by Jackie Nunnery
HEATHSVILLE—Northumberland County supervisors on Thursday, December 12, voted 5-0 to hold an additional public hearing on rifle hunting after making additional changes to the proposed ordinance.
The hearing will be held January 9 on proposed language to allow rifle hunting of deer with a caliber 0.23 or larger from an elevated platform of at least eight feet. Rifles could only be loaded in the elevated position except if needed to dispatch an animal on the ground. Rifles could not be used for turkey hunting. The complete text of the ordinance can be found at co.northumberland.va.us, under Public Notices.
Following a separate hearing, supervisors unanimously approved a conditional use permit authorizing Roger Evans, owner, to construct a boathouse on Cod Creek at 485 Clarke Lane, Heathsville.
Public safety expenditures
“We’re responding to more gun violence than ever and I have no body camera,” said Sheriff Johnny Beauchamp after playing a 911 call of a November shooting in which he was the first one on-site. While most deputies currently have body cameras, “they are failing,” said Sheriff Beauchamp.
He previously requested 22 body cameras in the capital improvement plan for the current fiscal year but it was not approved. “We are in dire need….
