By Louie Stout

You gotta love those celebrities.

Whenever a controversial issue comes before us, someone from Hollywood steps forward to voice a position based on naivety and emotion.

Like PETA supporter Kristen Bell, best known as the “Anna” voice in the popular animated film “Frozen,” who came out the other day and issued a plea for Michiganders to vote down the two sportsmen proposals in this week’s election.

Remarkably, some naïve Michigan editorial writers gave the woman that PETA named America’s “Sexiest Vegetarian” a sounding board on their pages the past few weeks.

I guess in some people’s minds that gives her credibility.

Animal rights activists are trying to turn these referendums into a wolf hunting debate, but proposals 14-1 and 14-2 aren’t only about wolf hunting. They would give the DNR authority to establish a wolf season – if it deems necessary - and the Natural Resources Commission the power to make decisions on all hunting and fishing regulations.

To some degree, the proposals on this year’s ballot are moot; they were trumped in August by the Michigan Legislature’s passing of the Scientific Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act that gives the Natural Resources Commission the right to make these decisions. But the antis figure this is their last chance to regain a foothold in Michigan wildlife management. By making wolf hunting the focus, they’ll stir up emotions through public vote and build a case for legal proceedings that will likely follow.

Previously, hunting and fishing regulations had to go through the legislature where politicians voted on them; or, like in the case of the proposed dove season a few years ago, they get decided through “ballot box biology” in proposals like these.

As backward as Indiana is, its DNR makes season and bag limit decisions. That’s why Hoosiers have had a dove season for years and Michigan doesn’t.

And contrary to what the anti-hunting groups espoused in attack ads, there are still plenty of doves flittin’ around Hoosier land.

Anyway, the animal rights groups want you to believe that the DNR seeks to wipe out wolves.

That’s not true. What the proposals simply do is put the wolf decision, as well as other fish and wildlife matters, in the hands of DNR officials who will determine whether there is a scientific need to reduce the wolf population.

Granted, if you ask some northern Michigan farmers, it’s a resounding “yes” as the growing wolf population is threatening their livestock.

Let trained fish and wildlife managers make the key decisions. With adequate support from this referendum, we can send animal rights groups out to pasture with the wolves, which, by the way, are not vegetarians.