November 11,2007 - Westland Public Library

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(WReGc)'
Sunday, November 11,2007
The Observer & Eccentric Newspapers
www.hometownlife.com
Economic
Much has been made recently about our state
lawmakers taking time off for the annual firearms
deer hunting season that starts Thursday.
They have been criticized because, as it turns
out, only a handful of legislators actually hunt.
Yet they are all taking about two weeks off anyway.
Only in Lansing.
Actually, the annual hunting holiday for state
lawmakers dates back a long ways, when hunting
was much more ingrained in the daily lives
of Michiganders. But that's not to say that it
isn't still a huge deal here in Michigan. Just ask
small business owners, especially in the northern
part of the state, who have come to rely on
the annual migration of hunters to help boost
their cash registers. In fact, by some estimates,
deer hunters contribute about $500 million to
the state's economy through purchases of hunting
gear, food, lodging and transportation.
While numbers have dropped in recent years,
there will still be more than a half million
orange-clad hunters (both male and female) in
the woods at the crack of dawn Thursday. The
traditional firearms opener of Nov, 15 is still
akin to a holiday in many parts of the state, as
numerous schools and businesses will be closed.
And deer hunters still spend more days afield in
Michigan than in any other state or Canadian
province.
For many families, deer hunting season is celebrated
as an annual rite of passage that brings
them together at camps that have been in the
family for generations. It's about more than just
trying to bag a deer, though there is certainly
plenty of opportunity to do that.
Michigan's whitetail deer population is estimated
at 1.6 million, though more than half
live in the southern third of the state, a reversal
from a generation ago when most of the deer
lived "Up North." State biologists believe about
450,000 deer will be killed in all hunting seasons
this year, and the vast majority will be
taken in the next two weeks.
That will hardly put a dent in the population,
though. Here is something to consider, especially
for people who are critical of deer hunters:
Michigan is second in the nation when it comes
to vehicle-deer collisions. Last year, 1,700 people
were injured in such accidents around the state,
including 12 deaths. Without hunters, we can
expect to see those numbers rise. Like it or not,
deer hunters are the only means to cull the large
deer herd we have here in Michigan.
The other important role that hunters, especially
deer hunters, play in Michigan is being the
financial backbone of the state's Department of
Natural Resources, which is charged with taking
care of our forests, lakes, rivers and wildlife.
Hunting licenses pump millions into the
department's coffers. Despite this, the DNR
is currently slashing its programs, including
the number of vital conservation officers who
enforce game laws and protect the resources so
many of us in this state have come to cherish,
because our state Legislature refuses to provide
enough funding to the department.
DNR officials have asked the Legislature to
dramatically increase the cost of hunting and
fishing licenses, because they know that it is
the one source of funding they can count on.
But state lawmakers have refused to act on it. It
must be because they fear a backlash from their
constituents that do hunt. It can't be because
they don't want to pay the increases themselves,
because as we found out last week, there aren't
many of them that actually hunt.
For all our readers that do take to the field,
enjoy the wonderful outdoors our state has to
offer, happy hunting and good luck bagging that
deer.
LETTERS
Not working for constituents
I am in receipt of Congressman Thaddeus McCotter's latest
taxpayer-funded mailing, which unfortunately mirrors his
previous taxpayer-funded mailings in its self-aggrandizing
and deceptive propaganda rather than providing any information
of actual value for his constituents.
Nowhere is he more disingenuous and deceptive than when
boasting of his opposition to the so-called (and utterly misnamed)
"death tax." His efforts and those of the Republican
Party to repeal this tax should more properly be labeled "the
government welfare for children of millionaires act."
Of note, my siblings and I received inheritances because
of the deaths of both parents during the past eight years.
Although our parents were not millionaires, they had substantial
estates and yet we paid no estate tax.
So just who is McCotter shilling for by pushing for repeal of
this tax, besides a mere handful of his wealthiest constituents
and the big money bankrollers of the Republican Party
I await, but expect that I will never see, a mailing trumpeting
the congressman's continuing votes for the illegal occupation
of Iraq that his president and his party lied our nation
into. Nor do I expect to see a mailing from Mr. McCotter
trumpeting (or even explaining) his repeated votes against
children's health care, against safe food and water, against
Internet neutrality, against good and environmentally sound
science and against Constitutional rule of law, despite overwhelming
support for all of these issues by his constituents.
He claims to work for me That is hardly the case. Mr.
McCotter's predecessors Lynn Rivers and Bill Ford did work
for me and for the people of this district before it was blatantly
gerrymandered to ensure his election. I can only hope that
Mr. McCotter's successor in January 2009 will follow in their
footsteps and not his.
Westland
***
^»-,
• * • "
jm*.
"i think the celebration shouEd
be more open, there should
he more media about it. Some
cities do parades, 1 wish all
cities did"
Dorothy Frazer
-Vestland
How do you think we should celebrate Veterans Day
"(think we should honor the
veterans, they put their lives
on the line for tis. (spent 111/2
months in Vietnam. Ifly the flag
and the POW-MIA flag."
Jeffery Fieehart
Westland
"They should have some kind of
ceremony to honor what they
do. The one they have in Garden
City is nice and intimate."
Dan smith
Garden city
"We need to have the veterans
acknowledged better for their
participation in the wars and
conflicts. People complain, hut
the men and women who gave
ttielr lives so they could aren't
Richard Sikula
Garden City
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