Isn't driving "largely a recreational activity that drivers choose to engage
in with knowledge of the regulations governing their conduct"?

Besides, you can sure as hell understand driving regulation better than
fishing regulations. You almost need a damn lawyer to decipher half the
regulations. Maybe that's why the lawyer was concerned

"Gould 0738" wrote in message
...
Minn. High Court Allows Boat Searches

By ASHLEY H. GRANT
.c The Associated Press

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled Thursday that
game
wardens can search boats without the consent of the owner or probable
cause to
suspect illegal activity.

The court put the protection of natural resources ahead of fishermen's
expectations of privacy.

Fishing boats should not have the same Fourth Amendment protections
against
searches as homes or even cars because ``fishing is a largely recreational
privilege that anglers choose to engage in with knowledge of the
regulations
governing their conduct,'' Justice James Gilbert said.

The case involved John Colosimo, a lawyer from Virginia, Minn., who would
not
let a game warden inspect his boat in northern Minnesota. Colosimo's
misdemeanor conviction for refusing an inspection, overturned by an
appeals
court, was reinstated by the Supreme Court.

Colosimo, who faces up to 90 days in jail, did not immediately return a
call
for comment.

Col. Mike Hamm, enforcement chief for the Department of Natural Resources,
said
the decision was ``a great thing.''

Colosimo had argued that allowing officers to inspect boats without some
evidence of wrongdoing violates the constitutional protection against
unreasonable searches and seizures.

But state officials argued that with 2.1 million fishermen and about 200
conservation officers in Minnesota, the only way to protect natural
resources
was searching with or without consent.

Only one of the six jurists who voted, Justice Alan Page, disagreed with
the
entire decision, though another justice dissented in part.

Page warned that the ruling ``ensures that every such search will be
reasonable, even when based on a conservation officer's whim.''



09/25/03 18:01 EDT


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