The Gadfly is a series of letters offering commentary on local issues and published in the Warrensburg Gazette.

We were listening to the local scanner frequency the other day and heard about two separate deer-car collisions on Mitchell Street. The other night I narrowly missed a doe on Maguire near Parker's and another on Holden near the Fraternity Complex. Deer eat expensive ornamentals and can strip a garden of the fruits and vegetables homeowners work hard to produce. In short, they're a pest.

We try to do something to control most pests – rats, mice, insects, etc. But when the pest is cute (like a rabbit) or elegant (like a deer) people are reluctant to protect their property. The uncontrolled deer herd in Warrensburg continues to cause problems, dooming many of the deer to a painful death on our streets and highways, causing injury to citizens and damage to their property.

The state is working hard to keep the deer population from growing beyond its already-large size. Liberalized hunting licenses lead to record harvests every year, with doe harvest encouraged. Even in urban areas, such as Kansas City, controlled deer hunting is encouraged. Isn't it time that Warrensburg joined in?

Safety would not be a problem if bow hunting only were allowed and the locations were limited. Cost should not be a factor – hunters would willingly pay the city for a chance to take a doe fattened on gardens and shrubbery. I would hope that the City Council will research the facts on urban hunts, then decide based on those facts rather than the cuteness factor.