First, I would like to thank The Times Record for your fairness in reporting on the bear referendum. However, no one seems to be addressing another important issue concerning the referendum.

There are many handicapped hunters who would be prevented from participating in a bear hunt if this referendum passes. Some of my friends in wheelchairs or with walking aids can only sit and wait, if a bear happens to come to their bait. At the present time, it is the only way that a handicapped hunter can evaluate the size and if that bear should be harvested.

After all, most public buildings, churches, stores, post offices and restaurants, just to name a few, are accessible to the handicapped. How can we pass a law that discriminates against handicapped hunters?

Secondly, many of the Question 1 NO signs have been removed or destroyed. All people are entitled to their own opinion and that’s democracy. However, on the bear referendum, people are destroying and removing the NO signs.

This issue has gotten completely out of hand.

Our paid biologists have had to have armed protection and been forced to cancel speaking engagements. Fair debate is clearly good. I did participate in the TV debate earlier this fall and some of the statements by the YES panel were false, as well as personal attacks on some members of the audience.

Please, have we sunk to the level of threatening our Maine biologists? They are only doing their job. After all, we pay them because they are experts in controlling bears. They know best.

They say, vote NO on Question 1. But don’t use scare tactics on our biologists.

Wallace E. Staples
Woolwich