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DEL.ICIO.USBaited, then switched: Internet contract to cut the lines of hunting, tackle shops
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
For years, Georgia’s smallest newspapers have been battling a push in the Legislature to shift legal ads — the bread and butter of many local publications — to the Internet.
But while eyes were glued to that fight, another time-honored group has found itself sandbagged by Web-based progress. The victims: the 1,000 or so bait, tackle and hunting shops across the state.
Gov. Sonny Perdue has signed a contract with a Missouri-based firm to offer hunting and other sportsmen’s fees on-line, over the phone — and at “a few major licensing outlets like Wal-Mart,” according to the Rome News-Tribune.
The good news is that the contract eliminated the need for a new licensing system that would have cost the state $8 million. The bad news is that smaller enterprises — which have used license sales as a lure for purchases of beer, snacks and gear — will be out of luck.
Oh, and fees will go up.
S.B. 382, sponsored by Sens. Bill Heath (R-Bremen) and Ross Tolleson (R-Perry) and now in the House, is intended to soften the financial blow to hunters and fisherpeople.
Comments
By Political Foreskin
March 18, 2008 8:59 AM | Link to this
Heather Mills offered to bail out Bear Stearns today……..
Obama admitted owning several Tupac CDs but distanced himself from the violent tone and tawdry lingo…..
Obama then apologized for the behavior of some uppity and lazy black slaves in the 19th century deep south…..
By that_guy
March 18, 2008 4:09 PM | Link to this
This contract is indefensible.
It was signed without legislative input, without public hearing, and without any questions from Georgia’s sportsmen and women. It doesn’t benefit Georgia business or industry. In fact, it hurts small businesses by placing a store’s ability to sell licenses at the behest of a for-profit, non-local company from which they would have to negotiate a separate contract.
The fee increases do not go toward the acquisition of more state-owned protected wetlands or wildlife management areas like the other two major increases have in recent years (for a total of over 160,000 acres). The State of Georgia is taking a load off and placing it on the backs of hunters and fishermen without even so much as a heads up. I’m more than certain the people of this state would have supported another fee increase were it presented to them openly and honestly and if it went to the purchase of more public lands.
This contract was negotiated in the dark because there was no way it would fly otherwise. Another reminder of how far we have to go to get to government in the sunshine.