Jay,
Thanks for this very wise approach. At this time we want to be more careful
than ever to act responsibly and follow all of the common sense rules and
guidelines. Especially, don't hop over the Armco barriers to get a better
look at the rocks below and please pull well off of the main highway when
entering the islands. Courtesy and respect for the officers of the CBBT is
important too. Let them know just how much we appreciate their work and the
task that they are assigned. Remember, "you get more bees with honey than
vinegar".
Sam Collins
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jay Keller" <jlkeller999@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <>
Sent: Sunday, March 06, 2005 10:27 AM
Subject: [va-bird] Re: CBBT false advertising
Maureen,
If you are suggesting that we all en masse get together and hit the
islands at once, I can't imagine better fodder for the CBBT to use to
claim that birders are a security risk. In fact, such an event WOULD be a
security risk because it would probably block traffic. Could you imagine
300 people showing up at that little office where you check in before
heading out? That office is barely big enough for the few officers that
work there.
If anything, we should be dilligent to keep a low profile now more than
ever. Yes, go to the islands to bird, but let's make sure that we are
acting reasonably for the next month.
Also, nobody's suing anybody. We want to prove that we aren't a problem,
not the source of them. On that note, I think by now the CBBT and
Homeland Security realize that birders are not likely a security risk. To
me, their intentions are either to make sure that a terrorist does not
have a loophole to get access to the islands, OR there is some other
reason for closing it down to us that they're not telling us about, i.e. a
non-security reason. Finding out this reason, if it exists, might be the
key to addressing the real concern. From my experience in working in
government in the past, what is expressed openly is rarely the truth.
That's why government has "talking points" memos for everything they do.
Justs some thoughts FWIW...
Jay Keller
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