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Gift baskets and gourmet foods Sid Wainer & Son Specialty Foods for special occasions.
Declaring a political victory, town clerks have dropped their month-long refusal to sell hunting and fishing licenses.
Town clerks resumed license sales after the state gave them and city clerks the right to charge $1 more in local processing fees beginning next year.
The state also suspended until Jan. 1 a requirement that hunting license buyers either show their previous year's license or take a hunting education course.
"I think we accomplished what we set out to do. That was to get fair fees for the cities and towns for all the work we do," said Maureen Winseck, an executive board member of the Massachusetts Town Clerks Association.
Town and city clerks have long sold hunting, fishing and other annual sporting licenses for the state. But more than 100 town clerks earlier this year demanded more than the current 50 cents to cover local administrative time and costs. Meanwhile, the state raised its share of license fees by $10 in January to help cover its costs.
Beginning in July, town clerks stopped selling the licenses to dramatize their demands.
That caused Sen. Marc Pacheco, D-Taunton, to sponsor legislation last month increasing the local processing fee to $1.50, raising the cost of a hunting or fishing license $1 to $28.50.
The approval of that bill prompted the town clerks to end their protest at the beginning of August.
In a separate measure, the Legislature also suspended the training requirement for new sportsmen, which began July 1, until Jan. 1. Gov. William Weld signed that measure into law Aug. 10
"We did not come to an agreement, the legislature very kindly came to our assistance," said Rochester's Town Clerk Naida Parker, who made about $50 in fees from selling sporting licenses last year. Towns and cities have the choice to allow clerks to keep the processing fees or have them turn the money over to the coffers.
Mrs. Parker's position has the fees built into her salary.
"The legislature in their infinite wisdom and kindness interceded in our behalf and solved the problem," added Ms. Parker who did not sell any licenses during July.
"I am very happy right now," said Westport Town Clerk Marlene Samson, who did not sell hunting or fishing licenses during the month of July. "I am glad they are waiting until January for the requirements."
Others agreed.
"I think it is a lot fairer to the hunters," said Dartmouth Town Clerk Eleanor White. "We have already had people come in without previous licenses and they could not get a new one. We weren't giving the hunters any warning the way we did it before. We are telling them this year to save their licenses, for next year."
Even the State Division of Fisheries and Wildlife likes the agreement, after initially balking at the clerks strike.
"It makes sense to give people some time," said Jack Buckley, deputy director of the state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife. "I think it causes frustration if they walk up for something, and the rules of the game have been changed."
He said he had no immediate estimate of how much money his agency may have lost during the strike. Last year the state agency earned about $275,000 in license sales.
Mrs. Winseck estimated that her office would have sold about $1,600 worth of licenses in July, but many of those licenses were likely purchased at stores or directly from the Division of Wildlife.
The free, 12-hour training course, run by state environmental police, includes instruction on gun safety, conservation, hunting etiquette and survival skills.
Under the changes, the increased clerk's fee is mandatory. Sporting goods and other stores selling the licenses, which previously could charge no extra fee, may now add $1.50 to the fee to cover their costs, if they choose.
"The hunters are happy that they are available now but they are still not so happy for the price they have to pay," Mrs. Samson said.
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