Earlier this year Jon Espersen, Fredonia Village Board member, merely suggested that it is legal for bow hunters to cull the deer population within the village limits as long as proper DEC guidelines were followed.

The reaction to Espersen’s suggestion was so visceral that the trustee won’t be making a formal recommendation.

“The hate mail was incredible so, no, I won’t be bringing that (up) at any future meeting,” Espersen told the Dunkirk OBSERVER.

Espersen’s experience is noteworthy in the Jamestown area because a similar reaction comes up anytime people bring up the divisive issue of deer inside the Jamestown city limits. The last time the Jamestown City Council broached the topic, the plan for a controlled hunt within the city limits was opposed by many residents and voted down by the City Council.

The problem has been festering in Jamestown. The lack of a natural predator inside the city limits and the abundance of food sources inside the city make Jamestown a wonderful place for deer to live. At the same time, they can be a nuisance for many city homeowners, with some city residents saying there have been an increasing number of deer tick cases and deer that appear to be sick roaming around the city.

City Council members are poised to deal with deer, potentially later this year. And we have no reason to doubt the discussion will be heated. The problem, as we so often see in our national politics, is that heated debate ends up leading to gridlock. It shouldn’t be this hard to arrive at a measured response to a common complaint about deer in municipal area.