Students Pawns in School Board Politics

O.F.A.H. calls refusal of outdoor club donation blatant hypocrisy

In an unprecedented move, and apparently based solely on his personal opinion, the Education Director of the Thames Valley School Board has refused to allow a high school to accept a donation of five thousand dollars from a local outdoor association. The Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters (O.F.A.H.) is appalled at the action taken against its member club, the East Elgin Sportsmen’s Association, and is calling the move highly offensive and hypocritical.

“Education Director Bill Tucker has unilaterally decided, after the fact, and after an established history of carrying out this event, that the legal, sanctioned provincial shooting competition doesn’t follow his personal moral compass,” said Jack Hedman, President of the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters. “Mr. Tucker’s decision, on behalf of the school board, to refuse the generous donation from the East Elgin Sportsmen’s Association implies that its members are not valued or respected within the community, and frankly, that attitude is deeply offensive to the club, the O.F.A.H., and every law-abiding firearms owner in this country.”

The East Elgin Sportsmen's Association was established in 1955, and runs a family sporting club near Springfield. For the past three years it has hosted the provincial competition of the International Practical Shooting Confederation (I.P.S.C.) as a fundraiser for the East Elgin Secondary School drama program. In exchange, several students have volunteered at the five-day event, for which they have received community service hours.

Mr. Hedman noted that the O.F.A.H. delivers a mandatory hunter safety education program that includes firearms safety training, and that the province has a long history of safe hunting. The timing of Mr. Tucker’s newfound opposition to target shooting is no doubt connected to the misguided and uninformed campaign by Toronto Mayor David Miller to ban handguns in Canada.

“Handguns are already classed as prohibited firearms in Canada. Banning their legal use will not fix the real problem, which is illegal guns in the hands of criminals,” added Hedman. “What a ban may do is encourage more of the same kind of knee-jerk reaction taken by Mr. Tucker, which is to unfairly discriminate against Canada’s law-abiding hunters, target shooters and collectors.”

With 82,000 members and 655 member clubs, the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters is the largest nonprofit fishing, hunting and conservation organization in Ontario. For more information visit www.ofah.org.

Oops! I Missed the Whole Flock!

Well I hope everyone enjoyed our 10 days of summer as we glide swiftly into fall. The temperatures have dropped during this the second week of September and I may even have to consider lighting the wood stove in the beautiful cottage we are renting near Tobermory.

It might be too cool for a dip in the lake but the geese sure are getting lively. I hope those of you that are out for the early goose hunt are putting lots of meat on the table.

I guess the true sign of a hunter is looking at things from a hunter's perspective. I had just such a moment earlier this morning as I sat gazing at the water and a huge flock of Canadas made their way right towards me. As I sat wishing I had my shotgun at my side I watched the flock approach with thoughts of how I would line up on each bird and have goose breasts for dinner.

However, the problem with that scenario is that one of the main purposes for this trip was to get some good wildlife and waterfowl photos for www.sooutdoors.ca. It wasn't until the flock was well past that I looked down at my camera and had to laugh at the missed opportunity. Oh well, I guess there's always the evening shoot...I mean photo op...to come.

Lloyd