LEWISTON – The line between Lewiston’s hunting zone and its gun-free area needs a better marked boundary, figures Sonya Laramee.

Until that happens, the mom of three children will worry every time they leave her home, tucked into the woods off Grove Street.

“I’m scared for my children,” she said.

The problem is that hunters have been lining her street, which marks a boundary between the two zones. And the men with guns hunt on both sides.

On Saturday, she saw a hunter pull a deer from the hunting-free side. Her brother, who lives next door, stopped a hunter in a pickup truck driving a private pathway between their homes, entirely within the hunting-free zone.

“People have no idea where they are,” she said. “And they don’t understand the law.”

Laramee plans to ask city officials for new signs that will show the zone boundary, she said.

“The city hasn’t done enough to tell people what the rules are,” she said. Those rules are posted on the city’s Web site, www.ci.lewiston.me.us/.

They divide the city in two.

Zone one covers the rural section of the city. Zone two covers the downtown and more populated areas. The Maine Turnpike, Grove Street and then double transmission power lines form the boundary that encircles the city.

In zone two, the populated area, hunting is prohibited. According to city ordinance, anyone carrying a loaded hunting rifle in the area can be summarily cited for a violation and fined up to $250. The maximum increases to as high as $500 on a second violation.

In zone one, the rural area, only limited hunting is allowed. The hunter must carry written permission with his or her name, the name of the landowner, a general description of the size and location of the land and the dates and times when hunting is allowed.

Though the local law demands lots of detailed information, few hunters are cited in Lewiston, police Sgt. Kelly Hamel said.

Complaints come in every hunting season, he said. Most often, they come from folks on either side of the issue who do not know the law, he said.

Hamel counseled parents to act responsibly, understanding that the regular firearms season for deer hunting will continue until Nov. 24.

Laramee, who owns 120 acres with her husband, keeps her kids out of the woods at this time of year, she said.

“It has ruined our autumn,” she said.


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