Sep-A-3
A LAST MINUTE
SALVAGE OF OUR CUMBERLAND
PLANS
From: Glenn Geelhoed
To: Christian Elwell; Craig Schaefer; Don King; Donald Geelhoed; Gene Curletti; Keith Carr; Paul Gibbs; Reg Franciose; Richard Reinert; Russell Elwell
Date: 8/29/02 3:55PM
Subject: Fwd: You have photos from PhotoWorks
Cumberland Island Retained Rights Hog Hunt Jan 6- - 8, 2002
It has taken nearly full time to reverse the fait accompli, but after extraordinary overtiem, it may have been done!
I checked with the Cumberland Island NPS about the deadline for the hunt applications before leaving on my extended travels in the himalaya out of touch with roads and Internet Cafes, and was told that the deadline was "The End of August."
OK, that gave me time to contact each of you for your "particulars" and the on- time filing of the applications. I called on Monday after returning and received the call back on Wednesday, August 28, that the deadline for all applicatoins was Friday August 23.
I once again made the "special exemption rounds" calling the rangers and NPS Park Service Superintendant, and all said that there was no way they could open the process after the closure, since the hunts were under a great deal of scrutiny and efforts at elimination- - with the intent to pull out the facilities and erase the road to revert to a wilderness status.
I went through the litany of reasons I thought our groups (maximum size 5, so we have a "stretched- pair" of two groups), including thaqt the NPS will not pick up hogs, and we might be able to offer to do so in their place with the Ford pickup truck. No go. I said we had been a consistent part of the hunt for over a decade, and offered emergency medical services. No go. I said the confusions about deadlines and the failure of the mail, email and fax was beyond our control. No go.
Keith Carr has been so kind to offer to get us down early and make nancy's Fancy available as early as Friday Jan3 thorugh the 10th, for which I think we owe him a great debt of gratitude. It would be a beautiful place to be for a break, with or without the hog hunt.
Then I tried again in making the rounds, and was told by Brian Peters, Chief NPS Ranger fro Cumberland Island, that if I had completed applicatoins for each person in the office by fax on Wednesday at 4:00PM, that would be the absolute closure, since that is when they opened all the mail that had been in on time for the Friday August 23 deadline.
Both I and Craig Schaefer frantically sent emails all afternoon and night- - and they were all canceled since their fax was turned off. We tried again in the morning of August 29 with the same result, and it was not until ten o'clock AM that they would be turning their fax on, way after the final deadline.
So, I called again to ask if they could turn on their fax, and we would stand- by to send in the data that I had already posted, and the names that Craig had already tried to fax to them. I made out complete applicaytions with SSN's DOB phone numbers and addresses, and then I uttered the magic two words:
"RETAINED RIGHTS"
Brian Peters called me back to say that BOTH faxes from Craig and me had been received and they looked forward to the receipt of my previously mailed applications, which would be consdiered before the lottery drawings.
Sooooo, once again, it was a rodeo of last minute cliff- hangers, but we may have made it- - - and for this we should be very grateful, principally to Keith. These are the waning days of the controlled hog hunts on Cumberland, with pressures that are continuoulsy called "above our level" exerted on the very helpful NPS Rangers to be hunt- friendly.
I will get back to you for the dates of the certified checks due, but for now, we may still be alive in our plans to make the annual hog hunt from Nancy's Fancy. As Craig and I had said, it would be the right time and place to be sitting on the National Seashore, with or without the hog hunt permits- - but now, that option is open to only those who squeaked in under the deadline.
Whew!
Cheers!
GWG