September 16, 1998
In the United States District Court for the District of Arizona
USA v. Linick
Hearing held on the Defendant's
Motion to Dismiss
The Court finds that the forest service has a remarkably
complex set of burdens and responsibilities in order to properly
discharge its stewardship of the public lands of the United States
and the regulatory scheme which it has in place and which it modifies
from time to time in
an effort to properly discharge those responsibilities is a challenging
task at best. Its broad responsibilities, of course, are to manage
the national forests and the public lands of the country in a
manner that will serve the best interest of the people of the
United States in the many and various uses that it properly seeks
to make of this national and public resource.
The court further finds that the regulatory provisions
involved in this case, the non-commercial group use regulations
as would be applied to the defendant, are impermissibly broad
in that 251.56 (a) (2) (vii) of the Code of Federal Regulations
grants an inappropriately broad range of discretion to the official
discharging responsibility cast upon he or she under the regulatory
scheme.
Accordingly, the regulations are deemed as a matter of
law to be inappropriate by the Court. The defendant would not
be under a lawful obligation to make application for such a permit
and the information charging a criminal violation because of failure
to comply with Title 36 CFR 261.10k can not stand and is not appropriate.
IT IS ORDERED granting the defendant's motion to dismiss.
The Court further finds that it is unnecessary for it go further
in this case. Trial date of 10/28/98 is vacated.