, including citizens of the Eastern Shoshone Tribe, begin off-reservation hunting in Wyoming. The worry comes after a Supreme Court ruling in May affirmed the right of Crow Tribe members to hunt on land, including parts of Wyoming, given away as part of an 1868 treaty.
Coming to terms with my tick anxiety: Yes, they’re gross and they’re everywhere, and maybe that’s partly my fault. But I can’t stay inside. This past weekend, when I spotted a tick on my own child’s head, the fear I felt was something else. We took it off solemnly, with ceremony, and put it away for safekeeping—labeled with the date, in case she got sick and we needed to show it to a doctor. Ticks are terrifying now. And in the Northeast and the Upper Midwest, there are more of them than ever, or at least, more of them than we remember seeing.
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