I won the second appeal. McNeilly is back in. Final - Final Archery Report UPDATED 2X

No surprise, but the Office of Open Records granted my SECOND RTK appeal today. The second appeal is identical to the first appeal, just different dates. They cited Gillen v Municipality of Mt. Lebanon in their final determination.

McNeilly Park is back in the shooting plan. Two pickup trucks were spotted at the entrance to McNeilly Park today, a white pickup truck with PA plates and a grayish pickup truck with out of state plates. There is only a sliver of land that is outside of the 1000' Federal Gun Free School Zone. Clearly, they are shooting there for the numbers, not to reduce deer/vehicular accidents by 50% in five years.

Last night, Jody Jodi Joe D. Maddock gave a final report via telephone. As reported in The Almanac, Mt. Lebanon posted his final report here on the municipal website.

High-percentage female harvest cited as success in Mt. Lebanon archery hunt

Sharpshooting for Mt. Lebanon deer cull could begin this week

I love what "Southside Slopes" wrote in his/her comment: "Sharpshooters killing wildlife. Police arresting jaywalkers. Taxes sky high. Plot for a new apocalyptic movie? Nah. Just Mt. Lebanon circa 2016."

Update February 24, 2016 6:38 PM  Office of Open Records sides with Mt. Lebanon resident

Update February 24, 2016 6:54 PM It looks like Tony DiNicola made a boo-boo on the final Final Report. Plus, no info on the bait or in which QUADRANT the deer were killed. Here is the correspondence I had with Keith McGill.

Good evening Elaine,

I spoke to Tony and he indicated that the omission of the Conservation District from the final archery report was an oversight on his part and he apologized for the error.

The final reports from 2006-2008 were provided by USDA. The municipality currently tracks deer/vehicular collisions by location. This information is useful in determining where to post deer crossing signs. I'm not sure what the statistical correlation would be between where deer have been removed and deer/vehicular collisions given the municipality's open deer population and typical range that a doe or especially a buck will travel. In my email response to you on February 4th I wrote:

Good afternoon Elaine,

The information posted to the website today for the archery program represents the final deer removal numbers for the program. There will be another a final report that includes additional information related to the program. Since we have not yet received the report I am unable to provide you the specifics as to what that other information will be.

I did not indicate that the report would include locations. The report as posted is final. I will add a note regarding the use of the Conservation District.

As to the type of bait being used or the method being used to place the bait, this is an operational issue and as such Chief Lauth or Deputy Chief Gallagher may be a better resource to provide a response.

Keith 

On Wed, Feb 24, 2016 at 4:45 PM, egillen476@aol.com <egillen476@aol.com> wrote:


Hi Keith,

Thank you for posting Jody Maddock's final Final Report on the municipal website. http://mtlebanon.org/DocumentCenter/View/13897


There are a few issues that I would like to bring to your attention. I do not see the Conservation District listed for the archery program. At Election Day, I spoke with Temp Smith (Steve M., you may have been standing there at the time) where as of Election Day, they killed sixteen deer from the Conservation District behind his house. Temp lives onWhite Oak Circle. He said that the archer was courteous and even asked him if he wanted any meat. Temp's only complaint was that at one point the coyotes had gotten to the deer before the archer had a chance to get it. You will have to check with him directly on that. My point here is that the Conservation District was not mentioned at the meeting or in the final Final Report.


Second, in the first two years of deer killing (2006-2008) the summaries included where the deer were killed. The first year was rather specific. The second year, the deer killings were plotted by quadrants. In order to track the deer/car collisions, it is necessary to know the number of deer killed from which areas. Keith, you had stated that the information would be in the final Final Report. The records from the previous years are still available on the municipal website. Would you please get that information from White Buffalo and have them or the municipality plot which areas the 104 deer were killed being consistent with past years?


Finally, what kind of bait is being used for the "sharpshooting?" What is the method used for spreading the bait?


Thanks in advance, Keith.


Elaine Gillen