The Farmer and the Dolphin

At Garden City Beach, where no one seemed to hurry, the first indication of trouble was the staccato rumble of footsteps on the stairs. A sharp knock at the door came next. And when 86-year-old Betty Mincey answered, she faced law officers wearing guns.

The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources and a federal agent from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, had come to investigate the report of a dead dolphin taken in a net set by her husband in front of the Mincey house that morning.

After questioning 86-year-old WWII Navy veteran C.P. Mincey, the officers told him he had violated the Marine Mammal Protection Act which cites the illegal taking of a dolphin as a federal offense. The accompanying DNR officer told him he had also broken state laws in setting and observing the net. They charged the South Carolina farmer with killing a dolphin and his fine was eventually set at $6500.

The events at Garden City marked the opening stage of a 15-month-long battle between the Mincey family and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Join South Carolina author William Walker for an in-depth, entertaining behind-the-scenes account of how Mincey, with the support of Latta S.C., attorneys LaFon LeGette and Alan Berry, won his case in a contentious federal hearing at Georgetown, S.C.