Quick Action By County Stops Illegal Gunfire Officials Put Up New Signs Informing Hunters Of ‘No Shooting Area’ Along The Little Spokane

For those who believe government doesn’t work, that the concerns of the everyday Joe don’t matter, and that the media only focus on the negative: Read on.

Ed and Joyce Bergtholdt have lived in their home west of the Little Spokane River and just north of Colbert Road for 25 years.

When they moved there they felt safe - for themselves, their children and their neighbors. But recently that began to change.

The Bergtholdts live in a “No Shooting Area” along the river. Hunting is against the law in that area which is teeming with wildlife.

But lately the Bergtholdts were feeling as if they were lined up in the cross hairs.

“Gunfire just kept getting closer, and closer and closer to the house,” Joyce Bergtholdt said. “There are young kids playing through here all the time.”

Oh, there were a couple of neighbors who seemed to have a blast discharging their firearms off the deck of their respective porches.

But upon further inspection, the Bergtholdts realized that most of the “No Shooting Area” signs in the area had fallen down or faded over the years.

“I don’t think people knew that this area was off limits,” she said.

From there the Bergtholdts went to work.

In late April, Ed Bergtholdt sent a letter to Spokane County Commissioner John Roskelley outlining the problem. Roskelley forwarded the letter to Bob Brueggeman who is the chair of the county’s No Shooting Advisory Committee.

Brueggeman telephoned Bergtholdt and then sent him a map of the county’s “No Shooting Area.” He told Bergtholdt that signs would be forthcoming.

“Without signs the public is not aware that shooting along the Little Spokane River is prohibited,” Ed Bergtholdt said.

“This area has considerable wildlife, and with more and more residences being built in the area there are a lot more children here, too,” he said.

The signs didn’t appear overnight, but in about a month-and-a-half, a flurry of signs were erected by county officials informing potential hunters that this section of the Little Spokane River is off limits.

The recipe for an accidental disaster was averted with a letter and a telephone call. The Bergtholdts say they haven’t heard a single gunshot since the signs went up earlier this month.

REPORT IT If you would like to report weapons being discharged in a “No Shooting Area,” call 456-3600 or write: Bob Brueggeman, chairman, Spokane County No Shooting Advisory, Division of Engineering and Roads, Public Works Dept., Spokane, WA 99260-0170.