Agenda 10-01-19 Item 8-a - Minutes

Browse Search

4 1 Jennifer Woods said she lives on 20 acres in northern Orange County. She said she 2 has not heard anything tonight about guns. She said her family is large, and it hunts for food on 3 her land. She said infringing on this in any way would impact her ability to feed her children. 4 5 Dear Orange County Board of County Commissioners, 6 1 was present at the meeting last night but did not have the opportunity to speak. Therefore, 1 7 am following up in email with my comments as part of the official record. 8 9 1 am fundamentally opposed to any revision to the "shooting ordinance". First, per 10 Commissioner McKee's comments last night, I agree that there does not seem to be a clear 11 complaint of noise versus safety. We are entering hunting season and how will the Sheriff's 12 department adequately answer every call from citizens who merely hear gun shots? As to 13 complaints of gunfire at night, Coyote hunting is a NC regulated and approved activity as is 14 hunting of other species during defined times (sometimes at night) of the year. 15 16 From the minutes of the meeting in June with the initial petition presented to the board to the 17 one citizen last night who spoke about living in a condensed neighborhood and hearing gun 18 shots, no one, at either meeting, clearly stated that they witnessed someone shooting in 19 the condensed area; they merely heard gunfire. With no way to determine where the shots were 20 heard, how can the BOCC amend an ordinance that would be impossible to enforce? 21 22 Orange County has noise ordinances and shooting safety ordinances already on the books. 23 Until a determination and clear delineation is made of what the actual issue stems from, it is my 24 opinion that there is no clear path forward to a new ordinance. 25 26 1, also, support my husband's (Kevin Poole), recommendation that Orange County can address 27 these concerns with a County Shooting Range that would be free to the residents of Orange 28 County. This endeavor can certainly be achieved with the funds from the cent tax increase for 29 the rail project that did not materialize. A project, I may add, that does not benefit rural Orange 30 County in any way. 31 32 Finally, many of us wondered what brought on this proposed ordinance that was abandoned 3 33 years ago with pushback from the public. After last evenings meeting and hearing from the 34 Mitchell family, I must ask, does this issue stem from noise or does it stem from the fact it's a 35 black family exercising their second amendment rights? A family that enjoys shooting and is 36 passing that hobby on to the next generation? As we sat in the meeting last night and they were 37 speaking, my husband and I looked up their property on the GIS and looked at the aerial views 38 of their property. Honestly, we've rarely seen such safety measures put in place for recreational 39 shooting on one's own property. Perhaps many of you are unaware, but should look up, the first 40 "gun control" laws were enacted in the late 1800's to prevent black people from owning guns. 41 Last night's meeting allowed us all to hear from the Mitchell's and what appears to be modern 42 day Jim Crow, illustrating that Orange County isn't as progressive as they claim to be. 43 44 Sincerely, 45 46 Melissa W. Poole 47 5620 Kiger Road 48 Rougemont, NC 27572 49