NOTES : Anti-Hunters Lose Fight as Hunt Ends

California’s third limited bighorn sheep hunt officially ended in the East Mojave National Scenic Area Sunday, and Department of Fish and Game workers, along with volunteers from the Society for the Conservation of Bighorn Sheep, moved in Monday to trap and transfer about 40 surplus sheep south to the Chuckwalla Range.

Actually, all nine licensed hunters had bagged their trophies with several days to spare. The hunt is the part of the desert bighorn conservation program that gets most of the attention, partly because of the anti-hunting protesters involved.

This year, the protesters were successful only in relentlessly harassing one hunter, Charlie Cook of San Marcos, until he used evasive tactics to elude them and bag his undisturbed prey. He slipped out of camp on horseback in pre-dawn darkness while protesters followed two other riders who left in the opposite direction at daylight.

Earlier, the anti-hunters had suffered a setback when a Sacramento arbitrator, William A. Wilson, denied the $1 million in assault claims by Christie Bricknell and Lyn Dessaux against Sheep Society leader Loren Lutz of Pasadena and his son, Kennis. Wilson minced no words in calling Bricknell and Dessaux liars who recited conflicting versions of the alleged incidents in depositions, written interrogatories and, finally, testimony before Wilson.

Bricknell is a librarian at UC Santa Cruz. Dessaux listed no occupation or permanent address. Bricknell, Wilson wrote in his decision, “seems to be a pawn being manipulated by her co-plaintiff and perhaps others in a Fagin-like manner. . . . She has to be very careful when she imposes her beliefs on others who are lawfully doing what they are licensed or permitted to do.”

Further, Wilson dismissed Dessaux’s claim that Kennis Lutz had punched him and broken his nose as a “totally fabricated nosebleed,” and that “his childlike imagination of seeing a ‘glint of a rifle’ in the sun sounds like something out of an old Clint Eastwood movie.”

Wilson also suggested that either Dessaux or lawyer Dan Whaley had coached Bricknell’s “perjured” testimony.

If they had been testifying in court, Wilson wrote, “Some judges would call the district attorney in to investigate the admitted perjury and the possible subordination of perjury involved.”

Wilson also awarded the Lutzes legal costs, which could exceed $20,000. Nevertheless, Whaley has indicated that he plans to pursue the case in court.

Southland sportfishing clubs got together with Assemblywoman Doris Allen (R-Cypress) Monday in Marina del Rey to discuss how to get the 600,000 signatures required to put Allen’s new gill-net initiative on the November ballot.

Members from 25 clubs showed up to offer their support, which will entail vigorous signature-gathering efforts at such venues as trade shows, malls and swap meets.

“They all came together to get moving on this thing,” Allen said. “We can’t mess around this time. We’ve got to hit the deck running.”

A similar effort failed two years ago, when Allen cited lack of organization as the primary reason.

This time, Allen’s gill-net task force has set up a “gill-net office”--at (714) 828-9269--in Cypress for coordination and volunteer information, and has a hired a professional petition company and fund-raisers to pay for the effort.

Under the new initiative, gill-nets would be banned within three miles of the coast from Point Conception to the Mexican border and around the Channel Islands, and existing closures in Northern California would become permanent under state law.

The signatures are needed by April 1 to qualify the initiative.

Add gill-nets: California gray whales will be migrating south through Southland waters this winter and will face the danger of drowning in drift gill-nets set out by commercial fishermen.

The Gill-net Watch Program, originated by the National Coalition for Marine Conservation, asks that if anyone comes across an entangled whale, a call should be placed via Channel 16 on marine radio to the marine assistance company, Vessell Assist, which will then contact the whale rescue unit.

The whale rescue unit, a team of biologists on call 24 hours a day, is sanctioned by the National Marine Fisheries Service.

Since 1981, there have been 30 documented incidents involving gray whales entangled in nets.

Briefly

California fishermen spent $2.21 billion in 1985--the latest year for which figures are available--and provided 70,350 jobs, according to a study by the Sportfishing Institute. Florida led the nation, its anglers accounting for $3.1 billion and 97,497 jobs. Vermont was last at $43,591,743 and 1,267 jobs. . . . Fishermen spent $4.3 billion on food and refreshments, $3.3 billion on transportation, $1.16 billion on boat fuel, $2.1 billion on inboard boats, $2.29 billion on outboard boats and $1.77 billion on a pickup, camper or van used for fishing, the study said. Fishermen also paid $1.3 billion in sales taxes on their purchases.

Fishing licenses for 1990 are available at normal outlets now “as gifts or stocking-stuffers,” according to the Department of Fish and Game. Fly-fishing: Author-guide Ralph Cutter will present a program on fly-fishing the Northern Sierra and fly-tying at the Sierra Pacific Flyfishers’ Dec. 20 meeting at the Odyssey Restaurant in Mission Hills. Information: (818) 785-7306.

Times staff writer Rich Roberts contributed to this story.