THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 4, 1996 TAG: 9601040307
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CURRITUCK LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines
Students at J.P. Knapp Junior High School were about an hour into their daily routine a few weeks ago when gunshots shattered the air.
Stray bullets, presumably from a hunter's high-powered rifle, struck the south wall of the gymnasium, the door frame of an academic building and the rear windshield of a parked truck.
Two students were close enough to one target to hear the ``whistle'' of a bullet before it hit the gym wall.
No one was injured in the Dec. 13 incident, but the close call and subsequent public outcry have led to a county task force that may recommend restrictions on where recreational hunters and other gun users can roam.
``Hunting is a tradition and a part of our heritage. It's enjoyed by a lot of people,'' said Owen Etheridge, a county commissioner from Shawboro.
``I feel like if we work this out with a committee of citizens, we can come up with a solution,'' he said at Tuesday night's Board of Commissioners meeting in Currituck.
Currituck County has very few written limits on where rifles, handguns and other firearms can be discharged. About the only prohibited areas are within 300 feet of residences and mobile homes, and on or across public roads and parking lots.
During popular hunting seasons, such as deer, it is not uncommon to find people in blaze orange along wooded roadsides with a high-powered gun in hand.
Some of these areas where wild animals live are near schools, including Knapp Junior High in Currituck and Central Elementary School in Barco.
Most recreational hunters are responsible and safety-conscious, but there are exceptions, officials said.
``It's a pity that you've got 2 percent of the world that puts an infraction on the rest of the people,'' Gene Gregory, another commissioner from Shawboro, said at the meeting. ``I don't think you need to be hunting around schools - or any place where you've got a lot of people.''
At the last commissioners' meeting, county resident John Donaldson spoke of being shot at while driving in the same vicinity of the junior high school.
``Somebody's going to be killed unless these rifles are taken care of,'' Donaldson said.
A committee of 10 people was formed Tuesday to draft an ordinance addressing rifle discharges in Currituck County. The panel consists of four hunters, a school board member, two commissioners and three county staff members.
``We appreciate the opportunity to be a part of the solution because we recognize there is a problem,'' said Wayne Twiford, a committee member who belongs to the Currituck Hunt Club.
A report is expected in early March. by CNB