Regarding North Yarmouth’s showdown over hunting, let me say hunting is a safe sport, more so than most other contact sports. According to the U.S. Sportsmen’s Association, for the period of 1990-2006, only two hunting incidents occurred in Maine where the victim was not a hunter. The same period saw more than 3.56 million Maine hunting licenses issued.

Hunting today is not a safety issue as it was 30 years ago, but rather the victim of biased perceptions by individuals, who refuse to look at or listen to the facts. Maine hunting incidents data kept by the Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife show a significant drop, from a high in 1951 of 68 to a low of just five in 2005. Hunting is safer than medical incidents by a wide margin.

The stratagem between a certain Board of Selectmen member and the Recreation Commission and the fact that this board member changed her earlier vote, made the motion to ban hunting and voted to do the same, indicates something more than safety was behind it. To make such decisions based on feelings alone does not serve their constituents well.

It is my opinion that more than safety is at work here and it seems obvious that every hunter and their family should consider this obvious bias when these people attempt to run again for any office.

George A. Fogg
North Yarmouth