From the Raleigh News & Observer (4/12/09): The N.C. Bowhunters Association and members of the state Wildlife Resources Commission have been in a feud about access to meetings.
The bowhunters group, which has about 1,400 members, wants to be assured of access to the commission’s committee meetings. Commission members and staff have previously said that those committee meetings are not covered by the state open meetings law and that committee chairmen have the discretion to invite visitors.
But the commission has apparently reversed itself. A person who has submitted public comments to the commission forwarded an e-mail message sent Thursday to “Wildlife Stakeholders,” in which commission chairman Wes Seegars said all committee meetings will be announced publicly.
It’s at those committee meetings where the decisions are really made, said Ramon Bell, president of the bowhunters association.
“When they have these committee of the whole meetings and commission meetings, generally, they just have a show of hands. It’s not really a meeting,” Bell said. “It’s already pretty much engraved in stone at that point.”
Seegars could not be reached for comment but recently told The Insider, a state government news service, that he only tried to make association members understand that some of their tactics damaged their credibility. “Anytime we had a disagreement with them, they would take it personally,” Seegars told The Insider. “They have been incensed over this stuff, and I don’t know why.”
The commission sets the rules that govern hunting and fishing in the state. Bell said the flap began in July when a subcommittee of the commission began considering changes to the three deer hunting seasons — bow, gun and muzzleloader. The proposal at the time was to extend gun season to overlap with bow season statewide.
The association’s members got wind of the preliminary proposal and flooded the commission with letters and messages.
In March, Betsy Foard, a commission staff member, told Bell in an e-mail exchange that only full commission meetings would be announced to the public. Foard could not be reached.
by N&O staff writers Benjamin Niolet, Rob Christensen and Mark Johnson