The Caledonian-record. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1920-current, 1922-07-14
HEAVY FINE FOR FISH DYNAMITER

Deputy Fish and Game Warden E.. C. Lund and F.
L.. Bartlett recently arrested George A. Larkin of Med
ford, Mass, and charged him with using explosives to
kill fish in the Moose River in the town of Victory.
Larkin gave his post office address as Dorchester, Mass.
He was taken before Justice Jones of Victory who i'm
posed a fine OF 500 and costs OF Sl75, which the reSpon-
dent paid.
playing the fishing game fairly, are justified in feeling
that violations OF this sort are offensive in the extreme.
The use of dynamite to fill an empty fish basket implies,
first, that the user does not possess sufficient skill to
take his game by rod and line and is not willing to devote
the time and thought necessary to learn how to fish
properly. Secondly, the person who uses such methods
gives the public convincing evidence that he is more
closely akin to the barnyard hog than most people
care to admit, because he is quite willing to ruin The
sport-so far as everyone else is cOncerned-for all time,
just for the sake of filling his own fat paunch with fish.
The truth that he has destroyed 20 years of careful and
systematic stocking by local sportsmen and the State
Department of Fish and Game worries this fellows
mean little conscience not at all-he has money and lei
sure and knows there are other brooks Just as good as
the one he has Just dynamited, and he will probably visit
them as fast as he can.
The destruction of fish with dynamite is a swinish
trick comparable only with the act of a man who snares
partridge or crusts deer when the creatures are too weak
and helpless either to escape or to defend themselves.
Moreover, 1t is a mlsdemeanor which harms the Who'll
community IN which 1t occurs as much as would the loss
OF public buildings, or of any other property which be-
longed to the people and is paid for, used, and enjoyed
by them.
Section 500, of the Fish and Game Laws provided
a person violating the explosive clause may b
sentenced to jail for 80 days, or to pay a fine of 500, or
both. Unless evidence is lacking, or conditions accom-
panylng the violation are so unusual as to warrant great
clemency-and one cannot imagine a condition which
would excuse this sort of ~hing-the Jail sentence should
be imposed. For, though the dynamite hog may, and
usually does, carry a fat purse to settle his fines, he
likes hard labor even less than the rest Of us do. He
should not be allowed to settle for cash at one hundred
dollars for the destruction of a resource worth
thousands Of dollars to the decent sportsmen in the
locality.
Jail is the cure for these individuals with the under
done intelligences and the overdone appetites-iail, and
at hard labor. The tragedy of the thing lies in the fac
that so days, or $50 days of hard labor on the part of
the miscreant who uses dynamite in a trout brook can
not begin to restore the thing he destroyed. Sportsmen
can build up and maintain a trout brook which will be
a thing OF JOY forever. One man with a few sticks of
dynamite and a consuming hoggishness can ruin the
work in ten minutes. The cure is a one hundred dollar
fine and ninety days on the rock pile.