1991-09-23 Regular Meeting and Public Hearing

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.ra,, October 28, 1991 Honorable Council Members City of La Porte P.O. Box 1115 La Porte, Texas 77571 Dear Council Members: C ~ I I'~ Re: City Ordinance No. 1784 On September 23, 1991, you amended an ordinance making it unlawful for any person to trap, hunt, shoot or attempt to shoot or molest in any manner, any game animal, as defined in the Texas Parks and Wildlife Code. The passage of this ordinance has caused me a considerable financial loss. I personally lease over 300 acres of undeveloped land on the Southwest side of La Porte, for cattle grazing and deer hunting. Eighteen years ago the City of La Porte promised the owners of this tract of land that if they did not oppose annexation, that the City would provide utilities to the tract, they have failed to honor this commitment and have no plans to do so in the near future. The owners of this property have paid over $ 400,000 in taxes to the City and still have no drainage or utilities. Therefore, the only use for the land in the foreseeable future, is for cattle grazing and archery deer hunting. I spoke to Councilman Porter about the impetus for the amendment of the Ordinance, and he informed me that a concerned citizen was worried about people trespassing and possibly being hurt on the property. Speaking to this concern I can only say that I have the property posted with no trespassing signs and if someone is illegally trespassing, there is always the possiblity of them being hurt, that's the risk a person takes when they break the law. A La Porte City Employee was quoted in the Houston Chronicle as saying that the safety of citzens and their property would clearly be endangered if hunting and other predatory activities were allowed to continue". I challenge this narrow minded thinking, archery is taught as a class at the La Porte High School and students practice in their back yards in Fairmont Park Subdivision and no citzens are endangered by this activity, why is it then, that an archery deer hunter, hunting on 300 acres not bordering any subdivision or other development is endangering the safety of any citzen. A fair number of deer are killed every year by cars on Highway 146, Fairmont Park and Bay Area Boulevard, I'm sure some of the drivers of these cars would appreciate archery hunters keeping the deer herd down. The deer population in this area is very high and when natural predation is not present, deer tend to over populate their given habitat. Over population, more than any other factor, leads to disease, starvation and an over all un- healthy herd. Coupling this with fact that deer ticks cause Lime Disease, many citzens welcome the fact that archery hunters keep the size of the deer herds in check.