The City of Montpelier members in the Vermont House of Representative have now introduced the bill H. 871 to
circumvent the Vermont Sportsmen's Bill of Rights as the City of Montpelier has failed in all of its previous actions
The City of Montpelier has lost before the Supreme Court of Vermont (SCOV), State of Vermont agency appeals
and the legislature has not moved its bill H.33 to allow it control the Berlin Pond. Now the City of Montpelier want
to have the ability to ban recreational activities on the Berlin Pond. The City of Montpelier wants to ban paddle
craft (canoes and kayaks) lawful fishing and migratory bird hunting and trapping on the Berlin Pond.
The Berlin Pond has been held by state agencies and the SCOV to be an open public body of water and it lies entirely
with the Town of Berlin. Berlin voters rejected by a large margin the controls City of Montpelier demands to enact on
the pond entirely in the Town of Berlin. Montpelier has a modern water treatment plant, state/federal tax dollars paid for.
When did the Town of Berlin become a conquered/subservient satellite of the City of Montpelier?
The Vermont outdoors sporting/shooting community has faced the City of Burlington working to enact gun control ordinances.
Now, once again, Montpelier is going after the other remaining activities protected by the Vermont Sportsmen's Bill of Rights.
What is the next attack? The City of Burlington seeking to ban fishing and migratory bird hunting on Lake Champlain?
If just one municipality get exemptions to the Vermont Sportsmen's Bill of Rights municipalities all over Vermont can try to enact
their own restrictive bans or regulations. If successful, a conflicting and confusing patchwork of ordinances banning or regulating
hunting/trapping, shooting, and fishing will soon exist.
This is exactly why 24 VSA 2295, commonly called the Vermont Sportsmen's Bill of Rights was enacted in 1987 and went into effect
in 1988. It has worked well for Vermont for all of these years. Until huge amounts of gun control dollars started pouring into Vermont.
