Precautionary vs. Rethinking Down the Road

It is amazing how two towns can think so differently.

Pittsburgh-area schools invested big money in crumb rubber fields. But how safe are they for your kids?

Sarah Collins/PublicSource

As soccer players fight for the ball at the Keystone Oaks High School field, clouds of black pellets trail their cleats.

Precautionary?
But in the Chartiers Valley School District, concerns about the health effects of crumb rubber prompted the board there to choose “virgin” rubber pellets for the infill in its new field. Virgin rubber has never been used in tires and does not contain the chemicals in tire rubber, said superintendent Brian White. 

Mr. White said a resident brought concerns about crumb rubber to his attention and he shared those concerns with the school board. As a result, the board watched an ESPN video about anecdotal links between crumb rubber and cancer. 

The board then decided it would be wise to look into alternatives.

Meanwhile, back in Mt. Lebanon

The lack of conclusive studies stirred a local public debate in Mt. Lebanon last year. 

Some residents and town Commissioner Kelly Fraasch raised health concerns about installing crumb rubber turf at the Wildcat and Middle fields along Cedar Boulevard. 

The majority of the commission, however, voted in favor of installing the turf, and it was installed in summer 2015. The fields are used by community soccer leagues as well as the high school baseball and lacrosse teams. 

“I wanted to wait to research alternatives,” Ms. Fraasch said. “But there was a movement among the majority of the commission to get this done.” 

The commission, at the urging of community sports leagues, planned the switch from grass to turf so that the field use could be increased. After it rains, drainage and mud on grass fields create problems. Repeated use also wears down a grass field faster, said David Donnellan, director of recreation for Mt. Lebanon. 

In response to the concerns, the municipality sent a sample of each bag of crumb rubber pellets that were ordered to be used at the fields for testing at a private laboratory to see if the level of chemicals met EPA standards. 

“They met the EPA standards for the chemicals in the pellets at the time,” Mr. Donnellan said. “If new information becomes available down the road we will rethink what we are doing.”

Scott Township and Mt. Lebanon are certainly consistent. They have handled the deer debate with the same approach. Scott Township is concerned for their residents' safety, while Mt. Lebanon shoots first and then will rethink down the road, after the damage is done.

Will there be hunting in Twin Hills this September?

Mt. Lebanon sure hopes so. MTL would like to present a motion to vacate the temporary injunction before Judge Michael McCarthy according to Docket GD-15-017557. Mt. Lebanon has spent our tax dollars to fight about deer before three Court of Common Pleas judges: Judge Nauhaus, Judge O'Brien, and now Judge McCarthy.

Judge Nauhaus called it "a tempest in a teapot" during the Castor hearing. He threw out the harassment charge and reduced Blaise's outrageous fines from $1100 to $1.

In my case*, Judge O'Brien ruled that personal security exemption does not apply.

Now, MTL is citing increased risks of Lyme Disease, destruction of plant life, deer excrement, and deer/vehicle collisions.

It is interesting that MTL is playing the Lyme disease card since there is a link from the PA Game Commission on the Municipality's website (http://mtlebanon.org/DocumentCenter/View/9630) stating:

• Risk of exposure to Lyme disease is correlated with abundance of acorns, mice, and chipmunks – key hosts for subadult ticks and their corresponding food source. 
• Deer are a dead-end host for the Lyme disease bacteria. They do not infect ticks with the bacteria that cause Lyme disease nor do they contract the disease when an infected tick feeds on them. They play no direct role in the transmission cycle.

Licenses go on sale June 20, 2016.  DEER, ARCHERY (Antlered and Antlerless) WMUs 2B, 5C and 5D:Sept. 17- Nov. 26 and Dec. 26-Jan. 28, 2017. One antlerless deer with each required antlerless license. One antlered deer per hunting license year.

I saw my former commissioner today at the post office. She is looking very well and is most likely suggesting to folks to see John in Rollier's paint department for help with choosing soothing colors for their basements. After archery season, we may be dealing with Tony and his patented, proprietary, super secret magic corn for another two months. Painting basements may be a way to beat the heat this summer. 

* I'm still trying to raise money through my gofundme account and now selling key fobs at $5 each, a $7 value - according to crafting blogs.  :)   My tax bill is funding litigation costs related to deer. The kind people who contributed to my gofundme are paying for both sides, just like I am!

Wait a minute, wait a minute!

Hunters provide trees for areas damaged by deer in Mt. Lebanon

Planting sites in Bird Park and Twin Hills Park were chosen by the municipal public works department and by the Mt. Lebanon Nature Conservancy, whose volunteers are planting the trees this month. Municipal manager Keith McGill said the cooperation of the archers, Game Commission and local volunteers will help to keep the community’s green spaces healthy.

Mt. Lebanon was cutting down trees in Twin Hills last fall and late summer. We have goats eating invasives in Bird Park. Why do deer get blamed for everything? They have "attacked humans" according to the Public Information Office, but to date, the PIO writes that coyotes have never attacked humans in the entire state of Pennsylvania. 

Menace or attraction?

Menace or attraction?  / When it comes to culling deer population, Jews in Mt. Lebanon hold dear to ideals 

The Jewish Chronicle has posted the same article, but different titles, so I included both links. I am not sure which one will remain.

Steve Silverman is still worried about prokill people being harassed. No worries about kids walking in areas where bullets are flying.

Things I learned at Foster School

No, I didn't attend school at Foster. I'm a Jefferson kid. I'm talking about standing outside Foster School for 13 hours on Election Day.

It is extremely disheartening to see how many haters live in Mt. Lebanon. One man came up to Heather Arnet's volunteer and called Heather a baby killer. He kept yelling about Planned Parenthood and repeated over and over how Heather is a baby killer. Heather is a loving mother of an autistic child and was very upset. Rightfully so. He then came up to me and asked if I support Planned Parenthood. I said, "Hey, I'm just a write-in candidate for commissioner." It was awful.

Then there are the deer haters. I couldn't believe how many voted based on that issue alone. Both Andy and Steve got their votes. People kept screaming, "Kill 'em all!" Later, I said to both Andy and Steve how one of them was going to be my commissioner and that deer are not the most important issue in Mt. Lebanon. We have speeders, pedestrians being hit or killed, kids dying of heroin overdoses, houses flooding, sidewalks and streets in disrepair. I took a lot of ribbing over the deer issue. There was a salt box next to the parking lot at Foster, and one Republican joked and said that is where they put the dead deer.

I learned that 16 deer were pulled out of the Conservation District so far. The hunter there is a moonlighting Scott Township police officer. The only complaint that the neighbor had was that the hunter had gone back one time to clean up the entrails, and the coyotes had already gotten to them.

I saw our solicitor at the Foster School and asked him how the mediation went with Scott Township the day before (Monday.) He said that he couldn't talk about it. I hope that Scott Twp. didn't back down.

Both Andy and Steve are against PAYT and the Newcomers Tax.

I learned that Coleen Vuono is capable of smiling and even laughing. Yes, she was doing both when talking with the Dems.

And this is what is most disturbing. A parent from the Goddard School told me that a couple of weeks ago, the owner of The Goddard School on Painters Run, had come to work to a gruesome discovery in her parking lot. There was a dead deer with an arrow. It was so gory that the fire department had to come and hose off the parking lot at 5:30 AM before the kids got to school. Since that is Upper St. Clair, I'm guessing that it wasn't OUR fire department who cleaned up the bloody scene. The owner is VERY upset and was unaware of the archery program going on so close to the school. These maps were shared with the owner, who then called Keith McGill.

The owners of The Goddard School are very concerned about the sharpshooting set for February. In my post The Goddard School is now open, I have the link to Keith McGill's claim that the owner is satisfied with his response. They are not!

We are living in a community of haters. I am so sad to learn that.

Best Opinion Piece Ever

Deer responsible for Mt. Lebanon road work

Any keen Almanac reader will guess why every road in Mt. Lebanon is being mended at the moment. It’s all the fault of the roaming hordes of deer. Deprived of their usual feeding grounds when the township decided to replace all the grass in Mt. Lebanon with artificial turf, they have taken to eating the roads.

Michael Murtough
Upper St. Clair

I'm definitely living in the wrong place.

It is no secret that I love to sew. In fact, I teach sewing on Castle Shannon Blvd. Today, Gloria Horn was so excited to see me because she was ordering the quilt panels featured in the latest Jenny Doan video. [Jenny Doan is a famous quilter and has many videos on YouTube.]


Only in Mt. Lebanon, deer are considered evil. Dangerous. One man wrote in to the PG, calling them rodents with hooves. Three weeks tomorrow, the killing starts for five months. These quilt panels may be all the deer that are left. September 8, Coleen Vuono wants to spend close to $90,000 to hire Bubba with a gun to wipe out the remaining deer in January.

It's really bait and switch UPDATED

It looks like our Public Information Office was hard at work yesterday, putting together FAQs about Mt. Lebanon's "Capture and Euthanize Project." Yes, Susan, that sounds sooooo much better than bait and kill. You are so good at that. [Think Field Enhancement Project, Lebo Citizens readers.] WHERE is this taking place? What we are told is, "Corral traps will be built and baited in safe public areas." Steve Feller assured me during Citizen Comments that the locations will be posted on the Mt. Lebanon website. Kelly Fraasch asked if affected neighbors will be notified and the answer was no.

FAQ's about the Capture and Euthanize Project

Q: What are the goals of the project?
A: The overall goal of Mt. Lebanon’s deer management program is to reduce deer/vehicle collisions within the municipality by 50 percent within five years. The capture and euthanize phase for 2015 will take place in February and March. Does that make this a five year project?
Q: Who determined the goals and the course of actions?
A: The Mt. Lebanon Municipal Commission, representing the residents, voted to trap and euthanize as part of the comprehensive deer management plan. They received much input from residents at public meetings and other means and also solicited input from a variety of professionals and interest groups. Oh puleeze.
Q: Explain the methods to be used. Why is trap and euthanize effective?
A: Corral traps will be built and baited in safe public areas WHERE? over a period of several days. The bait will attract deer to the corrals. Trail cameras will monitor the corrals, sending real-time images to the trappers. Will Mt. Lebanon have access to the videos? Will the cameras be rolling when the deer are killed? When large groups of deer are inside a corral, a text message will activate the closure of the gate. Immediately, a crew will dispatch to shoot the deer using suppressed, small-caliber rifles. Most of the shooting will take place at night. This method should be more effective at capturing large numbers of deer than either the clover traps, which capture single deer at a time, or possibly even sharpshooting, where larger groups of deer can’t be taken without the possibility of some escaping. These traps were designed for wild boar, not deer.
Q: What will happen to the deer meat?
A: Euthanized deer will be taken to a local processor, which will process and package the meat and deliver it to local food banks and shelters through the Hunters Sharing the Harvest program. Is Mt. Lebanon paying the processing fee as once offered at a Commission Discussion Session?
Q: Who is conducting this project, and what are their qualifications?
A: Wildlife Specialists, LLC, has been selected to provide the capture and euthanization services. The company has a strong team of wildlife professionals who have broad experience within Pennsylvania and beyond. Why did I just think of Buzz Lightyear? All individuals assisting with this project in the field are permitted through the Pennsylvania Game Commission to conduct these activities. For more information on Wildlife Specialists, visit their site atwww.wildlife-specialists.com. Yeah, visit their site. Also check out their experience listed on page 14 of their proposal; Mt. Lebanon and The Forestland Group. 
Q: Why is this being done instead of hunting?
A: As first step in its deer management program, Mt. Lebanon had planned to conduct an archery hunt but was unable to get the program in place this season in time to obtain the required permit from the Pennsylvania Game Commission. Note additional factors listed on page 23 of my 1/29/15 RTK. The high density of homes in Mt. Lebanon and the Safety Zone requirements for hunting in Pennsylvania make hunting, when not combined with other methods, a ineffective option for achieving a meaningful reductions of the deer population here. Mt. Lebanon does intend to use limited archery hunting to supplement the deer control program in future deer hunting seasons.
Q: Why can’t the deer be captured and transferred to another location?
A: The Pennsylvania Game Commission and similar wildlife agencies across the United States have decided to discourage the transfer of white-tailed deer for many reasons. The primary reason is to minimize the spread of diseases like Chronic Wasting Disease. Other reasons include not transferring problems of deer overabundance from one area to another. Often people cite low deer populations in another area as being a reason to move deer into those habitats, but most often those low populations are a result of poor habitat caused by historically unbalanced deer herds, where the high populations degraded the habitat, and the habitat is taking time to recover. Read what the hunters are saying about that in Mt. Lebanon, Making own hunting rules?.
Q: Is this method more humane than other options?
A: The stress on the deer will be minimized by not handling them (which is inherent to other capture methods or even tranquilization) and because the shooting will take place under the cover of darkness. Huh? Death will be immediate and painless. The very close range will prevent misses or wounding. Dave Brumfield promised that he would never vote to bring guns into Mt. Lebanon.
For additional information on white-tailed deer or municipal deer control, visit the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s website at www.pgc.state.pa.us.

1/29/15

Update January 31, 2015 8:45 AM In this week's letter to the commission and staff, Steve Feller writes:

Mt. Lebanon needs to submit another permit application for this process. It really is bait and switch!