posted by Mike Madison at 10:36 PM /
Today I received an email from an organization that calls itself the "Coalition for Neighborhood Safety & Awareness." The name is misleading. This is a group that wants to stop the deer eradication program in Mt. Lebanon, but it's acting primarily out of concern for the deer, not primarily out of concern for neighborhood safety.
Agree or disagree with the idea that Mt. Lebanon should be hunting deer, the fact that deer themselves are CNSA's priority is clear from the identity of the inaugural CNSA speaker.
From the email:
Anthony Marr's biography is here. He is an accomplished and interesting person, but he is an anti-hunting activist, not a neighborhood safety expert.
Agree or disagree with the idea that Mt. Lebanon should be hunting deer, the fact that deer themselves are CNSA's priority is clear from the identity of the inaugural CNSA speaker.
From the email:
"On Tuesday, September 25, 2007 at 7:00 pm Environmentalist, Anthony Marr, will be speaking about alternative approaches to managing deer in Mt. Lebanon. See details below (flyer attached).
Keep Our Neighborhoods Safe!!
Use of high-powered rifles compromises our safety and is poor use of our tax dollars
You’re invited to attend a FREE Seminar on the truth about deer control in our townships
Anthony Marr
Preservationist and founder of Heal Our Planet Earth to speak on co-existing with local deer
When? Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Time? 7:00 p.m.
Where? Mt. Lebanon Library, Room A
16 Castle Shannon Blvd
Pittsburgh, PA 15228-2252
RSVP: info@cnsa-mtlebo.org
Marr has worked as a field geophysicist and an environmental technologist.
He’s conducted high profile campaigns in Canada for the bears and seals
and has been to Japan to speak on behalf of the marine life.
For more information visit: http://www.cnsa-mtlebo.org
We hope you join!"
Anthony Marr's biography is here. He is an accomplished and interesting person, but he is an anti-hunting activist, not a neighborhood safety expert.
Labels: deer culling
4 Comments:
So they have a web site -- yet when you do a search as to who registered it, it's a private registration! Why are they hiding who signed up for the name?
http://who.godaddy.com/WhoIs.aspx?domain=cnsa-mtlebo.org
Furthermore, there are no contact names on the site whatsoever -- and the address is a P.O. box. Who the heck runs this so-called organization?
At First Friday this organization was handing out flyers at one of the tables. I had a lengthy discussion with who I believe the the founder. His idea was that this wasn't just about the deer but that the deer culling issue was simply the issue at the forefront of so much Mt Lebanon politics that it is their focus today.
He was absolutely NOT against the deer eradication. He made that very clear. He made a couple of points to me. First, why are we shooting the deer with high powered rifles when there is so much risk involved with doing it this way (just look at the kid that was shot and killed by a cop that was shooting at a snake in the midwest a while back). Second, he didnt feel that other methods of deer culling were properly represented by the USDA and that is why he wanted to bring a speaker in to discuss alternatives.
I am more than happy to give alternatives a chance.
When are the Commissioners going to start to make the police department keep statistics on the number of accidents caused by deer?
*CitizenA*
I've heard a lot about the risks of using high powered rifles, and while I agree that on paper and at Commissioners' meetings its detractors can make it all sound pretty scary. However, 68 deer were already removed with .223 caliber rifles during just 7 nights in the Spring and there were no safety breaches. The few calls that were received by the Mt. Lebanon PD were addressed immediately and resolved without incident.
By checking out the Police Blotter, I'm inclined to believe that parking my car and crossing Washington Rd or Beverly Rd between 3 and 6 PM probably poses a greater risk to my personal safety.
Perhaps Mr. Marr should direct his scare tactics further down Route 19. I read in today's Post-Gazette that the Peters Township Council recently heard from an advisory board formed to discuss deer overpopulation in the township.
I've killed two deer in the last 3 years -- both with a high-powered, uh, automobile. The experience has convinced me that rifles are a safer alternative.
If there are other ideas that are more practical, less expensive, and less upsetting to our urban sensibilities, they're certainly worth listening to, but I believe we've heard it all before and already made the call...along with the State, the Audubon Society and the Sierra Club.
Whichever side of this debate you're on though, the positive thing is that this is the only kind of gun control debate that's needed in our town.
I like that. Let 'er rip.
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