"Hunting", again

I find this story extremely disturbing. Open season on cats?

Addendum: Checking the article in the Wisconsin paper, I find the proposal a little less distressing, but still repugnant. If it were Hawaii, or Guam, or some other fragile ecosystem in which cats were truly an invasive species, I could live with it, but in Wisconsin - or Minnesota, or North South Dakota - I can't say I like it.

Trivia

I'm curious to see if anyone out there can nail the answer to this one.

Below is a list of names which have something in common, and they are the only names with that common feature. The general topic is USAn history, and the names are given in order. (The inclusion of the last one is debatable.)

The names: Hiram; Stephen; Thomas; John; Leslie; William.

Anyone game?

Addendum: It's been answered correctly in comments, so if you want to think about it you might not want to look.