Mon
Sep 17 2007
09:49 am
Government funded hunting lodge?
By: R. Neal

In case you missed the KNS article from last week, this sounds pretty outrageous:

When former state Rep. H.E. Bittle Jr. pushed for the creation of a "Sportsman" license plate in 1999, he stipulated that part of the revenue from the plates would go to a familiar foundation — his own.

Bittle was the prime House sponsor of House Bill 584, which created the specialty plate that features an image of a deer. In the years since then, more than $900,000 in revenue from the plate has been allocated to the Sportsmen’s Wildlife Foundation.

According to the article, the "Sportsman's Wildlife Foundation" was founded by Bittle (R-Knoxville) who is the foundation's CEO. Five of its six board members are family.

The money was used to purchase 329 acres in Cumberland County and build a luxury "hunting lodge" currently appraised at $319K to promote "hunter safety instruction."

The article mentions that Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey and State Sen. Jamie Woodson helped push the bill through the legislature. Read the whole article to fully appreciate how questionable all this sounds.

According to Tennessee Secretary of State business records (click "search using any part of a business name" and search for "wildlife foundation"), the Sportsman's Wildlife Federation was "administratively dissolved" by the State in Sept. 1999, just four months after the legislation passed. It was reinstated in December of 2001.

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WhitesCreek's picture

The comments are pretty funny.

Submitted by WhitesCreek on Mon, 2007/09/17 - 10:49am.

"So where is the money going for "Choose Life" plate?

I think we have to come up with our own plates real fast before everybody catches on. I've been wanting to add on to the house...maybe a "Save WhitesCreek" plate is in order?

I'll do it for the children...Promise! The child would be Joe and Betty's little boy, Steve, to be exact.

Mello's picture

Update!

Submitted by Mello on Thu, 2007/09/20 - 7:09pm.

(link...)

I am guessing the TN Comptroller's office knows how to read those IRS forms!

Mello's picture

interesting cast they have on the board

Submitted by Mello on Mon, 2007/09/17 - 8:31pm.

(link...)

Factchecker's picture

Last page

Submitted by Factchecker on Mon, 2007/09/17 - 8:59pm.

Yes, it is! I'm confused, though, because Greg Johnson said the Democrats are corrupt. Why would he say such a thing if Republicans are just as bad or worse?

Mello's picture

KNS Bittle said the license

Submitted by Mello on Tue, 2007/09/18 - 6:48am.

KNS Bittle said the license plate is the foundation’s only source of revenue.

IRS filing shows only revenue from 'membership dues and assement"

no grant money listed.

and in the KNS

The legislation, approved in 1999, said funds provided to the foundation should be used “exclusively to establish and administer programs to ensure the protection, propagation and conservation of fish and wildlife in Tennessee in order to assure the preservation of the heritage of hunting and fishing in this state for future generations.”

In the IRS filing the purpose of the group is to "to fund educational programs to promote and protect hunting and fishing in America"

Would someone who understands these IRS forms please speak up?

And for the record any fool can pull up and shoot a bison. It is nothing short of a cattle hunt.

This guy is pissing me off to new levels!

Sarge's picture

But did you see the

Submitted by Sarge on Mon, 2007/09/17 - 8:57pm.

But did you see the decapitated head of the buffalo sitting on the floow? They are going to hang it on a wall, glassy eyes and all, and people are giving Michael Vick hell over dog fighting. Has Vick got a dogs head hanging on his wall?

SammySkull's picture

uuuhhh

Submitted by SammySkull on Tue, 2007/09/18 - 11:03am.

A buffalo head isn't quite comparable to the abuse that Vick is accused of, and dog fighting is certainly not comparable to killing an animal. Perhaps you'd like to be starved and shocked and made to fight till your flesh was hanging off and your blood was flowing and you died.

Paul Witt's picture

No comparison

Submitted by Paul Witt on Tue, 2007/09/18 - 11:07am.

But did you see the decapitated head of the buffalo sitting on the floow? They are going to hang it on a wall, glassy eyes and all, and people are giving Michael Vick hell over dog fighting. Has Vick got a dogs head hanging on his wall?

Please don't compare hunting to what Vick did. Hunters shoot to kill their prey quickly and then eat what they kill. Vick was breeding dogs for fights to the death and then killing the dogs that didn't do well by hanging and drowning them.

Bbeanster's picture

H.E. (or Hardly Ever

Submitted by Bbeanster on Tue, 2007/09/18 - 12:29pm.

H.E. (or Hardly Ever {Honest} as a friend of mine used to call him), ended his career in the lege right after he got some bad publicity for getting into a drunken fistfight with another legislator in a Printers Alley nightclub.

He was House minority leader at one time, and is skeezy as they come.

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