Message #399006

[Marty Lester]

I was told that Farm Bureau went into this with good intentions. They were trying to keep the the oil companies temporary employees from accessing private land w/out notifying the owner 24 hours ahead, and they were trying to help the cattlemen in western Okla. that had been victomized by theives possing as cattle owners looking for strayed cattle. But things got changed when it went to the senate and the final version wasn't what Okla. Farm Bureau initially wanted. The oil companies got a free pass and the livestock owners got turned into criminals. I reciently got voted in on the Board of Directors for OFB for this area and I hope to be able to present our view point to the rest of the members this year. I am learning all the processes that have to be gone thru before a bill can gain enough momentum to succeed. I would like to point out that the Board members that I have talked to did not mean for this to turn out the way that the final version is now. We evidently have a lot of pressure from people that have either just moved in from other states that have similar laws or maybe didn't think about dog hunters or people that lease land with bad fences or river frontage. I have leased land that on 2 diferent places has river frontage and every time the river rises and falls I have cattle that get out. Also some of my lease places have old fences that have dead trees (from the last 2 years drought) that are constantly falling on the fences and there also I have cattle getting out sometimes daily. Especially after each high wind or storm that blows in here. It would be good if everyone that hunts with dogs or owns a farm would contact Farm Bureau and the Oklahoma Cattlemans Assn and their State Senators and Represenatives. If we would flood the phone lines of everyone involved we would see some action.