Wisconsin Hunter Homicide Cases Pushed Diversity Coordinator Toward Law, Outreach Career
OutdoorHub 02.29.12
Ka Yeng Vue knew in 2004 he wanted to help Wisconsin heal after the murders of six deer hunters in Sawyer County demonstrated cultural misunderstandings. Three years later, a second hunter homicide in Marinette County pushed the man born to Hmong parents in a Thailand refugee camp toward a career in law enforcement and community outreach.
Ka Yeng Vue is the new Diversity Outreach Coordinator for the Department of Natural Resources’ Bureau of Law Enforcement where his goal is to promote cultural harmony and to create a diverse and inclusive conservation community. “I am reaching out to all ethnic groups and communities to let them know the partnership that we – at the DNR – would like to build with them,” he says.
The passion KaYeng has for the new duties is fueled by his reactions to the two homicide cases that not only rocked the state’s deer hunting community, but revealed a deeply held misunderstanding between two cultures at home in Wisconsin.
The homicides in 2004 were at the hand of a Hmong American hunter from Minnesota and his victims were white men. In 2007, while Ka Yeng was completing his first semester at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College in Green Bay, a Hmong American hunter was murdered by a white individual while hunting in Marinette County. “I told myself there had not been a better time to work harder toward my law enforcement degree,” Ka Yeng said of his work to complete his Criminal Justice Law Enforcement degree at the technical college. “I knew I wanted to do what I could to help prevent these tragic incidents from happening again.”
Ka Yeng recently began his new duties as the outreach coordinator, replacing Eileen Hocker who was hired full-time by the Office of State Employee Relations.
The two met in 2008 when Hocker urged Ka Yeng to consider working with the Bureau of Law Enforcement’s Water Guard to help stop the spread of aquatic invasive species. He took Hocker’s advice. “But I never really forgot the incidents of 2004 and 2007. They were always in the back of my mind,” he said.
In the fall of 2011, Recreational Safety Warden Jeremy Cords trained Ka Yeng and five others to become instructors of the hunter education safety course to the general public – but especially to Hmong hunters. “Slowly but surely, I was achieving my goals and the DNR’s goals to do what we can to help prevent these incidents of 2004 and 2007 from occurring,” he said.
Ka Yeng has been busy giving presentations with sportsmen and sportswomen clubs, groups and organizations. His goals are to better educate hunters, boaters, anglers and anyone who enjoys the outdoors.
“I have an open door policy and welcome those who would like me to speak to their groups or organization about job opportunities in the DNR, hunting and recreating with ethnic groups. In the end, we all want the same thing: to protect our natural resources, to safely enjoy the outdoor recreational activities Wisconsin has to offer, and to pass on the conservation ethic to future generations,” he said.
