Dec 8, 2015 2 min read

In response to the article, “Mt. Lebanon resident granted right to know request, ” (The Almanac, Dec. 2-8) I have a question: Why is this information so relevant and important enough to be publicly disclosed? Just because a Mt. Lebanon resident (as a private citizen) sent an email to their commissioner (as private communication) offering to use their yard as part of the deer hunt doesn’t necessarily mean that that particular yard was actually used for the purpose of hunting. The White Buffalo representatives sent emails, made phone calls and visited homes to determine the safest and most effective places for them to use. Only then did they set up their base of operation. The deer population touches almost every yard in Mt. Lebanon, yet not every yard is a proper or safe hunting site.

If Ms. Gillen is sincerely worried about where the actual hunting is taking place, then she should request that information from White Buffalo, not Mt. Lebanon. Having access to email and home addresses of people who contacted their commissioners in the context of private communication is none of her business. The actual deer cull has been going on for several weeks and so far there haven’t been any safety issues yet. Ms. Gillen insists that she needs this information for safety purposes and continues to ask for more correspondence from Mt. Lebanon. By the time she gets this (if she does), the cull will be over. Again, what good will this do?

There are visible signs all over Mt. Lebanon with regard to hunting/ no hunting in the area. Anecdotal evidence so far shows that the cull is successful. I see fewer deer and I have not heard of any accidental human injuries. It would be interesting as well to see if there have been fewer traffic incidents.

Mt. Lebanon is not the only community that has to cull it’s deer population. This activity goes on all over Allegheny County, as well as the entire state of Pennsylvania. Why has this become such an issue in Mt. Lebanon?

Mary McFarland

Mt. Lebanon