Glasgow Daily Times, Glasgow, KY

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November 9, 2009

Critters at airport have become a nuisance

By KEVIN YOUNG

GLASGOW — The Glasgow City Council plans to discuss an amendment to an ordinance at its meeting Monday that would allow the discharge of firearms at Glasgow Municipal Airport in order to eliminate the problem of turkeys and other animals potentially endangering air travel.

Members of the Glasgow Airport Board are meeting with councilman Doug Isenberg Monday afternoon to discuss how to best amend the ordinance. At its Oct. 26 meeting, the council voted to table discussion on the matter after councilman Harold Armstrong brought up several questions related to the wording in the amendment.

“I just want to make sure there will not be any high-powered weapons at the airport,” he said during the meeting.

Keith Branham, airport board chairman, said the airport is “overwhelmed” with the animals, especially turkeys and deer, which he believes feel as sense of protection in the wooded areas surrounding the airport.

“It has been becoming an increasing problem over the past three or four years and they’ve really had quite a year this year,” he said. “The wooded area is appealing for the wild game to hide and live, and the flocks keep getting bigger.”

Currently, discharging firearms is illegal on airport property, which is within the city limits.

But Branham said he has heard reports of flocks 25 and 30 turkeys large on the taxiway, and the dangers posed to airplanes are understood, he said. So Branham and the other board members want to work with the city council to allow people to thin the population by using bows and arrows and shotguns.

“We’ve been working with the local and state game people to get authority for firearms for this specific problem,” he said. “We don’t want any high-powered rifles in there because there are so many residential areas nearby, and we don’t want any bullet holes in airplane wings. That could lead to another issue,” he said.

Branham said the animals are mostly contained to areas away from where airplanes typically travel, but he wants to eliminate any potential hazards that turkeys and deer could pose before there is a collision.

“We had to get permits to do this out of season and have that authority now, and we wanted to get permission for discharge within the city limits so that we don’t run into problems with the board.”

He said he wasn’t planning on opening the airport property up to hunters, because it could become dangerous in such a confined space. Instead, the board will likely enlist people to come into the area one or two at a time to shoot at the animals, he said.

The council meets Monday at 7 p.m. on the second floor of Glasgow City Hall.

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