On Sat, 04 Jun 2005 23:38:49 -0700, Owen Lowe
wrote:

In article , "George" george@least
wrote:

Consider a couple scenarios that might affect woodturners:

1) you own the tree parts that you are carting to a wood meeting to
offer for raffle;
2) you "win" a chunkamapleburl in a raffle in Oregon and cart it home to
Washington;
3) the Big Leaf Maple you have stacked up next to your garage was
obtained long before this law went into effect - how do you prove it was
obtained legally;
4) you come across a line crew removing growth from the vicinity of the
electric lines. They are just going to chip it all up and would gladly
give you what you wanted but you must first locate the property owner
and then visit the county sheriff's office before carting off wood that
has a use beyond the chipper.

Granted all of these have a work-around but the law is creating
criminals out of innocent activities. I can fully understand the desire
to stop rustling but I think there's got to be a better way than to
consider all who possess and/or transport Big Leaf Maple, Alder and
other woods as criminals who rustled their stash from someone's property.

I agree, it's pretty horrendous. I'm not even entirely sure what a
tree rustler is, but I can't imagine it's really that common a
problem. I know I'd be in trouble if they passed a law of that type
in Wisconsin- on weekends, especially after big storms, I like to go
onto county land and either cut deadfall that is blocking the trails
or pick up stuff the liscensed loggers leave behind for turning
purposes (usually crotch wood and the like). I don't trespass on
private property, and I never cut a live tree for any reason- but how
would the sheriff know, if I were stopped and had no permit? Granted,
it's not a law here yet, but it seems like once there's a precedent
somewhere for just about anything, everyone wants to jump in
eventually.

Part of the law that has my boxers in a bunch is the requirement to
obtain a sheriff's permit for each instance instead of a yearly permit
from the state. I'm certain Washington is similar to Oregon and other
states in that the sheriff is located at the county seat - not in every
town - that would be a 40 mile round trip for me in just my county, not
to mention the 4 or 5 other surrounding counties and their respective
sheriff's offices.

Yep, it'd be a 45 mile round trip for me as well.

I'm sure there are those reading this who think it's much to do about
nothing - after all, it would be pretty easy to conceal much of what we
carry around. But is an officer allowed to search a vehicle he has
stopped for a traffic violation if he spots a chainsaw or bark pieces on
the floormat? Will the occifers be following the musical notes of a
chainsaw to ensure the proper permits and permissions have been
obtained? Will the woodturning club members be forced to the backroads
to and from meetings in the vein of moonshiners? Laugh if you want but
consider if your state put in a similar law covering Black Walnut,
Cherry, Mesquite, Norfolk Is. Pine, etcetera.

Agreed, it's not funny- especially the bit about them seizing the
vehicle and tools. There are some other laws on the books that allow
this (I can't remember the specific cases, but I believe that they
generally involve suspected drug dealer and subversive groups) IIRC,
the standard procedure is to auction siezed property, and if the trial
is held after the auction occurs, the accused is just out of luck,
even if they are cleared of all charges. Taking the wood is one
thing, but essentially stealing tools and vehicles from a guy bringing
a hunk of firewood home from a buddy's house is insane.