Jeff, my name is Mike Ubl and I AM the Chairman you refered to in this post. I would like to thank you for taking my comments out of context and attempting to make me look somewhat foolish by making it seem as though this type of event happened all the time. I will not address your very wrong opinions of me or my neighbor. Nor will I address how wrong you are goegraphically with respect to your total lack of facts regarding this issue. It is my belief that some of the posters have already done a fine job disproving some of your posts already. However, I do feel it necessary to defend myself and point out your apparent ignorance about what I said to the media that day. Here is my COMPLETE and UNEDITED comment to the press:

"It concerns me greatly as a hunter myself that this kind of garbage goes on," he said. "There is a right way to ask for permission to hunt on somebody else's land, and there is a wrong way. This person obviously chose the wrong way."

Here is the source for your records: http://www.eagleherald.com/nswt0925.asp

If you can read into my statement that this happens all of the time then you are truly simple minded. My comments referred to the fact that we had to waste an entire weekend afternoon searching for a man who had no clue of the rules regarding where to hunt, whose property he was on, and the laws pertaining to discharging a gun near a home. The situation was "garbare" from the standpoint that my children were horrified because we had to go through roadblocks to get to our home. That they were not allowed outside due to a request that we stay indoors because your friend alledgedly was unable to control his emotions.

Now, please, if you are going to misquote or misinterpret what I say, please contact me directly at mubl@townofliberty.com for a clarification. Clarifying such things before you print them would protect you from appearing rather undeducated about the topic you are writing about, and may also protect you from future legal battles regarding defamation.

Regards,

Mike Ubl
Chairman - Town of Liberty
 

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Mike, thank you for correcting my errant memory of the quote from you. I've updated the page at http://www.jefflindsay.com/hmong-hunter.html to give the exact quote. I also apologized for getting it wrong in the earlier version, recognized that you were apparently refering to the alleged traspassing and hunting too close to homes as opposed to the gun-pointing per se, and toned down my response. Again, I am sorry for remembering or interpreting the quote incorrectly. In the context of the rest of the article, it seemed to be referring to the Hmong hunter problem and the gun-pointing, but I see you were referring to the problem of trespassing, if I understand you correctly. The details about the stress your family faced and so forth were not conveyed in the newspaper, but thanks for that clarification.

Nevertheless, my concern with the media coverage remains. Yoour statement implies that it is obvious that the hunter was at fault in how he hunted. That may be correct, but it was an opinion that drew conclusions from evidence that hasn't been presented yet. I think the overall treatment by the media on this issue was unfair, though that doesn't mean that the hunter is innocent or did everything or anything correctly. You may have more detailed information than I do.

One more thing: You are unhappy that I interpreted your words to mean that this kind of thing happens all the time. But the phrase "goes on" can imply it happens repeatedly. "This kind of garbage goes on" is a phrase that can convey the notion of repeated incidents as opposed to an isolated event. It's related to the term "ongoing." The present tense adds to that nuance. Compare "this garbage occurred" to "this kind of garbage goes on." The sense of an ongoing, continuing problem is conveyed to me. Call me simple-minded, as you did, but that's the sense I got from your words.
 

Actually, I've decided to remove the offending page, as I discuss in my post of Nov. 2.