Petition drive fails; Cape managed deer hunt is a 'go' for fall

Organizers of a drive to force a referendum on the City Council-approved 2021 managed deer hunt in Cape Girardeau were unsuccessful in raising the requisite number of signatures.

"We couldn't get the numbers we needed, we didn't have enough time and it was an uphill battle, as we knew it would be," resident Keith Lear said.

"Every place I went to try to set up a place (to obtain signatures) told me (the issue) was too political," said Dianne Sheppard, another petition organizer.

By the numbers

According to the city's charter, 10% of registered voters from the city's June 2 general election — which equates to a minimum of 2,383 valid signatures — were necessary to get a repeal referendum on the ballot.

The deadline to receive the signatures was at the close of business Monday.

The City Council gave its blessing Feb. 15 to the hunt, to be conducted Nov. 1 through Dec. 5 in four specific areas of the city, all in Ward 1: Twin Trees, Delaware Park, Fountain Park and Cape Rock.

Ramona Robinson-Bailey approached the council at its March 15 meeting on behalf of the petitioners.

"(Robinson-Bailey) said it was unfair that they had to raise signatures during the pandemic and be required to get this number of signatures but (the requirement) is specified in our (city) charter. You can't change that," said Mayor Bob Fox, who added the city's attorney, Eric Cunningham, was tasked with reaching out to Robinson-Bailey later to further explain the charter requirements.

"They pushed (the ordinance) through in a pandemic and a blizzard," Sheppard said.

Lear questioned holding the Feb. 15 final vote on the ordinance via Zoom, with the decision to meet virtually made because of inclement weather.

"When they have a meeting like that on Zoom, it disenfranchised the elderly, people who can't afford the internet or understand (the technology)," Lear said.

The 4-1 vote to greenlight the managed deer hunt this fall, with the Ward 1's Dan Presson dissenting, came after council members altered the ordinance in several ways, most notably, that the authorization to hunt in the designated areas will expire Dec. 31.

"This is a one-year managed hunt to see how it goes so it can be evaluated and see if it's effective and we'll go from there. If we want to do this (in 2022), we have to come back to council and pass it again," Fox said.

History not repeating

In April 2013, a referendum to overturn the last ordinance to manage Cape Girardeau's deer population via a hunt, successfully repealed the measure by a 1,485-1,279 vote.