Save Our Mill Creek Deer group back in court to question legality of hunts
YOUNGSTOWN - The legal back and forth battle about the deer hunts continues.
More than 30 members of the Save Our Mill Creek Deer group packed into a Mahoning County courtroom to once again try and stop the hunt.
Attorneys for both the park and those against the hunt met behind closed doors, making their arguments to a magistrate. The attorney representing those against the hunt feel the park is a governmental entity that doesn't have the legal authority to let people kill the deer.
“If we just simply give up and let governments run however they want to run without any limitations on their power, then we’re in a world of hurt in that respect.” Jeff Crossman, Attorney for Residents around Mill Creek MetroParks said.
But the parks attorney is arguing they do have the power under the law.
Dozens of deer have already been killed since the hunts started in October, but the Save Our Deer group wanted this bright back to court to save any more from being hunted.
“When the director of Mill Creek Parks says ‘we have to go through and eliminate ‘em all,’ that's wrong,” Michael Drabison, a member of the Save our Mill Creek Park Deer group said. “You don't kill everything.”
We reached out to the parks Executive Director, Aaron Young, for a comment on if they plan to have more deer hunts in the future.
“Since the case is still ongoing, we have been advised to not offer any comment,” Young said in a statement to 21 news. “We will be happy to comment upon the completion of the case.”
The attorneys against the hunt are also arguing that it’s a danger to the residents that live around the park.
“There aren’t really significant safety measures ongoing in terms of marking property boundaries for people who don't live in the area, don't know the area well, outside hunters to know where they can and can’t be hunting and where they might fire an arrow from the ground they might actually injure somebody,” Crossman said.
“Real hunters are against this. You got deer that sit in people's backyard for the last 20 years with their families. Now, all of the sudden, they've got strangers coming into their yards and shooting the deer,” Drabison said “That's what we’re against.”
A magistrate will make a ruling on the case in the next few weeks.
This same issue was already brought to court once. A judge previously ruled that the hunts can go on in a case between Mill Creek MetroParks and the residents living adjacent to the park. Crossman and his team said they wanted to bring this back to court because they felt the judge did not totally understand what they were arguing for.
Crossman said if the magistrate rules in favor of the park in this next ruling again, they will file an appeal.
