Just catching up with the news from “home”, Wilmington, NC, and saw this article in the Wilmington Morning Star about the Camo Coalition.

The coalition is a perfect example of grassroots activism.  The participants are merging new technology, the Internet, with old, the phone tree.  When an issue comes up, the network comes alive and word is spread from person to person.  Before long, the growth becomes somewhat exponential and a handful of informed individuals becomes a pretty strong force. 

Examples of recent issues include

  • The potential purchase of a public access area in the mountain region
  • Support of keeping a commercial bycatch limit of seven red drum rather than increasing the limit to 10
  • Word of a move by the U.S. Navy to expand its bombing ranges in Pamlico Sound into some of the best tarpon fishing and red drum fishing in the world, which would make the area off-limits to boaters, hunters and commercial and recreational fishermen
  • Legislation currently passed by the legislature and is under veto threat by the governor that would rescind penalties for driving large boat trailers on North Carolina highways during daylight hours
  • A reversal by the Wake County Board of Education on the authorization of a shooting team at East Wake High School in Wendell. The organization sent e-mails about the cancellation of the team to every member of the board, which eventually found the team not in violation of policy
  • 4-H Camp Millstone in the Sandhills had a deer-cleaning and processing course each year. The Richmond County Board of Health shut it down because the meat had not been inspected. But Hamilton used facts of the state’s Hunters for the Hungry program to prove that turning a deer into venison created no health hazard and, with help of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, was able to reinstate the course.

It’s a great idea, and one that could (and SHOULD) be replicated across the country.  To learn more about the organization, check them out at http://www.nccamo.org. 

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