AR-News: (US MI) Bill to make mourning doves legal prey stirs passions on both sides

[Animalara2003 at aol.com]

February 17, 2004 
BY HUGH MCDIARMID JR.
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER 
A mourning dove in flight is erratic. Sudden changes of direction. Confusing 
dips and turns. 
Ditto for a proposed law to hunt the birds. That legislation, at the 
epicenter of an angst-ridden Senate hearing today, is a springboard for threats, 
protests, political sleight of hand and exhaustive lobbying efforts the likes of 
which haven't been seen since, well, the last time it was proposed. 
"I've been around here 20 years and this is like the eighth time I've fought 
it," said Eileen Liska, lobbyist for the Michigan Humane Society. "It's always 
the same. Wild." 
So when the Senate Judiciary Committee (why is a hunting bill in the 
Judiciary Committee? Stay tuned) convenes at noon today, it will be against a backdrop 
of lobbying chaos and an undercurrent of "animal rights extremists" versus 
"gun-loving nuts" that has colored every dove hunting debate for the past 
several decades. 
If the committee passes the measure, it could go to the full Senate as early 
as Wednesday. 
The House, which approved the bill in November, would need to OK changes made 
in the Senate version before sending it to Gov. Jennifer Granholm. 
Granholm is staying safely in her political bomb shelter unless she's dragged 
out. "When, and if, it reaches her desk, we will decide whether to sign it," 
her spokeswoman, Liz Boyd, said Monday. 
Bill Ballenger, editor of Inside Michigan Politics, said Granholm, like the 
legislators, sees the issue as a hot potato. 



full story:

http://www.freep.com/news/mich/dove17_20040217.htm 

"The world is a dangerous place,
not because of those who do evil,
but because of those who look on and do nothing."
Albert Einstein
      /\   /\         
>' .' <   
                              
There is no justice, just us!  








    
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