First, let me quote this column from my local paper (Contra Costa Times):
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http://www.bayarea.com/mld/bayarea/news/3723697.htm
Posted on Wed, Jul. 24, 2002
KAREN HERSHENSON: TIMES COLUMNIST
Frogs a-courtin' fer a little justice
SIT RIGHT DOWN in yonder rocker, kick off your boots and settle in, for I have a tale to tell as tall as any ... with the exception that this one is the gospel truth.
It concerns a feller by the name of Albert Seeno Jr. and a bunch of critters givin' to hoppin' around in ponds and creekbeds and the like. Red-legged frogs, they call 'em.
These frogs are so rare, on account of people ketchin' 'em for cookin' and such, that the f-e-d-e-r-a-l government has placed them on a list of the most endangered of God's creatures.
So we'll call this particular story The Celebrated Disappearing Frogs of Contra Costa County.
The tale will astound you with its bald-faced audacity and plain old lack of common sense. Seems some folks think they can get away with just about anything. But we all get our comeuppance in the end, is how I like to think of it.
And this Mr. Seeno, he's darned used to getting his way. Wasn't more than two months ago that the City Council of the fine town of Pittsburg voted so that land he pined to purchase was likely to drop in price, pretty as you please.
No sir, that council didn't have the interior fortitude to stand up to Mr. Seeno. It took those skittering pond critters to put him in his place -- for the time being, anyway. Men like that, they sure don't crumple easy.
Anyway, these exquisitely absurd events took place in the spring of 2001 as Mr. Seeno was fixin' to build some 3,000 houses in Pittsburg. Trouble was a couple ponds had developed on this land, rimmed with willows and cattails, and there was salamanders as slippery as kittens who got into kerosene.
If you was to dream up a spot perfect for those ol' frogs to breed, those ponds would be that spot. They was full of egg clusters and tadpoles, youngins and grownups.
But thish-yer Seeno, seems he didn't give the slightest suspicion of a hoot about all that, on account he was feverish to build those houses. So he goes and orders his boys to drain those ponds.
Might have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for an inordinately sly Fish and Game Warden named Nicole Kozicki who hails from Moraga.
Doesn't take a college ed-u-ca-tion to see this nature-lovin' gal is the best friend those poor frogs ever had. Why not long ago she helped ketch another feller trying to move red-leggers off some land in Concord.
In this situation here, Warden Kozicki just happened to be flying over Seeno's land in a hel-i-copter when she sees things aren't quite right.
"I saw these two huge ponds and I'm looking at 'em going, 'Wow, these ponds aren't supposed to be here,'" she says.
She insists Mr. Seeno bring in a fancy-pants consultant, who proceeds to find all kinds of red-legged frog activity in those ponds. But instead of contacting authorities, he gives the order to drain, leaving those pitiful creatures at the mercy of every kind of predator, not to mention the blazing summer heat.
How he could sleep nights, I don't know, because as I always say, an uneasy conscience is a hair in the mouth.
But here's the dee-li-cious part: Mr. Seeno must pay fines totaling 1 million U.S. dollars, and turn over 640 acres for a frog refuge. Even has to publish a public apology in this here newspaper.
So that's my story, and if you think you can top it, well, come on over and we'll have us a go.
~
Reach Karen Hershenson at 925-943-8252, or khershen@cctimes.com. (With apologies to Mark Twain.)
---------------------------------
Jim again.
The Seeno family runs the Peppermill casino in Reno, NV, and the chain of restraunts in Calif with the same name. They're also the biggest construction company in Contra Costa County.
So it should come as no suprise that this clown is one of the 179 CCW permitholders in the county, and a member of the "Sheriff's Posse" political club
.
If a Sheriff treats somebody as "elite and above the law", there's a fair chance they'll act like it.
In this case, it was a buncha froggies paid the price.
---------------------------
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/bayarea/news/3723697.htm
Posted on Wed, Jul. 24, 2002
KAREN HERSHENSON: TIMES COLUMNIST
Frogs a-courtin' fer a little justice
SIT RIGHT DOWN in yonder rocker, kick off your boots and settle in, for I have a tale to tell as tall as any ... with the exception that this one is the gospel truth.
It concerns a feller by the name of Albert Seeno Jr. and a bunch of critters givin' to hoppin' around in ponds and creekbeds and the like. Red-legged frogs, they call 'em.
These frogs are so rare, on account of people ketchin' 'em for cookin' and such, that the f-e-d-e-r-a-l government has placed them on a list of the most endangered of God's creatures.
So we'll call this particular story The Celebrated Disappearing Frogs of Contra Costa County.
The tale will astound you with its bald-faced audacity and plain old lack of common sense. Seems some folks think they can get away with just about anything. But we all get our comeuppance in the end, is how I like to think of it.
And this Mr. Seeno, he's darned used to getting his way. Wasn't more than two months ago that the City Council of the fine town of Pittsburg voted so that land he pined to purchase was likely to drop in price, pretty as you please.
No sir, that council didn't have the interior fortitude to stand up to Mr. Seeno. It took those skittering pond critters to put him in his place -- for the time being, anyway. Men like that, they sure don't crumple easy.
Anyway, these exquisitely absurd events took place in the spring of 2001 as Mr. Seeno was fixin' to build some 3,000 houses in Pittsburg. Trouble was a couple ponds had developed on this land, rimmed with willows and cattails, and there was salamanders as slippery as kittens who got into kerosene.
If you was to dream up a spot perfect for those ol' frogs to breed, those ponds would be that spot. They was full of egg clusters and tadpoles, youngins and grownups.
But thish-yer Seeno, seems he didn't give the slightest suspicion of a hoot about all that, on account he was feverish to build those houses. So he goes and orders his boys to drain those ponds.
Might have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for an inordinately sly Fish and Game Warden named Nicole Kozicki who hails from Moraga.
Doesn't take a college ed-u-ca-tion to see this nature-lovin' gal is the best friend those poor frogs ever had. Why not long ago she helped ketch another feller trying to move red-leggers off some land in Concord.
In this situation here, Warden Kozicki just happened to be flying over Seeno's land in a hel-i-copter when she sees things aren't quite right.
"I saw these two huge ponds and I'm looking at 'em going, 'Wow, these ponds aren't supposed to be here,'" she says.
She insists Mr. Seeno bring in a fancy-pants consultant, who proceeds to find all kinds of red-legged frog activity in those ponds. But instead of contacting authorities, he gives the order to drain, leaving those pitiful creatures at the mercy of every kind of predator, not to mention the blazing summer heat.
How he could sleep nights, I don't know, because as I always say, an uneasy conscience is a hair in the mouth.
But here's the dee-li-cious part: Mr. Seeno must pay fines totaling 1 million U.S. dollars, and turn over 640 acres for a frog refuge. Even has to publish a public apology in this here newspaper.
So that's my story, and if you think you can top it, well, come on over and we'll have us a go.
~
Reach Karen Hershenson at 925-943-8252, or khershen@cctimes.com. (With apologies to Mark Twain.)
---------------------------------
Jim again.
The Seeno family runs the Peppermill casino in Reno, NV, and the chain of restraunts in Calif with the same name. They're also the biggest construction company in Contra Costa County.
So it should come as no suprise that this clown is one of the 179 CCW permitholders in the county, and a member of the "Sheriff's Posse" political club
.If a Sheriff treats somebody as "elite and above the law", there's a fair chance they'll act like it.
In this case, it was a buncha froggies paid the price
.