Document XOqwVaRMKoGLmjLvpGGgbdzB

%*' .y * August 2, 1984 Senator Mark 0. Hatfield United States Senate Washington, D.C. 20510 Dear Senator Hatfield, I hope you will attend promptly to a matter of considerable urgency and concern to my family as well as to a great number of Oregon Coast Range residents. Would you please initiate an' inguiry to the USDA Forest Service, asking for answers'to the following guestions: 1. What is the Forest Service's statutory authority to conduct civil or criminal investigations on both National Forest and private property? 2. Have funds been appropriated specifically for this purpose? 3. Under what authority is the Forest Service permitted to dispense funds to county sheriffs' departments to enforce state drug laws? 4. Have funds been appropriated specifically for this purpose? It is rny understanding that federal law (28 U.S.C. sections 553, 534, 516, and 519) specifically prohibits the Forest Service from exercising either criminal or civil investigative authority. Our concern is prompted by the over-zealous behavior of Forest Service "special agents" in their search for illegal patches of marijuana. I do not grow, use, or possess marijuana, and I strenuously object to the , Forest Servjpe's "Gestapo-style" tactics that terrorize my children and livestock, jeopardize human life, and intrude upon our privacy with neither warrant nor cause. We live in constant fear of reckless "surveillance" ' flights (there have been three in the last ten days) and undisciplined, ill-trained "SWAT teams" of Forest Service employees blundering about with machine guns on both private and national forest land which surrounds my property. ' Furthermore, the Forest Service has indicated that its "intelligence" and surveillance activities are directed specifically at citizens like myself who have expressed genuine concerns about the safety of Forest Service "management practices" (i.e., herbicides). During our herbicide lawsuit (Merrell v. Block), Forest Service surveillance, harassment, and terrorism of nry family became so intolerable that we were forced to seek protection from the court (see attached settlement). Surely the nation's drug laws can be enforced without such repression and intimidation of innocent citizens. Surely, responsible law-enforcement agencies can enforce the law without the amateur Alder,hillassistance of Forest Service commando teams. (503) 528-7151 V Route 2,Box.V)oi Tidewater ^*1! O re go n -- ------- 97390