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Since 1980
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Governor's Apology    REF's Lawsuit Against DMV   Bureaucrats Deny Soldiers Bald Eagle Visit

Governor Owen's Apology 

For Immediate Release

Denver, June 22,  2004:
Government Bureaucrats Deny America’s Soldiers a Visit from Their National Symbol

America’s defenders, its fighting men and women, are being denied a visit from their national symbol,
the bald eagle, at the annual Non-Commissioned Officer’s Association (NCOA) convention in
Las Vegas next month.

The Raptor Education Foundation did not receive a response from Nevada bureaucrats or those at
the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service when repeatedly requesting an explanation as to why a bald eagle
was permitted to visit the Crystal Cathedral Church in California, and a Humane Society fund raiser
at the Washington State Convention center in Seattle.  And yet, the national bird is not being allowed
to visit America’s soldiers at their convention this July.

Officials in Nevada stated that REF’s permits do not allow such a use of the people’s eagle, yet
identical visits have occurred at Eagle Scout “Courts of Honor” for the last 24 years.

Quoting from REF’s letter to Nevada officials:

 “It is my understanding that permits such as ours, are to be applied uniformly across America. 
It is doubtful that the Alaska Raptor Rehabilitation Center had a bald eagle at either event with
direct ties to their rehabilitation mission or their educational mission should they have one, or
the direct interests of the Service.  Both events were designed to promote fund-raising for ARRC
and/or the Humane Society, directly or indirectly through the correlative benefits of promotional
exposure on a regional or national basis.  The Crystal Cathedral appearance is quite tenuous as it
also appears to endorse a particular religious denomination, yet Region 1 (USFWS) obviously
did not object.  I must therefore assume that waivers or other types of discriminatory judgments
of some kind were provided for these non-typical appearances. 

Furthermore, our appearance at the NCOA is our ENDORSEMENT of particular interest to all of
those who value America’s freedoms and values represented by the living national symbol of these
United States, the bald eagle, and defended to the death if required by the honorable and courageous
men and women in our Armed Forces.  Those values include the publics’ interest in funding the
operations of entities such as yours, ours, and the USFWS who provide resource protection for
America’s national patrimony.

 

I would think that this type of endorsement would be a positive one, and further our mission, a well
 as that of the Service and your organization.  Denying this type of endorsement is a slap in the face
 of the men and women who risk their lives to protect those values and freedoms that all of us enjoy. 
In today’s times when Americans in any uniformed service preserving our country’s resources and
values (including natural resources) are under attack by a variety of extremist groups, those of us
with a common goal should work to support each other.  No one organization/individual should
be favored over another according to the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, or be
subjected to arbitrary, capricious, or uninformed decision-making.”

REF officials were hoping that common sense could resolve the situation in time for them to attend the convention.
But it now appears that the brave members of the NCOA will be denied the rare opportunity to meet the bird
which represents the very country they are defending.

REF President Peter Reshetniak says, “The bald eagle is the people’s living national symbol, and to deny
America’s soldiers the right to see this magnificent creature up close and in person makes no sense whatsoever. 
Is the congregation at the Crystal Cathedral more deserving than the warriors who protect America’s rights? 
Is a fund raiser for the Humane Society more appropriate a place for a bald eagle than the annual celebration
of the very finest of America’s Armed Forces?  Our nation’s military families and personnel are facing difficult
times; they should be allowed the inspiration of a face-to-face meeting with their national symbol, while learning
about its glorious history at the same time."

Unfortunately for them, Nevada wildlife officials disagree.

The Raptor Education Foundation is a non-profit environmental organization which promotes
environmental literacy using non-releasable raptors since 1980. 
Visit its web site at www.usaref.org for more information.

For more information please contact: Peter Reshetniak 303-898-4295

e-mail: raptor2@usaref.org

 

  

For Immediate Release

Denver, June 6, 2003

Appellate Court Finds Department of Motor Vehicles Breached Contract With Small Non-Profit.

In a unanimous three-judge decision released June 5, 2003, a panel of the Colorado Court of Appeals reversed the decision of the Denver District Court in Raptor Education Foundation v. State of Colorado, Colorado Court of Appeals No. 02-CA-162. The Court of Appeals found that the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) breached the "Letter of Agreement" between it and the Raptor Education Foundation (REF) when it began selling REF's "Colorado Respects Wildlife" license plates to non-members of REF. The Court of Appeals sent the case back to the trial court for a determination of the amount of damages to REF caused by the DMV's breach.

The trial court had previously determined that the DMV (then under the directorship of Aurora-Ruiz Hernandez) had violated REF’s constitutional rights to equal protection and issued an Permanent Injunction, requiring the DMV to verify membership in REF before issuing the specialty plates. Despite the constitutional violation, however, the trial court had determined that the "Letter of Agreement" drafted by the DMV and executed by both DMV and REF did not rise to the level of a contract and thus the DMV had not breached any contractual obligations by selling the specialty plates to the general public. The Letter of Agreement was a standard form contract provided by the DMV, and REF was only one of about a dozen non-profit organizations that had similar contracts with the DMV. Others included the Rotary Club, the Masons, the Knights of Columbus, and the Colorado Pioneers.

Despite the trial court's finding that DMV had violated REF’s constitutional rights and despite the issuance of the Injunction, the DMV continued to violate those rights by issuing the specialty plates to the general public for months until the Colorado state legislature passed additional legislation, signed by Governor Owens, directing DMV officials to adhere to the original terms of the Letter of Agreement.

REF President Peter Reshetniak stated, "Although we are, of course, delighted with the decision, we remain baffled and saddened by the route that has brought us here. We never wanted litigation with the State. Our contract with the State was a ‘win-win.’ We could raise awareness of our organization and the State could raise badly needed extra revenue from our members. For reasons we never understood, commencing in April of 2000, the DMV chose an irrational course that led us here. Even after the trial court found the DMV was violating the constitutional rights of REF and other charities, the DMV continued to issue specialty plates to the general public. We told the State if it would simply obey the Injunction, we would waive our damages and not appeal the contract issue. The DMV, however, remained on the litigation path and we had no choice but to respond in kind. Now the State will have to repay all the illegal profits it made off our plate. Unfortunately for us, what we will be able to recover is only a small portion of our actual damages."

DMV’s breach of contract cost REF hundreds of thousands of dollars while gaining at least $50,000 in revenues for the state treasury, and forced the small, environmental non-profit to expend further funds in taking DMV to court.

A 2002 performance audit by the Colorado State Auditor of DMV discovered more than $500,000 unaccounted for in Fiscal year 2001 and over $200,000 unaccounted for in Fiscal year 2000. Ms. Hernandez is no longer Director of the Motor Vehicle Business Group, however, she is still at DMV with a salary in excess of $100,000 per annum.

 For more information contact: Peter Reshetniak,

303-680-8500

Colorado's First Lady Endorses REF's New Book
Review from Brian Millsap, President, Raptor Research Foundation

Book Review

Brian A. Millsap, President

March 1, 2003

It has been my pleasure to review your coloring book Raptors: The Eagles, Hawks, Falcons, and Owls of North America. I should point out from the outset that these are my comments, and not official comments of Raptor Research Foundation (RRF). Nevertheless, I’m proud to be able to offer you these personal observations in my capacity as President of RRF.

First, I want to congratulate you and the artist on a truly fantastic coloring book. Although I’m not expert on coloring books per se, my 10 year-old daughter is, and she was pretty impressed. What impressed me was the taxonomic scope of the book – this truly is a full representation of the raptors of North America. Too many children’s nature books portray just a few of the more common species, assuming kids won’t be interested in the rarer stuff they can’t see around the house. Unfortunately, that approach fails to instill an appreciation for the full range of diversity that exists in nature, an appreciation we should be fostering at an early age. This is the only children’s book I’ve seen that does a comprehensive job portraying the richness and diversity of birds of prey that exist in North America.

The taxonomic scope is not the only aspect that impressed me, however. You also have done a very good job picking interesting tidbits to highlight in the species accounts, and to the extent of my knowledge, your portrayals are accurate. It is hard to know what to stress in these short accounts, but with the exception of a few species, I think you pick the best and most interesting stories to tell. The few species where you might consider modifying in future revisions are the bald eagle, swallow-tailed kite, merlin, and barn owl. In the bald eagle account, I’d suggest at least mentioning this species’ fantastic recovery from population lows caused by DDT. With regard to swallow-tailed kites, recent research has shown that most US birds gather in a few large staging areas in Florida before departing the US for wintering areas in Brazil, where the entire US population overwinters in a few large night roosts in the Pantanal. In the merlin account, include dragonflies in the prey list (many merlins I’ve caught for banding while on migration along the Atlantic Coast were covered with the dragonfly remains!). Finally, in the barn owl account, you might note that in the west, particularly northern Colorado, the species digs burrows for nesting in stream banks to help protect it from the extremes of the weather. These comments aren’t meant to detract from the excellent work you’ve done in the existing accounts. As it stands, collectively the book paints an important story of ecological diversity.

As a scientist, this is certainly the kind of coloring book I’d be happy to give my kids. And, as a raptor biologist, I’d be proud to give it to a colleague’s kids. You and Don Malick have a children’s book to be proud of. Congratulations!    

 

 

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