How to write you letter or e-mail
OK, so I'm compelling you to contact the appropriate local and state politicians. Here is some help for you to make your letter, phone call, or e-mail as effective as possible. I did a little homework on the most effective way to contact politicians and this is what I found:
1) Be respectful - name-calling or an emotional tirade will get you nowhere. Polite and respectful language like Sir and Madam go a long way.
2) State who you are and why your're writing or calling. Anonymous letters are useless.
3) Be focused and stick to only one issue. This isn't the time to bitch about how the roads are being plowed, your local taxes, or that fact that your school is under-funded. Limit your discussion to spearing.
4) Clearly state your position. In this case your position is that you oppose the lifting of the spearing ban on Cass Lake, or the lifting of a spearing ban anywhere, for that matter.
5) Explain your position. This is your chance to present information to support your position. In this case it's important to describe the negative impact that spearing would have on the large pike of Cass. There is a Bemidji study on Kevin Cochran's board that provides scientific evidence to support this. It's worth worth mentioning that there are very few lakes in the state that have a respectable population of big pike, so lakes like Cass are a very limited resource and are worth protecting to maintain that resource. It's also worth mentioning that lakes with a spearing ban are rare and spearers have plenty of opportunity to pursue their activity on any of the thousands of lakes without a ban. It's very worth mentioning the economic impact of the big pike. The the hook-and-line anglers, both summer and winter, have a far, far greater positive benefit to the state and local economy than a handful of spearers. Furthermore, big pike, if protected, drive sustainable fishing activity and therefore sustained spending by the fisherman. Wiping out the big pike by spearing will limit or end the spending. Politicians care more about spending and money more than slimy pike, so I think the economic benefits to state and local governments are important to stress.
6) Clearly state what you want done or provide a recommended action. In this case, you want the person you're contacting to oppose lifting the ban, keep the ban as it is.
7) A good, old-fashioned letter is more effective than e-mail. From the politician's point of view, if a person must really care to write a letter and put it in the mail. A combination of a phone call and an e-mail is also better than e-mail alone, and doesn't take much more time.
For more information about how to effectively contact a politician, just do a Google search like: "How to write a politician", or something like that. It doesn't really matter if your search result is for writing a senator, congressman, or whatever - the basic principles are the same. Here are a few search results I found that I thought were helpful, take a few minutes to read them:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/art...s_senator.html
http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/uscong...rscongress.htm
http://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Lette...States-Senator
Now get going!
