‘People are in fear for their safety’: Youngstown official says criminal, civil actions possible for those who shoot deer

A Youngstown city official says plans for deer culling in Mill Creek Park could end in “criminal prosecutions and civil actions.”

Youngstown Law Director Jeff Limbian expressed concerns in a letter to ODNR about city homes near parks being endangered by errant shots from hunters looking to limit the deer population.

“The density of population and the advent of new weapons law has given the authorities even greater difficulty keeping the streets of Youngstown safe,” Limbian wrote. “People are in fear for their safety, even in their homes- Several homes have been shot and more than one person has been killed by stray bullets through seemingly impenetrable walls.”

Limbian said the city will be ready to take action.

“Any further efforts to continue this path of ill-advised gunplay in Youngstown will lead to criminal prosecutions and civil actions,” he said.

Limbian’s words echo the message of a group fighting to save the white-tailed deer currently living in Mill Creek MetroParks.

The “Help Save the Mill Creek Park Deer” Facebook group is comprised of community members who want to stop the park’s plan of hunting the animals in order to control the overwhelming overpopulation.

It seemed like an even more difficult battle to save the deer after the park board of directors approved the deer culling plan and finalized their decision unanimously in April.

But before the plan commences this fall, the group might just have the city of Youngstown on their side as well.

Youngstown’s warning to ODNR

Limbian sent a letter to one official with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources pleading with her to ask ODNR to “cancel, change and reconsider killing deer in Mill Creek Park” in the city.

Here’s the full context of what he wrote to Kendra Wecker, chief of the division of wildlife at ODNR:

“The Administration of the City of Youngstown is gravely concerned about the hunting of deer on land which is situated in the confines of the city limits of Youngstown, Ohio. It has been announced that Mill Creek Park, presumably utilizing and cooperating with the ODNR, intends to reduce the deer population in this area by killing them. I write on behalf of Mayor Brown and the City Administration of Youngstown to express objection to this plan and its implementation.”

Limbian cited several reasons for the city to object to the deer culling plan:

• Hearing public’s doubts about population study:
  
  “(The study) concluded there is an excessively and dangerously large population of deer in this area. All anecdotal evidence suggests the study is flawed and exaggerated. There certainly must have been inaccurate extrapolations of the deer population in the area of Mill Creek Park which exists in Youngstown, Ohio. The citizens of Youngstown are providing considerable input in the mounting evidence that the projections of the size of the deer population are grossly incorrect.”
  
  
  
  

• Agreeing with public’s concerns about safety:
  
  “As you may know, Youngstown is victim to the same violence plaguing our country’s urban districts. The density of population and the advent of new weapons law has given the authorities even greater difficulty keeping the streets of Youngstown safe.
  
  “People are in fear for their safety, even in their homes- Several homes have been shot and more than one person has been killed by stray bullets through seemingly impenetrable walls.
  
  “This City Administration cannot and will not sit idly while hunters and sharpshooters wander park roads and meadows and trails shooting near and in the direction of Youngstown residences.”

• Agreeing with concerns about proximity of park roads to homes:
  
  Limbian cited Youngstown City Ordinance 505.11 Hunting Prohibited Section A: “’No person shall hunt, kill or attempt to kill any animal or fowl by the use of firearms, bow and arrow, air rifle or any other means within the corporate limits of the Municipality.’ There is nowhere in the park affording a sharpshooter or hunter a clear line of fire to avoid shooting into the city limits of Youngstown and city homes.”

• Youngstown City Ordinance 549.08 on Discharging Firearms, and Youngstown Ordinance 501.05 Criminal Law Jurisdiction.
  
  According to Limbian, ordinance 501.05 details the “commission of a criminal act that crosses borders of two jurisdictions.”
  
  
  
  This ordinances applies to Mill Creek Park’s plan because it “addresses shooting and this type of deer hunting in Youngstown as a punishable criminal act, even if there is an attempt to claim that Mill Creek Park is a separate governmental entity. There can be no waiver of criminal conduct in the area of Mill Creek Park that exists wholly within the territorial limits of the City of Youngstown.”

For more on the deer culling plan, visit Mill Creek MetroParks.

Limbian concluded the letter by adding:



“On behalf Mayor Brown, I ask that you intercede with the Mill Creek Park Board to cancel this kill. Any further efforts to continue this path of ill-advised gunplay in Youngstown will lead to criminal prosecutions and civil actions. The anticipated legal action should not be seen as a threat, but rather as a pronouncement in order to place all parties on notice of the City’s plans moving forward.”

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