TAKING BACK DREDGING

[joe of pville]

Want to know what you out there think. A dredge party/protest to get enough dredgers to an area with media to highlight the the incompetant law SB670. Some say we should put fake or junk dredges in the water. Some think we should let the lawyers try to get this overturned. I'm to the thinking that this may be our only chance to save this activity. Remember how this came about. Pressure from envirnmental groups got Gov. Shwartzenkennendy to sign the bill with no study. Posted this on the other sites, but there seems to be little support. Many are worried about getting there dredges confiscated. If this becomes perminate it won't matter after that. We all want to be law abiding, but when do you take a stand? Any ideas?.

[russau]

have the California guys vote out them bought and paid for socalled "representatives!!

[Bluebeard]

I think Russau is right vote ALL THE INCUMBENTS OUT.

Joe, I responded to you on the other forum. I think you ought to be careful here. PLP and the New 49'ers have both been fighting their own very expensive battles on this issue. I am not so sure a wild-card like your event will do much to further their cause. Something to consider:

I believe Sept 25th is a state-wide clean up the rivers day. There will be a lot of environmentalists, media, and users of the river out in force to show some respect to the rivers by cleaning them up. I am not so sure what kind of a message you will transmit with hundreds of dredgers with all their motors running and the river smoked up for miles downstream. My guess is that it won't be the kind of press that will be kind to us. I know for a fact that the Sierra Fund will crank up their media machine and within 24 hours every media outlet this side of the Mississippi will be talking about the lawless dredgers and their disrespect for the rivers.

I believe the dredgers as a group of people would get more traction PR-wise by showing up themselves on that river day at the local, popular swimming hole with diving gear, a snorkel or air compressor, the wife and kids and maybe a little sign designating yourself as a dredger who wants to clean up the rivers too. The nature of our equipment will probably attract people to see what we are doing, and while you are in the water cleaning up garbage, the wife and kids can be doing a little PR on their own with those who they meet on the bank of the river.

The problem with us dredgers is the media has painted us as lawless, social misfits/criminals who rape and pillage the environment. I honestly cannot see what good it would achieve for all dredgers to live up to that reputation - alive and in person - splashed all over the media- on a clean up the river day. The media will be all over the place that day, and if we give them the opportunity to substantiate their claims to our reputation, they will be all over it and it may go nationwide.

You see, our opposition has a huge media pipeline and as an un-organized group, we have nothing to combat that huge advantage. I feel it would be in our best interest to utilize THEIR media access (since we don't have any of our own) to turn the tides of people's opinions of who miners are by showing them that we too, respect our rivers and want them to be cleaner.

Comments?

[tommyknocker]

I have to admit that I wanted to do what Joe suggests right after the illegal law was passed last year, but Bluebeard is right ...We could also point out while participating in the river clean-up that we would be cleaning and removing lead and mercury from the river if we were not prevented from dredging. ...Tom