Not good news at all!! Michele Hendrick Wadsworth Ohio Email from Jeff Gordon Hi all, I'm sure others will be posting here and elsewhere about the bad news that today the Cochise County Board of Supervisors voted to uphold the appeal against Mary Jo Ballator's special use permit that would allow birders continued day-use access to her grounds. This is an unfortunate setback, to say the least. I'm still very proud of the way hundreds of birders took the time to write in messages in support of Ash Canyon Bed and Breakfast (you can read excerpts from a bunch of them here?they're wonderful: http://bit.ly/gcH2EM). There are a few who have worried that we shouldn't speak up, that it will only solidify opposition. I understand their argument, but I contend that it's a lack of standing up for ourselves that has led and will continue to lead to decisions like today's. Unless we exercise and thereby strengthen our voice; that in my mind is the only way to stop our interests being trivialalized. In any event, I look forward to seeing what can be done now to make the best of things. Good birding, Jeff Jeffrey Gordon President American Birding Association Colorado Springs, CO [log in to unmask] www.aba.org 719-884-8226 direct line @ office Check out ABA's awesome multi-author blog: http://blog.aba.org/ BirdChat Guidelines: http://www.ksu.edu/audubon/chatguidelines.html Archives: http://listserv.arizona.edu/archives/birdchat.html ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]