Former Burns aide (Montana) charged with poaching

[quaoar]

http://helenair.com/articles/2005/08/19/montana_top/a01081905_02.txt

Former Burns aide charged with poaching

By JENNIFER McKEE - IR State Bureau - 08/19/05

HELENA — Shawn Vasell, a one-time aide to U.S. Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., and a former associate of indicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, has been charged in Stillwater County with poaching.

Vasell, 32, of Arlington, Va., was charged in June with four counts of breaking state big game laws: illegally possessing big game, hunting on private property without permission, hunting with someone else's license and hunting without a license, better known as poaching.

The alleged crimes were committed on Nov. 26, 2004, Stillwater County records show. The incident was the subject of a lengthy essay and photo display on the now-defunct personal Web site of Billings resident J.R. Reger. Vasell is accused of illegally using Reger's hunting license when he shot a mule deer buck around 3 p.m. the day after Thanksgiving last year.

According to the Web site, Vasell committed the alleged crimes with Reger and his brother, Mike. All three were photographed posing with the allegedly poached buck. In one photo, Vasell poses alone holding up the head of his trophy with the hunting rifle leaned against the animal's body.

[Drum]

1. Oh, I though you meant Smithers

...my bad.

[Ediacara]

3. Well really...

Conrad Burns, Monty Burns, it's tough to decide which one is more evil... Monty Burns did blot out the sun, but at least he doesn't want to slaughter wild horses for dog food and Parisian dinners....

And Monty Burns isn't that senile....

And Monty Burns doesn't appear to be a racist...

[Judi Lynn]

2. Woooo, they get testy, don't they?

From the article:

News reports on Abramoff's lobbying scandal have referred to Vasell as the link between the embattled former lobbyist and Burns.

Burns spokesman James Pendleton stressed that Vasell allegedly committed the poaching more than a year after leaving Burns' staff.

Asked if Reger's Web site, which prompted the Fish, Wildlife and Parks investigation, might challenge Vasell's plea of not guilty at trial, attorney Parker said he "sincerely hopes Web sites don't find their way into a courtroom. It will be followed by National Enquirers and Ouija boards.''

"I can find about anything on a Web site,'' Parker said.

He also implied that the wildlife investigators were tipped off to the alleged crimes "because people like to make a mountain out of molehill with Mr. Vasell'' for political reasons.

"If you blog around the Internet, you'll find that this has been the matter of some political quibbling,'' he said. "There seems to be a political component of this that we haven't quite fleshed out.''
(snip)

Yeah, they've done nothing wrong. It's all a Democratic scheme.

Scum.

Thanks, quaoar! This is one fine article. So predictable, isn't it, when we have criminals running our government?

[Ediacara]

4. LOL

So one of the reddest counties in Montana goes after this guy because of liberal bloggers?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

[Judi Lynn]

5. Bloggers want to raise our taxes, and grab our guns. Get 'em.

[Gman]

6. Lewis & Clark county presidential results:

Kerry: 12,717 (42%)
Bush: 16,494 (54%)

Nader: 388 (1%)

http://sos.state.mt.us/Assets/elections/2004Gen/2004-GenCnty.pdf

PDF file... about half way down

[ShockediSay]

7. The Public Be Damned

That's their attitude.

Privateers who will rip off the public domain for whatever they can get away with.