An open letter to Senator Jim Risch:

You were recently sent a shrill letter from our Boundary County commissioners, dated Aug. 22, having to do with the shooting of a grizzly bear by local resident Jeremy Hill.

The letter was sent without the full support of the community, and obviously before the commissioners bothered to gather important facts about the case.  The letter claimed the bear killed was a female with cubs; infact it was a male cub that was shot.  It inferred a human was killed by a bear here in 2004, when no person has ever been reported killed by a grizzly in Boundary County.

The letter claimed the responding Fish and Game officer made a recommendation not to prosecute Mr. Hill, when no such recommendation was made.  Perhaps most importantly, the letter claimed children were in the yard with the bears. Clearly there is much question about this point, because Mr. Hill has not made this claim, and the Department of Fish and Wildlife chose to consider prosecuting the case.

It seems our commissioners wrote you in an effort to have this case tried in the heated court of public opinion, or behind political doors, rather than to let cooler heads gather facts and make informed decisions via the court system.

I hope you did not do as they asked and "do all in your power" to aid them in this graphic example of bad government.  Government by fear does not well serve the governed.

   John O'Connor

  Bonners Ferry