spectr17
12-05-2001, 06:30 PM
Preston puts Sunday hunting on May ballot.
BY KATHY PLUM, The Dominion Post
KINGWOOD -- Preston became the fourth county in the state to put Sunday hunting on the ballot Monday.
"I don't know if it was deer season or what, but I've been approached by several people wanting it on the ballot," Commission President Vicki Cole said.
Commissioners Kathy Casseday and Darwin Wolfe agreed. Commissioners voted 3-0 to put the question on the May 2002 primary ballot.
"It'll give the voters a chance to express their opinion," Casseday noted.
"I think if the Legislature has any sense, they'll take care of it," Wolfe said. "But we need to get the prosecutor busy on writing something that cannot be interpreted other than as 'I'm for Sunday hunting' or 'I'm against Sunday hunting.'"
Three other county commissions, Harrison, Upshur and Morgan, also have voted to place Sunday hunting before their county's voters. When the state Legislature passed a Sunday hunting bill earlier this year, many were surprised to find it approved the additional day of hunting, unless counties voted it down.
It wasn't a big issue for law enforcement, a local officer noted.
"We didn't have one call or one complaint on Sunday hunting," Conservation Officer 1st Class Rich McCrobie, of Preston County, said.
Landowners who don't want hunters using their lands on Sundays can post it as such. McCrobie said many Preston properties were posted.
In July, Preston Commissioners Cole and Wolfe (Casseday was not at the meeting) endorsed a proposal to delay implementation of the law until May or November 2002, when it could be placed on the ballot with regularly scheduled elections.
That proposal fell through, and the existing law passed instead.
BY KATHY PLUM, The Dominion Post
KINGWOOD -- Preston became the fourth county in the state to put Sunday hunting on the ballot Monday.
"I don't know if it was deer season or what, but I've been approached by several people wanting it on the ballot," Commission President Vicki Cole said.
Commissioners Kathy Casseday and Darwin Wolfe agreed. Commissioners voted 3-0 to put the question on the May 2002 primary ballot.
"It'll give the voters a chance to express their opinion," Casseday noted.
"I think if the Legislature has any sense, they'll take care of it," Wolfe said. "But we need to get the prosecutor busy on writing something that cannot be interpreted other than as 'I'm for Sunday hunting' or 'I'm against Sunday hunting.'"
Three other county commissions, Harrison, Upshur and Morgan, also have voted to place Sunday hunting before their county's voters. When the state Legislature passed a Sunday hunting bill earlier this year, many were surprised to find it approved the additional day of hunting, unless counties voted it down.
It wasn't a big issue for law enforcement, a local officer noted.
"We didn't have one call or one complaint on Sunday hunting," Conservation Officer 1st Class Rich McCrobie, of Preston County, said.
Landowners who don't want hunters using their lands on Sundays can post it as such. McCrobie said many Preston properties were posted.
In July, Preston Commissioners Cole and Wolfe (Casseday was not at the meeting) endorsed a proposal to delay implementation of the law until May or November 2002, when it could be placed on the ballot with regularly scheduled elections.
That proposal fell through, and the existing law passed instead.