HuntingNet.com Forums - Virginia hunters (read Dec 25th's Times-Dispatch newspaper)

Exactly....

Check out these articles in the Roanoke Times:

http://www.roanoke.com/outdoors/16713.html

The article below is a cut 'n paste from Bill Cochran's column in the Roanoke Times. There has been a massive public outcry over the, uh, "fact finding mission" :eek: and the media is still carrying on with it.

Butch A.

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Game board collecting money

By Bill Cochran
ROANOKE.COM COLUMNIST

In a damage control effort, board members of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries have collected more than $12,000 to reimburse the state for credit card expenditures that were part of a controversial trip to Africa made by several top DGIF officials. According to Lee Tolliver, of the Virginia-Pilot, all but one of the 10-member board had contributed. Some gave as much as $2,500.

African trip participants Dan Hoffler, chairman of the board, and Bill Woodfin, executive director of the agency, have defended the trip, saying Virginia has much to learn from Africa about law enforcement and wildlife conservation issues. But this has done little to ease the public outcry, which has been getting increasing media attention.

Tolliver quoted Hoffler as saying that the board had established a subcommittee to look into how the agency makes purchases.

DGIF officials had plans to approach General Assembly members in an effort to retrieve funds lost during the budget crunch, but that now could be more difficult. The backlash from the trip also casts a cloud over the agency’s plans to increase hunting and fishing license and boat registration fees.

The agency is under investigation by a state auditor, who has begun making contacts with employees.

BILL
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