The St. Lucie County tribune. (Fort Pierce, St. Lucie County, Fla.) 1905-1920, 1906-01-05
Jensen, Fla, Jan. | 1906

IL,
mcndable to do on the first DAY III VI.
u,v Year than to enter pr''VS'
st the common habit Of people VITO
b,y, Grievances. real or imaginary OF
rushing into print over nom tie pune
for my observation Of such newspaper
contributions are that the parties either
donot know what they taking a',"'
and fear if their identity is known mat
they will he taken to task Tor '''"
ignorance or, if they 10 KNOW they axe
not acting the part Of courageous men,
when they makca charge ihry are "'r"''
tn mt thcirname to, First Of all. news
naners are not the place to air al
grievances; as a case in point WISH
:, refer 10 the Letter from one of the
people. and signed, "Law'a'ld'ng
Citizen, in your issue of the 2'th, III
which l.aw-abding Citizen states mat
1T is generaly known by residents along
the Indian River that seines are running
daily in its waters, in fragrant violation
of the State law" am not denying
or affirming this statement, for do not
know any thing about it; but the point
| wish to make is, that if Law-ablding
Citizen wishes the abuse stopped. ana
if il is "known, as he states, il Is his
duty to go to the proper authorities
the fish and game warden or the sheriff
and have the guilty parties arrested.
| presume that he knows Of his personal
knowledge that the law is being violated
as he states; if so, he is not the Law
abiding Citizen that he signs himself if
he fails in his duty TO do every thing in
his power to have the violators punished.
There is entirely too much of this nom
de plume reckless charges being made
and too little action on the part of those
who wish to pose as champions of law
and order. If this l.aw.abiding Citizen
had gone to the proper authorities with
proof of his charge and they had refused
to arrest the guilty. then it would have
been in order for him to have gone into
print exposing such authorities. SEEMING
may be going on as charged, if so, let
Law-abding Citizen furnish the proof
and will guarantee that the guilty
will be arrested and punished to the full
extent of the law; if he fails in this, he
is not law abiding citizen; for the law
contemplates that all law.abding citi-
zens will do their utmost to see the laws
enforced, and newspaper charge over
nom de plume is not proof of guilt.
nor proof that the writer of same is
Law-abiding Citizen. 1t should be as
much against the law to write such
charges over nom de plume as it is
against law to seine in Indian River.
Officers of the law are not supposed to
know without information of every vio-
Iation that takes place in st. Lucie
county. Suppose see crew of men
hauling a seine in Indian River and that
no one else sees it; how are those men
to be prosecuted unless notify the
proper authorities and 80 before the
courts and testify to such facts Does
Law-abding Citizen think that | would
nave performed my duty, if, instead of
reporting them, that had obsc,red
myself behinda nom de plume and made
Wholesale charge of the violations Of
the law through some newspaper If
had not the courage to report them
openly and seeing that they were ar.
rested, ! would not show the white
feather complaining under cover. If
every citizen will do his duty ,boro
Ut he violations Of the scin, loyy nm
iioa"n silver TO any extent. bur /, wa
all pose as Law-abidjng Citizen and NJ,
tempt to prove that We are such by fail
ing to do our duty, then the yiohtior.
VIII increase, for when the violators soo
'hat the law-abiding Citizens NJ. com
tent to sit down and whine, with m on
caSional nom de plume sermon ON ~.
W OF mankind, they will invest
, more seine instead of obeying the
,"w' some blame the violators Of tbe
ID" lot violations, l hold that sucb
people as l.aw-abiding Citizen MA y"
guilty as the actual transgressors. nn vs.
vlded' abiding Citizen knov, , i'''
i !" fn rs y"'N'nS about for he is Withholding
,h ,'' n,'' '"a' would assist in stopping
M" ne ; a"u s' he complains Of thereby
'','""'s ''''lisell party to the viola,;o,,