DEER TRAIL, Colo., Dec. 10 (UPI) -- Residents of Deer Trail, Colo., will have to wait awhile before getting a chance to vote on a proposed drone hunting ordinance, city officials say.
The vote had been scheduled for Tuesday but Mayor Frank Fields and City Clerk Kim Oldfield decided to put off the referendum after meeting with a judge Monday, KMGH-TV, Denver, reported.
A petition calling for a vote received 25 signatures, but four were rejected and two more were challenged by Jessica Stoumbaugh, one of the town's approximately 600 residents. That left 19 signatures, the minimum needed to qualify for a vote, but Oldfield told the TV station the decision was made to delay the matter until the judge rules on the matter.
Now the vote is tentatively rescheduled for April 1.
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Deer Trail resident Phillip Steel said he wrote the proposed drone-hunting ordinance when he learned the Federal Aviation Administration "loosened regulations that would allow the flight of drones in domestic airspace."
"What has me fired up is it's trespassing," Steel said. "It doesn't belong there. Yes, it's privacy. But that's only one part of it. Who's going to be flying these drones?
"I am proposing to shoot it down."
"The overall purpose of this test site program is to develop a body of data and operational experiences to inform integration and the safe operation of these aircraft in the National Airspace System," the FAA said of its program to create six drone test sites around the country.
The ordinance would put a bounty on recovered drone parts, including $25 for the fuselage and $100 for a complete drone with U.S. government markings, CNN reported.
"That's a federal offense to destroy government property, and on top of that it's a ridiculous thing and embarrassing the town," said Daniel Domanoski, a Deer Trail resident who opposes the ordinance.
