Published: February 15, 2008 10:35 pm         

Governor: Hunting class should be local decision

CHARLESTON — Forcing local school boards in West Virginia to offer an optional, 10-hour course on hunting in public classrooms is an idea that bothers Gov. Joe Manchin.

Manchin has no qualms about teaching gun safety and basic hunting techniques, saying he remains grateful to this day to the men who took him under their wings as a youngster for outdoor instruction.

But to compel school boards to put the hunting class proposed by Sens. Billy Wayne Bailey, D-Wyoming, and Shirley Love, D-Fayette, on the curriculum doesn’t sit well with the governor.

“That’s a local call and that’s the culture of the local community,” Manchin told The Register-Herald Friday shortly after the Senate moved the Bailey-Love bill up for a vote at the start of next week.

“That should be at the comfort level of every board of education. If it’s that big of a thing, that much of their culture, they should have the opportunity, fine.”

Above all, Manchin said, legislators should not be “looking at ... making it mandatory.”

“I can only revert back to my childhood when there were some avid sportsmen in my little Farmington coal mining community that made sure we, as children, who wanted to go hunting, showed us the proper way,” he said.

“I’ve always believed there should be a commitment to training if people want it. You should have the available experts.”

Since his father didn’t engage in hunting, Manchin said, the older men in the community drilled all the safety measures into him, adding he understands the goal of the proposed bill.

“I can tell you one thing, they all have to grapple over hunting season because it almost closes schools down with the kids and teachers that go,” he said.

But the governor said he doesn’t support any attempt to make it mandatory that school boards offer the hunting class.

“You’re going to have the detractors, who are going to say, ‘Yeah, here you want to teach guns, but you can’t even teaching reading and writing,’” he said.

“I think it should be a local thing and there should be a comfort level.”

What’s more, he suggested, any such hunting classes should be conducted after hours, just as any other extracurricular activity, such as a thespian club, provided the local school board endorses the concept, and probably should be done away from school grounds.

“But it should be optional whether that’s even the setting for it or not,” he said.

Senators approved minor technical cleanup amendments, setting up a Monday vote on a bill that originally was intended to teach firearm safety when Love offered it 13 years ago.

Bailey has been besieged with inquiries from lawmakers in other states interested in proposing similar legislation there.

Completing the 10-hour course would provide graduates with a certificate to satisfy training requirements now in place before teens can buy a state hunting license.

Bailey has sought to head off the leery, insisting that no live ammo would be used on school grounds.

— E-mail:

mannix@register-herald.com