Commissioners petitioned to ban hunting on roads and highways in the county | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: This article originally appeared in the Beaufort Observer.

    At their regular monthly meeting on June 4, 2012 a Beaufort County citizen, the second in as many years, appeared before the Board asking that hunting on the highway right-of-way in his area (Chocowinity) be banned. You can hear Mr. Donald Ward's presentation in the video below and the discussion by the board members. Ultimately they decided to refer the issue to the Animal Control Committee of the County to consider drafting an ordinance or a request to the State to restrict hunting on the right of ways on all roads in the county.

    A number of counties, particularly those with more dense population patterns have adopted such restrictions or have had the State do it. The State is known to act only on request from local officials, and therefore the restrictions vary by county across the state.

    Several months ago another resident from the Bath area appeared before the Commission asking for the same thing. At that time Chairman Jerry Langley brushed him off with a declaration that they would get back to him, but the matter was quietly dropped.

    We'll keep you posted on what happens this time.

    The hunting issue was one of several interesting items, including the adoption of the FY 2013 county budget. Check back later for additional reports as the edited video becomes available. We'll go through the entire 3 ½ hours and pull out the clips that we think you will find most informative.