MILLSTONE — The Township Committee “vehemently opposed” bills in the Legislature that would bring bow hunting closer to occupied buildings.
At the June 16 meeting, the governing body unanimously passed a resolution against the so-called “perimeter bills,” Senate Bill 1181 and Assembly Bill 1683. The resolution states that passage of the bills would significantly reduce the safety buffer around homes from 450 feet to 150 feet.A
ccording to the bills, no person, except the owner or lessee, and persons specified by the owner or lessee in writing, would be able to have a nocked arrow for hunting wildlife within 150 feet of their building. No bow hunter would be able to hunt within 150 feet of any building in the state, or within 450 feet of any school playground.
Mayor Nancy Grbelja said that many people who support the bills don’t live in communities like Millstone, where hunting goes on in close proximity to houses. She said the bills would be a detriment to both homeowners and their children.
Deputy Mayor Bob Kinsey said local legislative representatives should have given the Township Committee more information on the bills.
“To reduce the safety zone from 450 [feet] to 150 feet makes no good sense,” Kinsey said. “I don’t know how anyone in their right mind could think that.”
Kinsey said the Legislature has been “bought and paid for by the hunter lobby.” He said there is already plenty of room to hunt and called the legislation “an illthought bill.”
“There’s no compromise on safety,” he said.
Several township residents, including Bob and Betty Bailey and Barry Frost, went to Trenton on June 14 to protest the bill, but it unanimously passed out of the Assembly committee. The bill will proceed to a full vote of the Legislature, although a date has not been set yet. Sen. Jennifer Beck (R-Mercer and Monmouth) voted in favor of the Senate version of the bill passed June 3.
At the township meeting, Bob Bailey said the bill should never have been created. “It puts everyone in harm’s way,” he said. “What will have been gained if one person is killed?”
He added that hunting should take place in wildlife management areas, not in backyards.
Frost said the five Assembly people voting on June 14 were “intransigent.”
“They feel the killing of an animal is higher in importance than the safety of human beings,” Frost said. “I can’t fathom what they were thinking.”