Help bring mayor and assembly to their senses

To the editor:

Through his veto of the Motorized Master Plan for Jim Creek, Mat-Su Borough Mayor Larry DeVilbiss demonstrates that the borough is neither willing nor capable of enforcing the no-shooting restrictions on the Jim Creek Motorized Parcel. Experience shows our current crop of motorized recreationists will not willingly follow rules unless supervised by authorities.

For that reason, the mayor wants to have the borough rules at Jim Creek Motorized Parcel in sync with the Department of Natural Resource’s Knik River Public Use Area (KRPUA), where target shooting is restricted, but hunting is allowed. In viewing a DNR map, it’s worth notice that there are no buffers to protect private properties. During the KRPUA process, we had begged the borough to ask DNR for buffers, but the borough assembly’s majority refused to do that.

Too many people who come to the Knik don’t care to know if they are on state, borough or private land. If they see targets on the trees and casings on the ground, there is where they will shoot.

If you or your neighbors have ever felt endangered or otherwise bothered by gunfire from the Jim Creek parcel and the Knik River, here is another chance to let the mayor and the assembly know if you’ve seen any stupid shooting activity. The assembly will allow shooting on that parcel. They’ll qualify it and say that target shooting is prohibited, but that hunting is allowed. For many good reasons, we must object.

We all know how feeble DNR’s attempt at law enforcement has been in the Knik River Public Use Area. It was for that reason we had asked the borough to not allow shooting at Jim Creek and to enforce that as part of the plan. Those of us who live near the Knik are tired of being the ones to alert Alaska State Troopers whenever we hear gunfire. By the time the troopers get here, the shooters are usually gone.

If something bad happens on Jim Creek parcel, we’ll all be on the line for damages that will have to be paid with our property taxes.

Please, help to bring the mayor and the assembly majority to their senses. Do not allow shooting of any kind at or near Jim Creek Motorized Parcel.

Please, come to the assembly meeting and speak under public participation and bring a friend. Send a brief email to the assembly members and mayor to let them know of the error of their ways. Tell them that we are not a “throw away” community. Tell them we are not the Wild West. Tell them they need to lift us up, not take us down.

Gregory Nilsson

and Brit Lively

Butte