PARADISE BAY — It’s not just the noise, neighbors say, but also the threat of a stray bullet making its way into a yard, house or, even worse, a body.
Those concerns are why a proposal for a no-shooting zone in the Paradise Bay area has made its way to the county commissioners, who will hear the request on April 24.
“We don’t know if what they’re shooting will end up in someone’s yard or, heaven forbid, in someone,” said Paradise Bay area resident Steve Foster, one of 30 residents who recently signed a petition in support of the no-shooting zone.
The zone would be bounded on the south by state Highway 104, on the west by Teal Lake Road and on the north and east by Paradise Bay Road, as well as the area between Paradise Bay Road and Paradise Bay.
Port Ludlow has zone
Nearby Port Ludlow has a no-shooting zone, and with recent residential development creating a denser population in Paradise Bay, neighbors say they feel it’s time that the area follow Port Ludlow’s lead.
“In years past, there wasn’t as much housing in this area, but that’s not the case now,” said 57-year-old Foster, an area resident for more than six years.
Not only noise and risk of injury are propelling the proposal forward, but some neighbors say people who use logging roads to practice shooting on have not been ideal stewards of the land.
“They don’t clean up after themselves,” said 13-year Paradise Bay resident Lola Heckard, 54.
“They leave their shells and empty beer bottles on the ground. It worries me if they’re drinking and handling those guns.”
Heckard, who signed the petition, said she’s also seen evidence of trees being badly damaged, some to the point that they have been toppled.
