Date: Mon, 4 Nov 2013 14:15:57 -0500
From: Kachergis
Subject: Re: not sure what the problem is
In response to Tom West’s post on the November 4 Chatlist:
I agree with my sister, Anne Kachergis, that here in northeast Chatham, the population is approaching a density that would require some regulation of when and where folks can shoot their guns. When our family moved to the property where my sister and mother live 44 years ago there was very almost never any gunfire in the neighboring woods. Of course there were not any deer either. I believe there were only about 3 houses within a three quarter mile radius of our house in 1969. Now there are 20 or more. Lots of houses are covered by trees and Tom not seeing them in an aerial photograph reminds me of hunters sometimes not seeing houses through the forest.
When my parents bought their land more than 50 years ago and when they built their house, we met the neighbors and they ould drop by to say hello. Out in the country it was important to know, value, and respect your neighbor. If we burned brush or set up a target range, they were concerned, they wanted to see everything was safe. This was being neighborly.
Back in the day when we moved to Chatham, on our drive home, once we left 15-501 we were on dirt roads. One neighbor who lived on that road sometimes set up their little dinner parties in the middle of that dirt road to show the guests how untravelled the road was. He never had to move his table. We often had to pick our way among a neighbors cows as we drove down that road. Now that road is paved, has two schools on it and a traffic light where it runs into 15-501. There was a dairy farm a few miles away that was home to two people and perhaps seventy cows. Now there are two thousand or more people living on what used to be that farm.
This is not New York City or even Cary but there are a lot more people here than there were. The land that has one of the blinds that my sister mentioned has changed hands, we are not sure who the owner is, but we doubt they live there. I don’t understand why so many rounds have to be fired, are the deer shooting back? Sometimes the gunfire goes on at ten o’clock at night, round after round in rapid succession. I think the neighborly thing to do would be to let people have some peace and quiet in their homes and let them get some sleep.
Tom West mentioned my friends in Chatham Matters and I know there are some good people who will make a difference. This is the way Chatham is; citizens participate and take ownership of their community. Now is the time. I am honored to often have friends on all sides of any major issue. Folks treating others the way they themselves would like to be treated is what defines friendship for me, not where we stand on a particular issue. Many is the time I have had a cup of coffee with someone who is not in agreement with me. That is being neighborly. I certainly would like to sit down and have a cup of coffee with Tom West. I hope you’ll take me up on it, Tom. I consider anybody in Chatham County to be a neighbor.
Karl G. Kachergis
Date: Thu, 31 Oct 2013 22:21:54 +0000
From: Tom West
Subject: not sure what the problem is
Anne Kachergis wrote –
“someone who lived on River Road, who lived directly across from Perry Harrison School, used to target practice with a gun. I understand he always shot away from the school”
So what exactly is the problem Anne? I would hope that you wouldn’t want them to shoot towards the school, would you?
She say, “how many people can quickly discern the direction bullets are traveling when they hear gun shots?”
How does this affect the safety of school children? Aren’t aware of bullets that are available to the general public that can make u-turns, are you?
You do realize that gun safety used to be taught on school grounds? I think we may have a former instructor or two on this chatlist.
“On my driveway, in densely populated northern Chatham County, there are two hunting blinds less than thirty yards from where my family and I travel at least twice a day.”
What is your definition of “densely populated?”
Took at look at a Google Map view of Stonewall Road, NC and I just don’t see it. Looks like a lot of trees to me.
(And please spare me the I’m making a veiled threat narrative. I just wanted to see what your definition of “densely populated” was. Guess it’s not the same as most other people’s definition.)
Are the people in the blinds shooting at you and your family? Have they ever shot at you and your family.
How quickly do you pass those blinds twice a day?
“We hear shooters out on any given day shooting hundreds of shots over the course of an hour, within a half mile of our house.”
I though you had problems determining where gunfire was coming from.
“As our county becomes more populated, we need to adapt to change in careful and thoughtful ways.”
Doesn’t really sound like you are doing much adapting, does it? Haven’t the shooters been careful? Have they caused you any harm?
Have you discussed your concerns with your neighbors or are you too busy speeding by their hunting blinds to stop and talk?
Bet it’s just easier to push for more government rules, isn’t it?
I’m being very serious when I suggest that you and other anti-gun sealots take the gun-safety course that is MANDATORY for anyone who wishes to get a hunting licesnce in North Carolina. You might learn something that will dispel some of the fears and myths you hold as true.
You know; you might be just the right sort of candidate to live down in Chatham Park. They will definitely be more densely populated than where you are now.
Check with Karl’s friends at PittsboroMatters.