More than three dozen residents from the Lake Meadows subdivision gathered at the Criminal Justice Center for a public hearing to discuss an ordinance that would regulate the discharge of firearms in the subdivision on Oct. 15.

Live Oak County Judge Jim Huff moderated the hearing. He began by introducing the commissioners in attendance as well as County Attorney Gene Chaplin. “The hearing continues the learning process for the commissioners court as it relates to a statute in the local government code. The statute gives the county commissioners court the authority to regulate countywide or in a platted subdivision, the discharge of firearms. This is not new legislation,” Huff said.

“The scope of this hearing covers the Lake Meadows subdivision in Live Oak County only. Property owners and residents of Lake Meadows will be able to testify or offer an opinion. I appreciate the concern of others here tonight. If matters outside of the subdivision need to be addressed it will be done at another time. Again we want to hear solely from property owners and residents in the Lake Meadows subdivision. Those wishing to give oral testimony may do so observing a three-minute time limit. This is not a debate; it is a hearing,” he continued.

The first testimony came from Charles Elliott, Jr. He said, “Hello, neighbors. I wish we didn’t have to go through this. The old deed restrictions didn’t have anything against this and I am one of the longest residents out there. I bought the place in 1983 and raised my kids out there. They have never been afraid of being shot, especially what I have been told about the target practice. My kids went down that street on their bicycles and go-carts or walked and if the people doing the target practice thought a kid would be harmed, they would never do that. I don’t target practice; if I miss, I miss. But the people doing the target practice are peace officers and they have to keep their CE hours. Why go to the expense of going someplace else for target practice? Anyway, I’m against it, we should stick to the old deed restrictions. We had an opportunity to make changes five years ago and didn’t.”

Lanie Gilkerson gave similar sentiments on restricting the discharge of firearms in their subdivision. She said, “I’m not a public speaker but I will tell you I have been out there for several years. My kids grew up out there and we have never been afraid of any shooting going on. Actually, this is why people move out to the country, so that they can discharge arms in a safe manner. Several people have moved out there and nothing was ever said, nobody had a problem. I am the secretary-treasurer of the home association; we have tried to get neighbors involved so that we can re-do our deeds, so that if there was any concern it could be brought up. No one wanted to get involved, nobody wanted to say anything. Now all of a sudden, we got this and they are coming out of the woodwork now. These two men are extremely safe. I actually live right by Mr. Valentine; my grandkids play in the back yard and I have never batted an eye because Mr. Valentine is safe. He is not out there to make anybody miserable; he is not out there to do anything against anyone; he is just out there to target shoot in his country home out of the city. Mr. Herrada the same thing; I don’t feel there is any reason why we should be changing this and as far as I am concerned, if we do this in one subdivision we are going to have to do this countywide.”

Jan Osborne gave testimony as to why she felt an ordinance restricting the discharge of firearms at Lake Meadows should be passed. She said, “As you know, I talked to you and there are a lot of points I want to go over to clarify things. The Texas Ranger did not personally inspect the berms by getting out of the car; however, Capt. Hank Whitman, who is the head ranger for this district, did look at Mr. Valentine’s berm in a drive by with Mr. Scott and my husband. Capt. Whitman said it is not a matter of if an accident is going to happen but when. He thinks they [berms] are totally inadequate, especially in the fact that they are pointed at the orchards and the home of Mr. Scott. The other thing is during the court case, the attorney for us and my son-in-law, who is a military sergeant, who is also at the federal prison and in security service with the Air Force, they went out and measured those berms. The tallest one is 60 inches; they are not seven feet tall. The other thing is at one time I was a real estate agent, so is my husband; the fact is this is a nuisance in our area. It affects our property values because that is something that needs to be disclosed when you go out to sell a house. It was not disclosed to us. The other issue is the State of Texas has acknowledged this is a problem in subdivisions and it passed this local government code [Subchapter B firearms section 235.022-235.025] and it applies to anybody with more that 150,000 people in the county. Gov. Perry swiped it out and said counties with less than 150,000 will have to enact the code themselves. And I would like to stress this is to prohibit recreational shooting, not to protect your property, not to shoot a rabid coyote. None of that is being banned; the ownership of guns is not being banned. The judge said, yes, the Second Amendment allows you to bear arms but does not allow you to discharge them and we are in a recreational area.

For an hour similar testimony continued on both sides of the firearms issue. Huff closed the hearing by saying, “I realize that we are dealing with an emotional issue at this hearing; feelings and opinions run deep. Each of us is blessed to live in a country in which differences may be voiced, recognized and used in formulating a decision. As we all go home tonight, we all go home as neighbors and thank you for your time.”