Free Republic

<p>PETITION: Voters may have final say this fall on proposed ban.</p> <p>Opponents of bear baiting have more than enough signatures to put the question of banning the controversial practice before Alaska voters this fall, but pro-hunting groups are mobilizing for a fight they say will be one of the most important in the nation.</p>

It all started when a hunting party that included Teddy Roosevelt killed a sow bear, only to discover afterward that she had a cub. When one of the hunters raised his rifle to dispatch the orphan in order to spare the poor creature a slower death by starvation, exposure or predation, T.R. intervened, commuted the sentence, and the cub was led off, presumably to a zoo. This compassionate gesture is better known today than any of President Roosevelt's executive decisions, treaties or other accomplishments while in offlce — thanks to a toymaker. It seems the sparing of the bear cub...

<p>PORTLAND, Maine -- Petitions on fuel taxes, bear hunting and smoking will be circulating at hundreds of polling places Tuesday in efforts to gather enough signatures to put three citizen initiatives on the 2004 ballot.</p> <p>The fuel tax initiative seeks to repeal a state law that automatically raises gasoline and diesel taxes each year at the rate of inflation. The hunting petition aims to make it illegal to hunt bears with bait, traps or dogs. The smoking petition's goal is to overturn a state law that bans puffing in bars.</p>