Posted on 08/21/2002 7:39:06 PM PDT by NewHampshireDuo
KITTERY — A controversial referendum to ban hunting in the 72-acre Town Farm Forest was soundly defeated Tuesday.
The vote was 1,093 to 396.
"I think we have made our point," said Town Councilor Mark Sousa, among those in favor of hunting in the forest. Residents had voted against changing the ordinance that governs the forest on two previous occasions.
Nancy Bogenberger, a member of Kittery Wildlife Friends, was upset by the results. "Evil thrives when good men do nothing, and I think the people of Kittery did nothing," she said.
Members of Kittery Wildlife Friends, led by Sue Johnson, had gathered more than 900 valid signatures in June in their effort to overturn the hunting ordinance.
The proposal put them at odds with local hunters and state wildlife officials, who said an abundance of deer in southern Maine poses a threat to local residents.
Lyme disease and automobile accidents involving deer would increase if another town in southern Maine closed a hunting zone, they said.
People who live near the forest supported the referendum, saying they felt threatened by the presence of hunters armed with rifles with a range of nearly a mile.
Bogenberger attributed the defeat to a poor turnout by the town's non-hunters, who are a vast majority of the population.
Among those voting against the referendum was John Eisfeller, a young father and avid hunter. "There's only so much area you can hunt on as it is now," Eisfeller said as he left the polls at Shapleigh School, his daughter perched on his shoulders.
Louise Sprague reflected the other faction. She and her husband Ralph, retirees, voted to ban hunting. "I'm just against killing those beautiful animals," she said.
Johnson and Bogenberger support alternative methods of controlling the deer population.
Johnson, who does not eat meat or dairy products, favors using contraceptives as a way to control the deer population.
Sousa argued that there was little likelihood of controlling the local deer population by using contraceptives, saying the technique has failed to control herd populations elsewhere.
The campaign got ugly in the days leading up to the election.
Two signs that were put up along the Kittery traffic circle — bearing the slogans "Animals Taste Good" and "Target Practice" — urged voters to defeat the hunting restrictions. Animal-rights activists cried foul. No one took credit for making the signs.
The signs were still on the rotary Tuesday, along with many others espousing both sides of the issue.
A true nature lover.Animals are people too...
What next? Will the stags be signed up for SSI?
Can the Does expect fawn support? Why arent these animals in school?
Why we continue to call these people "Liberals" is beyond me. They aren't about choice or freedom or anything of the sort.
What's ironic is that many of those who call themselves "liberal" are actually nothing more than extreme reactionaries who seek nothing less than to undo centuries of human achievement. They spread the myth that building onto the "towers" of past human achievement unduly confines the human spirit; that everyone should instead build their own towers from scratch. What they continuously ignore is that while climbing on and building onto other's achievements may limit one's lateral travels, it allows one to achieve great heights which no single person could possibly otherwise achieve. By contrast, those who would insist upon building everything from the ground up will often be hard-pressed to even achieve mediocrity.
Yes, it does make you wonder. In all probability many of the signers were only supportive to the point where they'd spend one minute signing a petition but not supportive enough to actually spend half and hour to go and vote.
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