PDA

View Full Version : Documentary about black bear attacks



minnesotasmith
03-23-2005, 12:34
http://www.mensnewsdaily.com/archive/k/kincaid/2005/kincaid032305.htm

Bear Lobby Mauls First Amendment

March 23, 2005

<HR align=left noShade SIZE=1>by Cliff Kincaid

<HR align=left noShade SIZE=1>One of the arguments in favor of public broadcasting was that public TV would be independent and willing to take risks. But New Jersey public television has yanked a documentary because it upset the animal rights movement. The film, titled, "Bears: Too Close for Comfort," could possibly have saved lives by alerting people in New Jersey to the very real threat posed by black bears, some weighing 500 pounds, on the prowl for food. Marauding black bears in the state are attacking people, including young children.

The New Jersey Network (NJN) for public television had agreed to run the film, and had heavily promoted it. But under attack by activists who believe we should peacefully co-exist with bears who may want to maul us, NJN pulled the film.

Accuracy in Media reviewed the film. It is dramatic in the sense that stories about bear attacks on human beings are, by their nature, gripping and frightening. Some involve bears breaking into peoples' back yards, attacking family pets, and actually invading homes. It is definitely not a boring documentary with talking heads, although it does feature interviews with state Fish and Wildlife officials and animal rights activists. In terms of offering different points of view, the film passes the test of balanced journalism. Rather than presenting bears as a threat to be wiped out, the film interviews people who think bear attacks are rare and who believe people and bears can live together without much problem. "We have nothing to fear from these animals," says one.

Nevertheless, opposition to the film was led by a group called "Bear Education and Research," headed by Lynda Smith, who appears in the film but believes it is too sensational, contains factual inaccuracies, and portrays bears "in a very negative manner." Her group calls bears the "dolphins of the woodlands" and believes that people don't have to be afraid of them. The victims might disagree. Rather than hunt and kill bears who may be a threat to people, her group favors bear-resistant garbage cans, priced at $50 dollar each, chained around trees. Her website, which features a photo of a cute and cuddly black bear cub, declares that, "Once your neighborhood bears learn they cannot get into the can, they will move on…" She is shown in the film with her expensive trash cans.

Smith was able to critique the film because she cooperated with the director, Tom Phillips, and got a copy of the film in advance of its scheduled airing. But that's when she turned on Phillips. She promptly wrote a letter to NJN and mobilized her supporters, asking that the film be pulled. She even found fault with the title of the film, "Bears: Too Close for Comfort," because it implies that bears can be dangerous.

When we asked if corrections of the alleged mistakes would convince her to support airing the film, she indicated that, in her view, nothing could be done to salvage it. Smith insisted the film would "scare people unnecessarily" about the threat posed by bears and she compared it to a "Friday the 13th" slasher film, in which the main character ambushes, maims and kills people. "Some people like them, some people don't," she said of horror movies. "It's not something in particular that I'd like to see on the air."

When asked if people in New Jersey should have been given the same opportunity as she had, to review and comment on the film, Smith claimed there were other problems, including defective releases signed by participants to appear in it, and criticism from others. She denied engaging in censorship, saying, "I'm very anti-censorship. I think people can watch and decide for themselves absolutely."

In the end, Smith claimed, "The viewers did decide" about the film. The viewers, she said, didn't like the promotional spots for the film and registered their objections. Of course, those "viewers" did not see the entire program, as Smith did, and they denied that right to others.

Director Tom Phillips, who was willing to share the finished product with a bear activist, never anticipated that criticism of the film would translate into a coordinated campaign to keep it off the air, and that NJN would comply with the demands from a special interest pressure group. He didn't fully grasp how people who profess the free exchange of ideas would move to keep ideas they oppose off the air.

Paul Mulshine, a columnist for the New Jersey Star-Ledger, noted that the alleged problem with the film releases, alluded to by Smith, was seized upon by NJN as a reason not to run the film, and that NJN had violated journalistic ethics by improperly going to the State Attorney General's office for guidance in the matter. That office agreed with NJN that the releases were somehow deficient, and that the film therefore shouldn't air. This is an office of the same New Jersey state government that sided with the bear lovers by canceling a bear hunt.

An expert told Mulshine that the controversy over the releases, which are sometimes signed and used on rare occasions before interviews are broadcast, was phony. There wasn't even any need for releases in this case, he said. Mulshine is convinced that NJN, under fire from the animal rights activists, was simply looking for an excuse to kill a film that it had already accepted for airing. Because of this despicable conduct, he now agrees with the state legislators who want to terminate the $15 million in state funding of NJN.

Cliff Kincaid ([email protected])

Dances with Mice
03-23-2005, 13:17
The NRA's crack research team examines an issue and opens fire.
BTW, the Jere Wood mentioned is the son of Miz Tilly Wood of Woods Hole Hostel.

----------------------------------------------------------
Roswell ordinance in NRA's sights

By PAUL KAPLAN
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 03/22/05
Roswell is a heavily wooded city, and the Chattahoochee River runs through it, so deer love the place. Hunters would, too, but Roswell has an ordinance banning the discharge of weapons except in self-defense or at approved shooting ranges.

Recently, a deer that had been shot by an arrow stumbled into a Roswell subdivision, collapsed and bled to death. That got people talking, and word got around that deer hunting is nothing new in metro Atlanta's second-biggest city.

"My understanding since then is that it's something people have been doing in Roswell without it coming to our attention," Roswell Mayor Jere Wood said.
So the north Fulton city re-examined its weapons ordinance and found that it does not clearly ban the use of bows and arrows for hunting. The ordinance was reworded to limit bow shooting to approved archery ranges, with the first reading scheduled for Monday night.

But the National Rifle Association got wind of it, and fired off a national e-mail alert.

It urged members to contact the City Council to oppose the new law because it would "limit the ability of residents to defend themselves" and "prohibit Roswell residents from using a gun to defend themselves and their families against dangerous animals such as bears."

Neither of those statements was true, but they certainly got the phones ringing and the e-mails flying in Roswell.

"It's been the stir at City Hall," Wood said. "There's been a lot of activity from people who believe we're making it illegal to defend themselves. They have been misled."

Jack Peevy of Alpharetta, a retired Army colonel and gun control opponent, e-mailed the council members urging them to defeat the measure, which he described as "sick social engineering doomed to backfire."

Peevy had not seen the original ordinance or the proposed amendment — he'd only seen the NRA alert — and when council members and the mayor e-mailed back, he had a change of heart. "A bow is not a constitutional right; it's not a firearm as such," Peevy said in an interview. "If they're just talking about bows and arrows, I don't object."

Still, about 75 people showed up for the council meeting and nearly 20 of them stepped forward to speak against the ordinance.

They had statistics showing that tennis is twice as dangerous as archery in terms of injuries and that deer overpopulation causes many more problems than hunting deer.

The City Council voted 3-2 to approve the ordinance change, but it was clear that the council members were open to a compromise.

A second reading on the ordinance was postponed until May 16 to allow archery hunters to work with the city to come up with a compromise ordinance.

minnesotasmith
03-23-2005, 13:35
"tennis is twice as dangerous as archery in terms of injuries"

I'll buy that. In normal archery competitions and practice, people don't shoot arrows toward each other.

"deer overpopulation causes many more problems than hunting deer."

Again, no kidding. The usual, accepted cure to a problem is not normally worse than the problem it solves.

The Old Fhart
03-23-2005, 13:42
"deer overpopulation causes many more problems than hunting deer."

Again, no kidding. The usual, accepted cure to a problem is not normally worse than the problem it solves.While I do agree with this statement, the hunted deer may hold a different view. :)

minnesotasmith
03-23-2005, 13:53
But, deer don't vote.

BookBurner
03-23-2005, 19:18
Nice objective journalism by the Mens News Daily! What a rag.

And regarding the second article noting the perceived problems caused by deer overpopulation in Roswell, exactly what are those problems? Crop damage? (No crops in suburban Roswell). Car accidents? (I guess we had better start shooting squirrels too). Herd starvation? (Funny how we never worry about controlling the population of foul-tasting animals like skunks or rats. Somehow we've grown comfortable letting the laws of nature take care of those species).

Sorry for the rant but articles like those get my blood boiling in a heartbeat. People that shoot animals should just be honest with themselves. They do it because they find it fun to stalk and kill things. Simple as that.

- BookBurner
www.enlightenedthruhiker.com