Posted on 09/22/2006 11:03:32 AM PDT by kiriath_jearim
ITALY, Texas - An Ellis County man has been ordered by a judge to keep the noise down on his property during deer season after he was found guilty of a misdemeanor charge of disrupting hunters.
An Ellis County jury found Galen Morris, 38, guilty on Tuesday of violating one count of the state Sportsman's Rights Act. He was found not guilty of a second, similar charge.
The judge in the case ordered Morris to make sure his children don't disturb hunters on a neighboring property by playing loud music or driving four-wheelers before noon or after 4 p.m. during deer season, which starts in November. Morris was also issued a $250 fine and a year of probation.
"I kind of got mixed feelings out of it," Morris said. "Basically what they're saying is, during deer season you got to keep your kids indoors. You could sneeze and scare a deer off."
The Sportsman's Rights Act makes it illegal "to intentionally interfere with another person lawfully engaged in the process of hunting or catching wildlife."
Peggy Carroll, part owner of a ranch neighboring the Morris property, said the court's decision is fair. She said she hopes the noise restrictions and threat of jail time will keep it quiet for the hunters who use her land.
But Morris' lawyer, Waxahachie attorney Mark Griffith, said he's advising his client to appeal.
"This is just unbelievable to me," Griffith said. "This is really about what rights do you have on your own property."
I have no problem with hunting, but you can't stop me from being in my own yard making a ruckus...
Heheh, otherwise known as the Elmer Fudd Ruling (Be vewy vewy quiet. I'm hunting wabbits...)
It also sounds like someone's hunting too close to where people are moving around--I'd appeal, too, however much I'd like to pare down my local deer population--this ruling is kooky.
No... but if I'm doing yard work with my chainsaw (which is loud), or the kids are playing football in the backyard, then that's the way it is.
So it's about intent. If he (his kids) were making noise with the intent to disrupt hunting nearby, then fine. If they ride four-wheelers all year long anyway, then a bad ruling.
Rulings and laws based on intent are crap. It is what you DO that should matter, not WHY you did it.
Sounds like another court ruling restricting property rights and use.
Ground all aircraft too. I hate it when those noisy planes and jets fly over while I'm hunting.
""This is really about what rights do you have on your own property.""
It's only your property until SCOTUS gets their hands on it.
This is a bad decision, intent or not. Who allows hunting so close to a neighbor where a stray shot could kill one of them? This is about money and the landowner who wants to keep making money off the hunters who use their property. Seems like a violation of the loud family's civil rights to free expression.
There is something major missing from this story. Why was the complaint filed in the first place. Are the noise makers PETA members that were trying to dissuade hunters? Who gets up and makes noise at 5:00 or 6:00AM that scares deer away from a neighboring property?
What caused the neighbor squable to begin with?
Depends on what you are doing with the chainsaw. Are you running it to annoy your neighbors, or actually using it? One is a nuisance, the other not.
Back when I was 14 or 15 a B-58 flew over at tree top level.
The sonic boom shook the snow off trees and scared the crap out of me.
I left the woods for an underwear change.
Is it to late to sue the Air Force?
[This is a bad decision, intent or not.]
Not necessarily. In Texas, landowners lease out their property for hunters and make a pretty good proffit at it. For some, it is a business (this is why I never hunted while I lived there). I agree with earlier sentiments that if these folks do get up at 6:00AM and make noise every day then its a bad decision. But if they do make noise everyday, the habitat is consistent and the deer won't notice when hunting season starts. Otherwise, if they mark the day hunting season starts and they go out of their way to move deer away from the property, then they are intentionally impeding someone's else's ability to conduct business.
I suspect that these are both large properties that share a long property line and this is a case of hunters vs anti-hunters.
Using it. I'm not one to unnecessarily annoy neighbors. I don't cut the lawn in the morning until 10 am, so I won't wake babies in the next house.
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