Feb. 15--It has been a good news, bad news kind of week.

But these days, if you can get a 50-50 mix, consider yourself ahead.

Good news: Yellow perch are beginning to make guest appearances in Chesapeake Bay tributaries, a sure sign we're on the back side of winter (fingers crossed). Up in North East, Capt. Mike Benjamin is already offering half-day yellow perch charter trips on the Susquehanna River. When it comes to spring, I'll take yellow perch arriving over a groundhog seeing its shadow any day of the week.

Bad news: The already whittled-down Department of Natural Resources budget is due for a hearing Wednesday and Thursday, and chances are more cuts are coming, including the two Natural Resources Police helicopters. You'll know things are really bleak when you turn on TV and see DNR Secretary John R. Griffin selling ShamWow.

Good news: Public pressure, good police work and conscientious prosecutors made it a bad week to be a poacher. Serial offender Joey Janda, a 22-year-old waterman from Wittman, will have a 90-day vacation in the St. Mary's County jail, spend three years on supervised probation and have his commercial license suspended for three years for harvesting undersized oysters. State's Attorney Richard Fritz asked for the maximum penalty, noting the public response he received. How big a jerk is Janda, who has a rap sheet as long as your arm? On Wednesday, just two days before his appearance in St.Mary's District Court, Janda was charged by NRP with 22counts of possessing undersized and unculled oysters. His court date in Dorchester County District Court is April 6. William Jones is the state's attorney. His e-mail address is wjones@docogonet.com.

Also getting their comeuppance: the two Georgetown fish dealers who took part in the largest Chesapeake Bay striped bass poaching case ever cracked. Cannon Seafood agreed to pay an $80,000 fine and $28,000 in restitution to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. Owner Richard Moore Sr. and his son, Richard Jr., will pay a total of $70,000 in fines and a combined $25,000 in restitution to the foundation.

Bad news: The cases of four watermen -- three from Maryland and one from Virginia -- also charged in the striped bass case were postponed Friday and haven't been rescheduled. A fifth waterman is expected to plead guilty Friday morning in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt.

Good news: If the weather is iffy and you're looking for a place to take the kids, try the visitor's center at the Patuxent Research Refuge in Laurel.