• The proposed Columbus County noise ordinance went the way of the county subdivision ordinance Monday night and has been tabled for further discussion once newcomers Ricky Bullard and Ronald Gore take their seats on the board Dec. 4.

By NICOLE CARTRETTE
Staff Writer

The fate of a tougher Columbus County noise ordinance is becoming somewhat of a tug-of-war between county residents in densely populated residential areas and hunters who want dogs to be an exception to the ordinance.

Despite Chairman Kip Godwin’s efforts to get the ordinance amended to commissioners’ satisfaction and adopted Monday, commissioners voted unanimously to table the matter for consideration at a later date.

“I’m a resident, they are animals,” Tanya Norris, a resident of Southwood, said. “I was there before the dogs,” Norris pointed out.

She told commissioners she wakes up at all hours of the morning and night to the sound of her neighbor’s dogs barking about 16 feet from her bedroom window. Norris, who has dogs herself, said her neighbor’s dogs are a nuisance.

“I just want someone to make them shut up during sleeping hours so I can sleep and have a nice day at work,” Norris said.

Dozens of hunters and dog enthusiasts, many of them members of the East Coast Hunters Association, had a different point of view.

Dressed in camouflage with a bright orange hunting cap on his head, David Lee McPherson, president of the 2,500 plus membership organization, explained he had just come out of the deer woods.

“We don’t want to be advocating annoyances to anyone in the county,” McPherson said, but asked that dogs be an exception to the ordinance.

“Sporting and hunting is big business in Columbus County,” McPherson reminded commissioners. “There are fox pens throughout the county and we have people throughout the states that surround us and come here (to hunt).

“Don’t burden the everyday taxpayer,” McPherson told commissioners.

Commissioner Lynwood Norris, of District 5, made it clear at a previous meeting that removing dogs as an exception was a bad idea. He reaffirmed his support for excluding dogs from the ordinance.

“If we take that away from you, we might as well take (everything)” Norris said.

Joel Blackmon, president of the Columbus County Fox Hunters Association, said he had concerns about how the ordinance may affect fox preserves and pointed out that several hunts have raised money for charitable causes and scholarships.

Joe Norris, whose daughter lives in a residential area, said those areas should be treated differently.

“Southwood is not an area you want dogs barking,” he said. “The biggest thing I am concerned about is residential areas.”

“We are dog on if we do and dog on if we don’t,” Commissioner Bill Memory said after hearing both sides of the debate. “These are things we have to tackle. We can’t make everybody happy, even the good Lord couldn’t.”

“It’s not just hunting dogs,” Commissioner David Dutton said, when someone suggested making an exception for sporting dogs. “It should be a dog, period, not just a hunting dog.”

“What we have on the books right now is what we have been told by the sheriff and courts is unenforceable,” Godwin said. He explained that to be in violation of the ordinance the sound must be measured with a decibel reader and take place over a period of at least 15 minutes.

“I don’t believe there are any hunters that will violate this ordinance,” Godwin insisted.

“What about coon hunters?” Norris declared, adding that the rules requiring lawn mowers that exceed certain sound limits not be operated before 7 a.m. was unreasonable because many people in the hot summer cut their grass early in the morning.

Commissioner James Prevatte, who had pointed out that the ordinance provision dealing with barking animals but excluded dogs was contradicting, urged commissioners to take a cautious approach and hold off on a vote. “We need to take comments,” Prevatte said, who expressed concerns about details.

Terry Strickland, who trains hunting dogs, said it could take as long as 30 to 40 minutes to get to a dog that has treed a coon. “People should be able to hunt,” Strickland declared. “This is how I pay my bills and pay taxes.”

Jim Nance, who has been a long-time advocate for some kind of enforceable noise ordinance, said when he bought his lot on the Lumber River he thought he was destined for a peaceful and quiet retirement. A campground approved near his property changed all of that, he said. “Duck hunters, shotguns and dogs I have no problem with,” Nance said. “My problem is with people, amplified sound, and drunk shouts.”

“I haven’t had a chance to study it, in its present form, but I think it’s an unenforceable ordinance,” Robert Adams insisted. He pointed out that dogs and children playing were part of country living. “This could cause animals to be euthanized because of pressure on owners,” he said. “If you snap your fingers, 100 yards away it creates a disturbance.”

Adams added that a person walking across a yard or a deer can cause a dog to bark. “All these things put together, you are going to have a nightmare,” Adams said. “A nuisance ordinance would be a better route to go and a more reasonable approach instead of regulating everything.”

Alexis Prease, a Columbus County resident and Robeson County assistant district attorney, voiced concerns about the enforceability of the ordinance also. “I’m not trying to be controversial,” Prease said. “I assume you will adopt some type of ordinance.

“My first suggestion is that you run it by your elected D.A. and after that, write a letter to every judge that comes to the county explaining the steps you took to adopt the ordinance,” Prease said. She added that assistant district attorneys who will be trying the cases will have ‘a zillion’ cases to deal with.

“You need to make it as easy as possible to prove the case,” Prease said. “In district court it is slam, bang and get out.”

Godwin told Prease that District Attorney Rex Gore had reviewed the ordinance and said it was enforceable.