Council may consider upping penalty for hunting
November 11, 2010
New: Nov. 11, 9:17 a.m.
Sammamish may make hunting in city limits a crime on par with drunk driving.
In response to two recent incidents in which someone shot a deer with a bow and arrow, Deputy Mayor Nancy Whitten and Councilman Tom Odell proposed Nov. 9 that the city consider whether to increase penalties for purposefully killing an animal in city limits.
The city passed an ordinance in 2004 making the crime a misdemeanor punishable by up to 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine. The council spent the last 15 minutes of their Nov. 9 meeting considering whether to raise the crime to a gross misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail and a $5,000 fine. Courts rarely give the maximum allowable sentences for misdemeanor crimes. Read more
