One day, we were told to walk home as quickly as we could, as part of the air raid drills. With a pain in my side and completely out of breath, this little second grader ran along Bower Hill Road, not knowing what was going on. I will never forget that. In fact, I still have the dog tag that we all received in elementary school.
All these memories came back to me today when I read a comment about having a curfew during the month of February.This was a suggestion as a response to The PA Game Commission permit published on the Mt. Lebanon website, along with some answers to Frequently Asked Questions.
Being a deer cull survivor, I have seen several PA Game Commission permits in my day. The latest one is unique. There are no locations listed - public or private. The method of killing is not listed. The names of the killers are not listed. Compare this permit to the one from February 2015. The Mt. Lebanon website doesn't appear to have a copy of the contract. All I see are the Request for Proposals and White Buffalo's Response.
The FAQs are very confusing to me. The sharpshooting phase, according to the FAQ, is from February 1, 2016 - March 31, 2016. Yet, the Deer Management Update shows During Phase Two, scheduled to run from February 1, 2016, to March 1, 2016, White Buffalo Inc. will conduct a deer cull using trained sharpshooters on designated public land and on donated private properties. Do we really know how long people will be shooting rifles in Mt. Lebanon?
The hours are baffling. Shooting will take place in late afternoon and after dark. What does that mean? 4:00 PM to 6:00 AM? Wouldn't it be easier to say that there is no killing taking place between the hours of 6:00 AM and 4:00 PM? Fourteen hours of shooting?
The locations are not provided. I don't suggest asking for that information. You will end up going to the Court of Common Pleas, if you do. The FAQ tell us that Various parties will be notified by letter, email or phone call, as was the case with the archery hunt. What does that mean? What about visitors from out of town? Should Hotel Tyvek inform guests not to explore the area, for fear they stumble upon a deer being killed? Perhaps they should include a map to Blaise Larotonda's court room on every night stand.
Which brings us back to the Cold War in 1962. We will have to tell our kids to come home right after school. We will not be able to tell them the areas to avoid. We won't know which public properties will be used for killing. We certainly won't know which private properties will be [ahem] "donated."
Does Mt. Lebanon need to institute a curfew? They will not tell us anything. Should we have a curfew from February 1-March 1 or February 1-March 31? Nobody on the streets or in our parks for 14 hours a day?
Welcome to the Cold War in Mt. Lebanon.
It's finally time to declare Mt Lebanon as an UnWalking Community or residents will quickly become the Walking Dead if only select groups of residents will actually know where the sharpshooters are operating in the DARK.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.observer-reporter.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20151212/COLUMN0103/151219786
ReplyDeleteI just learned that the PA Game Commission supports a Hunter Access Program in PA, which provides hunters with access to hunting on private land. At first, reading about this, I thought "Why didn't Mt Lebanon use this program, which would have been free?". Then I read that they work with landowners that have at least 50 acres. Yes, this is how you qualify for their Hunter Access Program: 50 acres. In addition, they provide support via Wildlife Conservation Officers to ensure safety, etc.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt?open=514&objID=620379&mode=2
Thanks for that link, 12:43 PM. There are signs to post for THAT program, but we aren't allowed to know where hunting is taking place in Mt. Lebanon.
ReplyDeleteElaine