Ruckus Over Raffle
You may remember my post about the kids in Maine that were raffling off a bear hunt so that the kids could go on a school trip. I bought a ticket, and hopefully – you did too. Anyway, I should have known that it would only be a matter of time before some do-gooders got their drawers in a knot.
Trouble bruin? Raffle for bear hunt to fund school music trip draws fire
By JASON CLAFFEY
jclaffey@fosters.com
Article Date: Friday, February 15, 2008NORTH BERWICK — Lisa Lund would pay for raffle tickets for most any type of event that would help send 200 Noble High music students on a field trip to New York City.
A dance marathon? Sure. A bake sale or car wash? No problem.
Anything, she said, but a 6-day black bear hunt.
Lund, Melanie Ciccotelli, and Isa Thomas went to a School Administrative District 60 meeting Thursday night to protest the board’s endorsement of a raffle for a trip to northwestern Maine to hunt black bears. Winners will stay at a fully stocked camp with North Berwick Police Officer Rick Varney.
But the trio wasn’t able to go in front of the board because they arrived 30 minutes late.
SAD 60 usually meets at Noble High School, but Thursday, it met at the Hussey Elementary School. The three had gone to Noble High first and then heard it was being held at Hussey.
According to the board’s online schedule, most meetings are held at the High School, although the group occasionally meets elsewhere.
The trio was confused when they discovered the board didn’t hold its meeting at the “normal” location.
“They’re trying to brush it off,” Thomas said.
She said having a bear hunt fundraiser isn’t appropriate in a high school setting.
Ciccotelli agreed.
“It’s legal, and I understand that,” Ciccotelli said. “But this has no place in a school environment … it’s sending a bad message.”
Lund, an Acton resident who has a daughter in the SAD 60 school system and who volunteers doing wildlife rehabilitation work for the state, said: “I’m amazed the School Board would let this fly.”
Lund’s daughter recently was accepted into a Student Ambassador’s Program that gives her the opportunity to travel to China for the summer. The cost of the trip is $7,000 a child, and Lund has helped her daughter with multiple fundraising events to raise money.
She’s raised money by having bake sales, collecting bottles, sending letters to local business, putting on a comedy show, hosting a dance, having 50/50 raffles, and putting on a silent auction.
She said any of those fundraising events could substitute for students selling tickets for a bear hunt that she said was a “moral step backwards.”
“There are many ways to make money,” she said.
Thomas added that PETA had been notified of the situation, but didn’t elaborate on any potential implications.
You can read the full story here.
Now as mentioned, I have a ticket. they even indicated on the ticket that if you prefer, you can use the trip for photography. I thought that was pretty considerate. Three hags trying to dictate their morals on everyone else. If we don’t agree with it, we don’t buy a ticket. If little Joey’s Mom doesn’t want him raffling off a bear hunt, he can do a bake sale, too. Gimme a break.
