Media Coverage - Referenda give voters something to read in booth
Published October 22, 2006. By Mike Connell. The Times Herald
There are five statewide proposals on the Michigan ballot this autumn, and as usual in such circumstances, the people who actually bother to vote will divide into three camps:
- Those who bone up on the proposals ahead of time. They're easy to spot. They saunter into the voting booth, make their choices - bam, bam, bam, bam, bam - and saunter off.
- The poor wretches who tote their ballots into the booths, read all five proposals for a first time and stumble out 45 minutes later looking dazed.
- The folks who haven't read the proposals and won't read them, either skipping them or voting against them. When in doubt, be opposed.
With the election coming up in 17 days, here's a peek at the five propositions.
Proposal 3
Meat eaters may well favor Proposal 3, which would lift Michigan's 101-year-old ban on hunting mourning doves. On the other hand, the idea of basting songbirds isn't everyone's idea of gastronomy.
Supporters observe that mourning doves are legally hunted in 40 states, an argument my sons favored in their teenage years: "But, Pops, all the other kids are doing it."
Opponents point out there are no shortage of other birds to kill: crows, coots, ducks, geese, grouse, gallinule, partridges, pheasant, quail, snipe, rail, brant, turkey and woodcock among them.
Why did people back in 1905 decide to outlaw the hunting of mourning doves?
I'm not sure, but I have a suspicion. On winter days, it's not uncommon for 20 or more mourning doves to congregate in the box elders near the bird feeders in our back yard. These aren't ruffed grouse or pheasant, they're perching birds, and shooting them just looks too easy.