From the Bridgeport, CT Post 12-4-99.
If you will recall, Bridgeport is one of the cities suing the gun establishment. Now this.
<start>
Hunters battling mounting pressure after cop`s death
Saturday, December 04, 1999
By DEBBIE CARVALKO
Staff writer
Hunters across the region are outraged and "disgusted" by the recent
killing of a Woodbridge police officer in an apparent hunting accident.
But the ire of those hunters is being stoked higher by an official's
announcement this week that the town is exploring ways to ban all
hunting, on both public and private property.
"The actions of one individual, who [apparently was not] even hunting
legally, should not affect all hunters," Rick Boucher, a Fairfield resident
and board member of the Connecticut Waterfowl Association, said
Friday.
Boucher, a past president of the group that includes some 320 hunters,
was referring to the Nov. 20 death of Woodbridge's deputy police chief,
William Garfield, apparently shot and killed by his hunting companion,
Stephen Gombos, 60, of Woodbridge.
The two were on a town-owned parcel of land known as the Bishop
Estate when the accident occurred. A zoning official later said hunting is
not allowed on town-owned land, though the first selectman or police
chief could conceivably issue a permit to do so.
First Selectman Roger Harrison said he did not issue any permit; Police
Chief Dennis Phipps has not returned calls for comment. Harrison said
Thursday he is exploring whether hunting can be banned everywhere in
town.
"Every day, everywhere, every place," hunters in Connecticut are talking
about the tragic death, said Joe Ferrigno, a Derby resident and president
of the United Bow Hunters of Connecticut.
"It sickens me and shocks us all … When I get over my disgust, maybe I'll
go back in the woods," said Ferrigno, 61 and a hunter since his father
taught him how to shoot at age 6.
Ferrigno speculated that Garfield was mistaken for a deer in the
shooting. He said that would never happen if basic hunting rules were
being followed.
Ferrigno said it is standard practice that a hunter be certain the target
is an animal; identify a vital area to shoot the animal so it will die quickly
(usually the heart and lung area behind the front legs); and be able to
tell exactly where a fired round will stop if it passes through the animal.
A state environmental official agreed the problem is not hunting, but
"negligent" hunters.
"Hunting is recreational and a wildlife management aid to the state, to
keep the deer population in check," said Ed Parker, chief at the DEP
natural resources bureau. "To take that away because someone made a
tragic error [is] really punishing legal hunters for something someone did
that was stupid," he added.
Parker said any Woodbridge attempt to ban all hunting will fail, anyway,
as it has in other towns and cities in the state.
Two years ago, he said, Greenwich failed to pass a law banning all
hunting in town, including on private property. Courts would not uphold
the regulation, he said.
North Branford recently considered a similar attempt, but dropped the
proposal after legal research.
Recently, East Hartford officials went to court in an effort to ban all
hunting, but were rebuffed, said Parker.
Parker said there have been three hunting deaths in the last two hunting
seasons in Connecticut.
Garfield's death was the most recent.
In November 1998, a conservation officer was shot and killed by a man
hunting illegally after dark in Scotland, Conn.
Earlier that year, an attorney walking his dog in Coventry was shot and
killed on a Sunday by a hunter.
There is no hunting allowed anywhere in Connecticut on Sundays, said
Parker. And that hunter did not have a license, he said.
Boucher attributed all three accidental deaths to what he called
poachers, people who do not have all the necessary legal permits and
permissions to hunt.
Parker said the DEP has rewritten a proposal for stricter penalties for
hunting law violations in the state that failed to make it to the General
Assembly for a vote this year.
He said the legislation to increase suspensions, fines and jail terms for
negligent hunting will be submitted to the state Legislature next
February.
Debbie Carvalko, who covers regional events, can be reached at
736-5440.
If you will recall, Bridgeport is one of the cities suing the gun establishment. Now this.
<start>
Hunters battling mounting pressure after cop`s death
Saturday, December 04, 1999
By DEBBIE CARVALKO
Staff writer
Hunters across the region are outraged and "disgusted" by the recent
killing of a Woodbridge police officer in an apparent hunting accident.
But the ire of those hunters is being stoked higher by an official's
announcement this week that the town is exploring ways to ban all
hunting, on both public and private property.
"The actions of one individual, who [apparently was not] even hunting
legally, should not affect all hunters," Rick Boucher, a Fairfield resident
and board member of the Connecticut Waterfowl Association, said
Friday.
Boucher, a past president of the group that includes some 320 hunters,
was referring to the Nov. 20 death of Woodbridge's deputy police chief,
William Garfield, apparently shot and killed by his hunting companion,
Stephen Gombos, 60, of Woodbridge.
The two were on a town-owned parcel of land known as the Bishop
Estate when the accident occurred. A zoning official later said hunting is
not allowed on town-owned land, though the first selectman or police
chief could conceivably issue a permit to do so.
First Selectman Roger Harrison said he did not issue any permit; Police
Chief Dennis Phipps has not returned calls for comment. Harrison said
Thursday he is exploring whether hunting can be banned everywhere in
town.
"Every day, everywhere, every place," hunters in Connecticut are talking
about the tragic death, said Joe Ferrigno, a Derby resident and president
of the United Bow Hunters of Connecticut.
"It sickens me and shocks us all … When I get over my disgust, maybe I'll
go back in the woods," said Ferrigno, 61 and a hunter since his father
taught him how to shoot at age 6.
Ferrigno speculated that Garfield was mistaken for a deer in the
shooting. He said that would never happen if basic hunting rules were
being followed.
Ferrigno said it is standard practice that a hunter be certain the target
is an animal; identify a vital area to shoot the animal so it will die quickly
(usually the heart and lung area behind the front legs); and be able to
tell exactly where a fired round will stop if it passes through the animal.
A state environmental official agreed the problem is not hunting, but
"negligent" hunters.
"Hunting is recreational and a wildlife management aid to the state, to
keep the deer population in check," said Ed Parker, chief at the DEP
natural resources bureau. "To take that away because someone made a
tragic error [is] really punishing legal hunters for something someone did
that was stupid," he added.
Parker said any Woodbridge attempt to ban all hunting will fail, anyway,
as it has in other towns and cities in the state.
Two years ago, he said, Greenwich failed to pass a law banning all
hunting in town, including on private property. Courts would not uphold
the regulation, he said.
North Branford recently considered a similar attempt, but dropped the
proposal after legal research.
Recently, East Hartford officials went to court in an effort to ban all
hunting, but were rebuffed, said Parker.
Parker said there have been three hunting deaths in the last two hunting
seasons in Connecticut.
Garfield's death was the most recent.
In November 1998, a conservation officer was shot and killed by a man
hunting illegally after dark in Scotland, Conn.
Earlier that year, an attorney walking his dog in Coventry was shot and
killed on a Sunday by a hunter.
There is no hunting allowed anywhere in Connecticut on Sundays, said
Parker. And that hunter did not have a license, he said.
Boucher attributed all three accidental deaths to what he called
poachers, people who do not have all the necessary legal permits and
permissions to hunt.
Parker said the DEP has rewritten a proposal for stricter penalties for
hunting law violations in the state that failed to make it to the General
Assembly for a vote this year.
He said the legislation to increase suspensions, fines and jail terms for
negligent hunting will be submitted to the state Legislature next
February.
Debbie Carvalko, who covers regional events, can be reached at
736-5440.