Hueston Woods State Park officers are investigating an incident in a camping area in which three Franklin High School football players last Friday allegedly used paintball guns to kill two baby skunks.
Jane Beathard, an Ohio Department of Natural Resources spokeswoman in Columbus, said Wednesday that a report or charges had not been filed.
Park Manager Lonnie Snow said the incident occurred at about 10 p.m. in the Class A campground where campers reported seeing the youths chasing the skunks with paintball guns.
The youths, who were not identified, and a coach were camping at the park and planned to use the park's paintball range last Saturday. After the coach went to sleep in his tent, the youths apparently took their guns and started chasing the animals, according to preliminary information.
Beathard said the teens originally denied their involvement but later admitted to killing the skunks.
Snow said it was up to the investigating officer to decide whether charges would be filed or if disciplinary action would be left to the school and their parents.
If the park officer decides to charge the teenagers, the matter will be filed in Preble County Juvenile Court and then transferred to the county where the youths live, likely Warren County Juvenile Court, Snow said.
Park Officer Bob Askew, who also was at the scene of the incident, said the youths had killed two baby skunks that were about 7 inches long from nose to tail and were about the size of "a big baby kitten."
Askew said the skunks were with their mother and another baby skunk in the camping area when they were chased. He said the mother skunk and surviving baby were chased into a drainage pipe under the road where youths were continuing to shoot.
Askew said the paintball guns were confiscated.
Franklin Superintendent Doug Lantz and coach Rodney Roberts could not be reached for comment Thursday night. Case UpdatesThree Franklin High School students received a sentence including community service, fines and probation for their part in the July killing of two skunks in Hueston Woods State Park with paint guns.
The three 17-year-old football players admitted guilt Aug. 15 to charges of juvenile delinquency by way of cruelty to animals, improper methods of taking game birds and wild quadrupeds and disorderly conduct.
Warren County Juvenile Court Judge Michael Powell sentenced the boys to 30 days in the juvenile detention center, then suspended the sentence. The students will also have to complete 50 hours of community service in state parks in the next 90 days and submit to regular reporting probation. The students were also ordered to pay $40 court costs and $50 for each of the three charges.
Powell said that he believed what happened was wrong but that the students were not animal abusers.
FHS Principal Dave Gregory, who testified on behalf of the students, said they would not face school sanctions. | Source: Middletown Journal - Sept 12, 2007
Update posted on Sep 13, 2007 - 2:46PM |
Three Franklin High School senior football players have admitted to using a paintball gun to kill two baby skunks and chasing and shooting at the baby's mother and sibling at a Hueston Woods State Park campground.
The three 17-year-olds athletes entered a guilty pleatoday during an arraignment before Warren County Juvenile Court Judge Joe Kirby to cruelty to animals, improper methods of taking game birds and wild quadrupeds and disorderly conduct.
The three seniors will be sentenced for their involvement in the July 13 incident before Warren County Juvenile Court Judge Mike Powell on Sept 12. | Source: Dayton Daily News - Aug 15, 2007
Update posted on Aug 15, 2007 - 2:15PM |
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