Notes from the West Wing

By State Representative Garey Bies

Highway Safety and Commercial Fishing

            For this edition of Notes from the West Wing, I want share with you a great concern that I believe we should all be outraged over, but unless it affects someone we know, we have accepted it as a fact of life.  As a member of the Governor’s Commission on Highway Safety and vice-chairman of the Assembly Committee on Highway Safety, the issue of safety on our highways is very important to me.  We, the motoring public, are killing too many of our fellow citizens and there is little outcry over this fact.  At the current rate, over 900 of us are going to die on our state highways this year, and they are all preventable.  Included in the number of annual deaths are those that die riding motorcycles.  The death rate in motorcycle accidents this year is double that of last year.  Did you know that 80% of motorcyclists that die were not wearing helmets?  It is their choice but why choose death?  

Still the major factors in fatal accidents are speed and/or alcohol.  We need a concerted effort by everyone to keep their head in the game when they jump behind the wheel of a motor vehicle and turn that key.  Driving is a challenge of survival.  We have to drive as if our lives depend on it. We need to be safe.  We need to buckle up our seatbelts and wear our helmets.  We need to drive defensibly, be alert, watch out for each other and obey the law.  

What we, as legislators can do to help improve the safety of our highways is a topic I spend much time on.  This past week I attended the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Summit on Motor Cycle Deaths.  As a result, the chairman of the Assembly Highway Safety Committee and I are trying to form a Law Enforcement Summit to address what needs to be done to put a stop to these senseless deaths.  Please work with us to make the roadway safer.  

Another issue that may be of interest to you, as it is part of our heritage here among the great lakes, was a subject of several hearings in the Assembly Natural Resources Committee, of which I am a member.  It concerns the controversy over a small stretch of water outside Two Rivers.  We have the Hatfield's and McCoy's of Lake Michigan in this dispute.  It's the Commercial Fisherman vs. the Charter Boat Fisherman.  The debate revolves around allowing commercial fishing in a small area, which for the last ten years, has been closed for the months of July and August.  The commercial fishermen want this area open to fishing as it is an excellent time to catch whitefish and the market for whitefish is at its strongest.  The charter boat fisherman want the area to remain closed because they MAY want to fish that area IF the salmon and trout move into the area.  I phrase it in this way because watching the fish reports this year the charter boats have been fishing everywhere EXCEPT the area they don't want the commercial fishermen in.   

The DNR proposed a rule change to take effect next year that would allow the commercial fishermen back into the previously closed area with net restrictions.  I have been threatened by groups of charter boat fisherman because of my support of the commercial fisherman.  The way I view this issue is that there is enough water out there for all to fish.  The Great Lakes are not private fishing ponds for any one group.  They belong to everyone.  Lastly, it really should be noted that charter boat fisherman, who are leading the charge to keep these waters closed to the commercial fisherman are, in fact, another form of commercial fishermen.  Charter boat fisherman, or contract fisherman as I feel they should be called, are being paid to catch fish.   

Currently, the rule is set to go through for next year, but the charter fishermen are a big lobby and are doing their best to put the commercial fishermen out of business.  I will do my best to see that does not happen.  Commercial fishing on the great lakes is part of our heritage.  What would we do without a Friday fish fry?  Can you imagine a Friday fish fry or a Door County fish boil with fish not from Lake Michigan, but from the ocean? 

            Just in closing, I bet by now you have read about the Governor’s vetoes of the state budget.  Clearly the Governor believes we in the rural areas need to support the big city life style of Southeast Wisconsin.  With the Governor’s actions, we have become more of a donor direct than we were before.  Apparently the Governor believes those of us who live in Door County have so much money we don’t know what to do with it.  He really is not familiar with us is he?  

As always, if you have questions or comments on this column or any other topic you might see or read in the news, I can be reached by e-mail at Rep.Bies@legis.state.wi.us or by telephone, toll-free at 1-888-482-0001.