MARYVILLE — A Blount County judge Friday dismissed charges against 14 of 18 people cited by state wildlife officers for illegally baiting black bears during a group hunt last year.
Prosecutors failed to prove the majority of the hunters had any knowledge that the area was baited when Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency officers raided a 600-acre tract of private land on Chilhowee Mountain during the first day of bear hunting season Sept. 26.
