u235

You're an idiot. Those fish were ILLEGAL. If someone had drugs that were confiscated, would you be bitching about that? probably, but that doesnt make it right. That man knew that he was in possession of illegal fish, he was warned, and Sgt. Spahr confiscated them after the man refused to give them up. ALSO, the owner of the illegal fish was not allowed to buy them back. I don't know who your source was, but they were wrong. Any question? feel free to email me, and I'll tell you what actually happened.

Wow... u235 you're an idiot. Or something

Wait no..

In October, the state ruled that Mr. Ly could keep the koi in his restaurant, but that they could not be displayed in public. He would have a permit good for one year that required the fish to be outfitted with microchips so they could be tracked if released.

In August, we reported that the state of Maine had impounded the Koi from a Chinese restaurant belonging to Cuong Ly in Freeport. Game wardens said the big goldfish were an invasive species and hence, illegal in Maine.

This week, after a lengthy court battle and $20,000, the Maine attorney general's office agreed a settlement. Mr. Ly has been reunited with his fish — which he says are good luck — and now has a five-year permit for them. He's even allowed to display them in public, but he must post a notice saying the Koi are illegal in Maine and could harm the ecosystem if released.

So.. umm.. you lose. He got them back. Just recently. So... HA-HA!

regardless of the fact that he got them back, he had them illegally, and he knew that. He had them without a permit. After a court battle, he got them back and finally got the permit and they were returned to him. And your little crack about taking Sgt. Spahrs car is ridiculous. Is it illegal to own a car? Also, Game Wardens are ALWAYS armed. They're part of the Maine State Police.

If you have a problem with these men enforcing the law then if someone breaks into your house, vandalizes your property and steals everything you own call a number other than 911 because god forbid the "Nazis" impose on someones right to take your shit.

Also I'd like to comment on you're use of the term Nazi. What exactly make Sgt Spahr a Nazi here? Did he throw the owner into a work camp? no a law was passed which the shop owner disobeyed. You disobey the law this kind of stuff happens. now mabey if the Sgt broke in the door, pushed people to the floor, punched the owner in the face, and shot someone in the face for asking whats going on and threw the fish into a gas chamber THEN he would be a fish Nazi

excuse me? first of all, "Roullette", whomever you are, obviously you are very close with this guy and his fish, because why else would u care so much, and act so personal and childish?? And who the hell puts microchips in fish, i think youve watched a few too many hours of the sci-fi channel, its time to get a life.....and no one, and i mean no one, calls any heroic game wardens "nazis". The fish were illegal. He was warned. He didn't remove the fish. So the fish were confiscated. Wow. Shocker.

Hello? This post is over eight months old - where the fuck were you trolls when this happened?

Oh wait, it only took Spahr fifteen years to arrest a guy for an illegal fish, I suppose you should be applauded for replying to a post only eight months late.

Hey Cheryl...

Roulette is my handle. It's a way of not putting my real name online so that crazy people can't google me and find out crazy things about me. It's called smart computing. You're obviously new at this.

Second... Fuck off and die. See... THAT'S childish. See the difference?

Third, I don't care. I was laughing at the odds of someone posting 8 months after the fact with new information that's 6 weeks out of date. It's ironic and amusing. hence... HAHA!

Forth, The gray boxes... those are quotes. That one came from the New York Times article on it. That's where the microchips came from. but you're obviously new to the internet. I forgive you with just that explanation.

Fifth.. wow.. did you know what I can find out about you with Google? It's amazing!! And seems like Emily is there too. Nice big happy family!!! Word to the wise... try not to be stupid when you're online. We're nice here. A lot of the internet isn't.

I, personally, would like to note that of all of the personal opinions expressed by the authors of our lovely little slice of the internet, it is the topic of FISH and their implied danger to run rampant without permit in an isolated container, which has launched a flame war.

Welcome to our new readers. May your stay be entertaining... to me. In the meantime, I suggest that everyone take a moment to read the name of our site, and most importantly, the site motto.

Kids say the darnedest things, especially when they don't understand the fine line between Rules and Justice. Man-made rules have to be revised and assayed all the time because of man's inability to see all eventualities and make blanket "laws" that are JUST in all situations. Otherwise, police officers would carry out sentences directly without any need for courts, juror and mitigating circumstances.

Even God, who *can* see all eventualities, allows for mercy and compassion and provides for redemption. Justice/Karma is the ox-goad that keeps the universe running and rules that cannot fit every situation *will* fail and have to come under scrutiny at some point.

This case is just one such example of when Justice and the laws of men were at odds and another solution had to be found.

You would do well to learn from this lesson and to heed an ancient saying (attributed to the Chinese as most wise sayings are): "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt."

I'd like to add that these flames, while amateurish and poorly conceived, have given me great pleasure and enjoyment.

Larathiel are you saying that the law that was enforced in this case wasn't just? or the manner that it was enforced? because i don't see justice or the laws of men being at odds here.

I mean people do stupid stuff all the time, including taking one fishy from one part of the world home with them and putting it in the wild for god only knows what reason (mabey they think it would make the fish happy, mabey as a dumb high school prank some kids steal the fish and release em who knows) but in doing so it throws the local ecosystem way off balance.

now this law which was passed to keep things like that from passing was enforced and the man was given a one year permit. now i don't know anything about laws regarding the ownership of exotic fish in Maine but I'm sure he could have gone and applied for a permit to keep them longer and on public display. however he didn't do that. the man let his permit expire and the local law enforcement did their job. nothing about this seems unfair or unjust.

and as for any flaming on my part, well i apologize for being irrational however I just get pissed whenever i see someone being called a Nazi for pretty much doing his job and enforcing a law meant to protect the environment.

like i said, if the Sgt beat the crap out of someone and took cash out of their wallet or something like that then yea he should be criticized, but being called a Nazi for doing to a shop owner what would happen to anyone who doesn't make payments on their new car? its just seems like being mad at a tree for being a tree

Methinks Gerry needs to re-read the post.

- Fish were in the mans possesion for some 15 years in a *building*, no where near the "environment".

- Law concerning the fish was passed only a few years prior to the confiscation. I can only guess that there was not a public bulletin.

Does that warrant confiscation? Does that warrant giving the fish to a local pet store so that the man should then BUY them back? Why weren't they taken to an evidence ... uh ... fish tank until the permit was obtained? Why did the man have to buy his own property back?

That sounds... if you ask me... fishy.

If anything the man should have been grandfathered in under the law and given a chance to obtain a permit. Maybe issued a fine. But in this case, it seems that the officer decided to simply... be a dick.

Okay, I didn't mean to start an all out brawl here. I was pissed off that you attacked Sgt. Spahr when he was NOT the one that made the decision, he was simply the officer there that had received the most publicity in the past. Ever hear of the phrase "don't shoot the messenger"?

And as for me responding to this post 8 months later, I've never heard of your site before. I googled Spahr's name and found this article calling him a nazi. I honestly don't understand why you're equating enforcing fish and game laws with the massive slaughter of 6 million people.

oh, and sTmykal, the owner of the fish had been warned in the past, but thought that the police were kidding around, and failed to remove the fish or obtain a permit. that information is not included in the original post, although it is rather important to the story....

i know they were in a secure tank away from the environment however i was just saying that's the purpose of the law, to make sure that the fish dont go from the tank into an alien environment, i only brought that up cuz i thought larathiel was saying the law was unjust.

also if you read the article excerpts posted it doesn't mention anything about how the officers went about any of this. it seems this idea that they waltzed in one day and took the fish without any warning is based on the fact that the owner felt like he was being treated like a criminal.... although he was probably over reacting like most people when they deal with police

and just throwing this out there but does anyone else find it strange or at least funny that a Vietnamese man was running a Chinese food place that had Japanese fish?

Funny? Yeah about as funny as the fact that the whole lot of you Maine-ites either don't read the news, or have it kept from you. This was reported by the NY Times back in July of 06.

And while you're "throwing things out" I'd put your cultural sensitivities in the trash as well. Not only was the fish his pet for fifteen years, but it was the symbol of good luck and success of his business.

Course, not to be too redundant here, but clearly people living in a state that has laws to which fine people for having holiday decorations up past Jan 14th probably isn't high on multiculturalism.

please don't take this the wrong way, but if you're not from maine, then why do you care so much about this?

As far as I know, NO ONE on this board is from Maine. Why do we care?

Same reason we care about laws in Florida, DC, California, Germany, and Canada. Let alone the tons of other rants we've written about hundreds of other topics over the years.

Stupid laws, events and ideas deserve to be mocked. When something is so outrageously stupid, unjust and / or moronic that you want to scream... we come here and write up a little bit purging it.

Seriously, read some of the posts here. I recommend mine (Rou), because I rule, but to each their own

If you go to the main page, look on the right for a section called: Best Posts of Suck. It's a good place to start to get the feel of the place.

Or, take a look at our motto:
Futue te ipsum
Go fuck yourself

I don't have to live someplace to think it's rules /leaders /mores /people suck. I include my family, workplace, sports teams, and hometown in that. I've ranted about all of the above. Because I can and it makes me feel better.

Imagine a world where you only cared about things that directly effected you. Would you want to live there? I wouldn't.

When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

let me tell you the reason that I care about this:
Every year Sgt. Spahr has to confiscate animals that are illegally kept as pets, from mountain lions to baby deer to koi fish. Whatever they may be, they are illegal. I care because the author of this blog singled out one man, even though he was not the only person that confiscated those koi. There were numerous police officers and marine biologists there that were left unmentioned. Mostly, I care because the author called Sgt. Spahr, my father, a nazi.
Look, I'm all for freedom of speech. There are a lot of stupid blue laws, and cases that need to be ridiculed, but to call my father a nazi for doing his job does not sit well with me.

I get it. You're mad that the Sgt was the only one mentioned (IIRC) in the news article that u235 used as a base.

u235 singled him out because the newspaper reporter singled him out. I suppose it could have been written to say that the entire dept was full of fish Nazis. But it wasn't. Faulty writing? Eh. Maybe. Of course, doing it that way would indicate the entire department was involved, and that's an error in the other direction.

Work off the source, and the source listed Tim.

I didn't mean to start a fight about this article, I was just pissed off. but honestly, if someone wrote something calling your father names for doing his job, wouldn't you be angry? No one was hurt in this case, and honestly, its one of the more normal ones that he has handled. There are some fucked up people in Maine...

Roulette- Thank you for being civil with me and dealing with my bitching.

I am backing down now (although I'm STILL not okay with the term Nazi)

p.s
Sgt. Spahr finds this blog about him funny.

Pffft. My dad was a construction foreman. He didn't get through a day without being called that or worse. If it was on the internet, it would just be a new forum.

I'm glad Sgt. Spahr finds it amusing.