Babs Logan and other gardeners spoke during citizen comments, thanking the commissioners for their efforts. The garden loving, deer haters urged commissioners that this program must be continued for at least three years, since the Cornell prophet, who never stepped foot into Mt. Lebanon or knew how large it was, had advised commissioners.
Another $83,477 will be spent to wipe out the deer population or kill up to 100 deer, whichever comes first.
As I wrote previously:
- Tony DeNicola finished earlier than expected this past March. He couldn't find any more deer.
- Mt. Lebanon went to the Court of Common Pleas over the privilege of killing deer in Twin Hills Park, a 25 acre property owned by Mt. Lebanon which is situated in Scott Township. Mt. Lebanon won, but there were restrictions including the use of sharpshooting in Twin Hills. Either Mt. Lebanon honors that agreement, or Mt. Lebanon goes back to court for the use of high powered rifles in Twin Hills.
- Archers have killed half as many deer this year, even with the additional 25 acres in Twin Hills.
- The archery program concludes on January 28, 2017.
- The commissioners will not have an official count of kills until February.
- Either there are bogus accident reports being filed with MLPD, or we have sloppy bookkeeping. The numbers don't add up. Increased reported collisions vs. lower accidents vs. fewer dead deer pick ups.
- We do not know what type of bait or system that White Buffalo will use to distribute the bait. I was told that Tony's bait is proprietary. Evidently, Tony owns the patent on corn and apples. I thought God held that patent. Allegheny County Health Department is ready to fine Mt. Lebanon since ground feeding is not permitted.
When Mt. Lebanon was shooting right next to my home in Rockwood Park, putting my family, children, and pets at lethal risk, there was nothing I could do to stop them. Little did I know that they were violating a Federal law by shooting on public property so close to Foster Elementary School.
If you want to protect your family, you will have to stay in your homes and move in to your basement. This is when I was told by Kristen Linfante to pay a visit to John in Rollier's paint department to pick out a soothing color for my basement.
Mt. Lebanon will not notify you that shooting will be taking place right next to your home because your neighbors are "donating" their properties. Allegedly, Mt. Lebanon will not even know where these properties are located because of the covenant between DeNicola and your neighbors. Our commissioners will be putting Mt. Lebanon residents at lethal risk of harm in our own homes.
Dave, you could have kept your word since there was a majority without your vote. But no. 2017 is going to be the worst year ever with you as president of the commission. God help us all.
 |
| Somewhere in Virginia Manor |
What are your thoughts on the parking issue that was discussed?
ReplyDeleteI didn't go to the meeting. I have not attended since the commission voted to take me to court. Sorry.
ReplyDeleteIf you want to write something up and email it to me, I can post it for you in a separate entry.
Elaine
From increased car accidents (98% of which have nothing to do with deer -- just entitled, distracted, selfish drivers), to endless road projects, to shooting just about anywhere: Mt. Lebanon is becoming a very dangerous place.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how that conference call with Paul Curtis [Cornell's Dept of Natural Resources (DNR)] was set up. I'm guessing that DeNicola in his efforts to close the deal on another 100K bait-and-shoot deer killing program couldn't explain why the car-deer collisions went up during/after his bow-hunting and bait-and-shoot killing programs, and so he told Keith McGill to sch. a conference call with (his buddy) Paul Curtis from Cornell.
ReplyDeleteCornell's Dept of Natural Resources (DNR) faculty, Paul Curtis, Bernd Blossey, and Jay Boulanger, are well known pro-hunting/culling advocates who are partners with New York's Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) (the DEC is the equivalent state agency as the Pa Game Commission). Cornell's DNR dept. does pseudo science white papers, most of which are not peer reviewed, that promote lethal methods of deer mgt. Their studies of non-lethal methods, i.e. sterilization and contraception are intentionally sabotaged so they can report that they aren't effective. Anyone with any basic knowledge can review their studies and pick them apart as completely unscientific and invalid. This Cornell dept is as biased as the NY DEC and the Pa Game Commission is with promoting hunting and lethal methods. Just about everything they say is total BS. Of course, they have the Cornell name-brand and so they are automatically believed. So Paul Curtis does a favor for his buddy Tony DeNicola and secures him a $100K windfall for the next 4 years (ad infinitum) at Mt. Lebanon taxpayers expense. BTW, what the hell does Curtis know about Mt. Lebanon or the deer in Mt. Lebanon to make any informed comments. DeNicola isn't stupid. He recognizes a bunch of gullible Commissioners that are more than willing to do what ever he tells them to do. He's the ultimate con man. So Mt. Lebanon is duped again into basically giving DeNicola a blank check for the next 4 years+.
I guess it's too much to ask the Commissioners to do a little home work and recognize the bias and conflicts of interests of agencies and vendors that are giving them advice.
Related to these dysfunctional culls, there has been a growth in coyote spotting here in Mt Lebo. I saw one today. Could they be eating our fawns?
ReplyDeleteFrom the internet:
On White-Tailed Deer:
Deer are often overabundant and difficult to manage in urban areas. Although coyotes rarely take adult deer, they are primary predators of deer fawns. Colleagues from the Illinois Natural History Survey conducted a fawn survival study in multiple locations within the Chicago area and found that coyotes killed 20 percent to 80 percent of the fawns in these various populations. Coyotes cannot effectively reduce deer populations because they do not often take adult deer (in the Midwest), but they may slow population growth in high-density areas through their predation on fawns.
Brumfield told at least a few people when he was running for commissioner that he would only vote to shoot deer if the deer had guns too ... do the deer have guns now?
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing the Mt. Lebo democratic committee garden club supporters like Logan have strings attached to him too just like she and others use Bindel and Silverman as their puppets; he may not be running for Commissioner next year but will likely run for something else and needs their support to run for judge or some other office.
Commissioner Fraasch is the only one able to standup to those in the local democratic committee who are more worried about deer than anything else ... maybe they should have done more to support regional democratic candidates running for office this past November rather that throwing money at the commissioners and their future campaigns just so they continue to vote to shoot deer in our residential community .. .
4:15 PM, Brumfield said that publicly at a commission discussion session AND at a commission meeting. He didn't think it would be fair if the deer weren't armed too.
ReplyDeleteI am sure that the commission will allow Brumfield and Silverman (if he wins too) in next year's vote too. They didn't allow the ice queen to vote because her term was almost over. But knowing the commission, it will be decided to let Brumfield and Silverman to vote one more time for deer killing in December 2017.
3:21 PM, funny how Mother Nature has a way of keeping everything in balance. The logic behind weapons in our densely populated community, originally, was that the deer didn't have any predators. Now it is to reduce car accidents. What excuse will be used next? Because it is never, ever about gardens. Ha!
Elaine
It is hypocritical to see eat more venison signs next to manger scenes... and comical next to reindeer decorations.
ReplyDeleteThe mayor of Ann Arbor recently voted against a cull there and in an interview, he noted that he balanced four factors when deciding on his vote. He examined a) what is the problem, what is the magnitude, b) is the proposed solution going to be effective and solve the problem given the magnitude, c) what is the financial cost and d) what is the cultural and social cost of the proposed solution.
ReplyDeleteHere is his interview:
http://wemu.org/post/issues-environment-ann-arbor-mayor-continues-opposition-planned-deer-cull#stream/0
http://www.thealmanac.net/article/20161201/NEWS/161209999#.WEHw2FmsmOA.facebook Also from this meeting. The commissioners were ready to approve restrictions spreading to several streets, until some students and adults explained how idiotic it was.
ReplyDeleteSomeone considering the cultural and social costs ... exactly ... that's why MTL needs a REAL Mayor, nor de facto Mayors Morgans and McGill.
ReplyDelete