Stacking the deck UPDATED

Tomorrow evening, Mt. Lebanon residents have been invited to observe the deer "management" meeting at Mt. Lebanon High School Fine Arts Theatre. Doing a search of one of the invited experts, Jeannine Fleegle, I came across this article on the United Sportsmen of Pennsylvania website.

DEER MANAGEMENT SERIES, NO. 6: STACKING THE DECK
PGC Hired Three Deer Biologists who were all Trained at Chesapeake
Farms to Eliminate Deer Impacts by Eliminating Deer
By John Eveland
June 18, 2014 

Historically, foresters and environmentalists have long sought to dramatically reduce Pennsylvania's state mammal. It was always understood, however, that their goal was nothing more than a wishful dream. That is, until 1998 when the Green Certification circumstance removed deer management from the realm of science and made it a political issue that could financially benefit DCNR. Realizing the reality of deer reduction, following the departure of Gary Alt, PGC's chief of wildlife management quickly stacked the deck with a like-minded next-generation of deer biologists. In 2010, PGC's Board of Commissioners requested that the author of this article investigate this rumor. The following facts were uncovered.

PGC's Chesapeake Farms Connection. The Pennsylvania Game Commission lists three staff deer biologists (Chris Rosenberry, Bret Wallingford, and Jeannine Fleegle,) who report to Calvin DuBrock, Director of the Wildlife Management Bureau; and Robert Boyd, Bureau Assistant Director. It can be no coincidence that of the myriad accredited university degree programs throughout the nation which regularly produce thousands of professional wildlife biologists, that all three deer biologists employed by the PGC attained their graduate degrees from the same college (North Carolina State University), were mentored by the same NC State advisory staff members, and conducted their thesis deer research at the same small 5-square-mile Chesapeake Farms agricultural demonstration area on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Their principal advisors were Richard Lancia and Mark Connor, Director of Chesapeake Farms, who lists his research interests as "population ecology and management especially white-tailed deer, management of crop damage by deer, and wildlife in agro-ecosystems".

At Chesapeake Farms, PGC's three deer biologists were trained in a deer management philosophy called Quality Deer Management—reducing deer impacts accomplished by increasing antlerless harvests toward decreasing herd size. Whereas students from most university wildlife degree programs are educated to view deer as an asset to the natural ecosystem and society, PGC's three deer biologists were trained in a setting that views deer as a negative impact-causing element with little to no emphasis placed on the value of deer, the tradition of recreational hunting, and sportsmen. Hence, PGC's deer biologists brought with them from Chesapeake Farms a wildlife management philosophy that was better suited for private organizations such as Audubon and the Sierra Club than for a traditional state game management agency.

Fleegle wrote in her thesis, "More than any other wildlife, deer are perceived to cause the most damage to crops." In like fashion, Rosenberry wrote, "Balancing white-tailed deer impacts is the fundamental issue affecting a majority of Pennsylvania's deer management decisions." Former Executive Director, Carl Roe, epitomized the deer team's negative view of deer and sportsmen when he told the Governor's Council for Hunting, Fishing, and Conservation that hunters are of no concern in deer management.

Conclusion. It is not likely that Calvin DuBrock could have succeeded for over a decade in decimating the Commonwealth's deer herd if he had not hired like-minded staffers to perpetuate the action. The three deer biologists and those in the PGC who hired them have adopted the deer reduction philosophy of Chesapeake Farms (eliminating deer impacts by eliminating deer), and appear to be using Chesapeake Farms as a template to systematically convert the state to this system. It is, therefore, evident that PGC's deer biologists were not hired to manage Pennsylvania's deer herd in the best interest of the resource or sportsmen, or to pursue the PGC's mission for recreational hunting as prescribed by state law. Instead, it appears that they were specifically hired to decimate the herd. This they have achieved.

Continuing my search, I found this article on Outdoor News' site. Agency’s article about deer insulted some state hunters. 

At their recent quarterly meeting here, commissioners heard a complaint about the story, authored by Jeannine Fleegle in the August issue of Pennsylvania Game News. 

Randy Santucci, president of the Unified Sportsmen, claimed the piece was “disrespectful” and “essentially spit in the face of sportsmen.”

Once again, we have hunters and PETA on the same side!

Back to Google. Deer hater and former commissioner Kristen Linfante did a radio show, Oh Deer! Deer Overpopulation,with Jeannine Fleegle back on August 2, 2012. The topic was deer overpopulation. Deer hater Kristen Linfante resigned in the spring from the commission citing health problems and was replaced by deer hater and former commissioner Coleen Vuono.

John Hayes, chief deer population estimator of thousands, interviewed Ms. Fleegle in 2010. He also reported that Upper St. Clair ended their deer culling operations in 2009. Can we believe him? He is as misinformed as our PIO. I believe that is a prerequisite to be a member of Morgans' media circus. Former public works director and "too old for this bullshit" Tom Kelley hated deer. He made John Hayes' article. He's gone too.

Come on, Mt. Lebanon. See what is being presented to us. The commissioners have no idea how many deer we have. They are relying on "experts" whose livelihood is killing deer. Our tax dollars are paying deer haters, both commissioners and staff. They are hiring deer killers with our tax dollars. I have nothing to gain by this. I am not being paid. We don't know how many deer we have. The commission has never proven that we have a deer problem. They have resorted to a bogus deer "incident" report containing erroneous information. There is something definitely wrong when hunters and PETA are on the same side.

And as John Hayes said today, leave your signs at home when you observe tomorrow's farce.

Update June 22, 2015 9:51 AM There will be a protest in front of the high school tonight at 5:30 PM. Bring a sign. Then take it with you to the deer killing meeting. It is your constitutional right, Folks.