Media Coverage - Dove hunt opponents confident on petitions
Published March 25, 2005. By Tim Martin. Associated Press/Lansing State Journal.
A group that wants to stop mourning dove hunts in Michigan says it expects to beat next week's deadline for a critical step in its campaign.
The group - the Committee to Restore the Dove Shooting Ban - plans to submit signatures of thousands of Michigan voters to state election officials on Monday. The group must have at least 158,879 valid signatures to qualify their referendum for the November 2006 election.
Voters then would decide whether to allow dove hunts in Michigan.
Campaign organizers would not say Thursday how many signatures they had, but they expect to have collected enough. "We're pretty confident," said Wayne Pacelle, chief executive of the Humane Society of the United States.
The state held its first dove season in nearly a century this fall. Hunting was allowed only in six southern counties. Similar trial hunts are scheduled for this year and 2006.
