To the editor: The R.I.D.E.M. has again created the hunting season in Barrington that will transform our environment for the next four months to accommodate the sport or game of hunting.

This is not an activity based in hunger or need. It's recreational, a game being played where one needlessly dresses in costume and kills birds for fun. It does nothing to manage the environment and is a strain on our community.

Every resident of Barrington needs to go to the D.E.M. web-site and read The Waterfowl Hunting Season Guide right away. According to state law, the rules and regulations there in are construed as state law so there are new laws for the people of Barrington that we know nothing about. We had no say, no vote, no representation in this law making process.

What do you think about that? Is that consistent with the U.S. Constitution? Of course not.

Hunting is allowed in Haines Park. There's hunting allowed by the D.E.M. across the river from the Barrington Town Hall, Library, Senior Center, and playground between Puritan Avenue and Seabrook Park according to The Waterfowl Hunting Season Guide. No Barrington public servant or voting public would have ever approved such a reckless and irresponsible law with the potential for so much pain and horror.

The D.E.M. did. There are people with guns hunting all around us in Barrington's hunting areas that were "legally" created by the D.E.M. Unfortunately, the D.E.M. is woefully understaffed and has less than 18 enforcement officers to cover the entire state and 3 miles out to sea, three shifts a day and on weekends. At any given time there's only one or two on duty to cover the entire state. Consequently, there is no competent management of these highly questionable hunting areas the D.E.M. has created in the midst of heavily populated Barrington. This presents a real danger to everyone even other hunters. The D.E.M. should shut them down before someone is injured or killed.

There's a lot the town could do in enforcing existing laws regarding waterfowl hunting. Federal Law requires all migratory bird hunters to obtain a R.I. Harvest Information Program (HIP) Permit and attach it to their hunting license. It's like having your car inspected to meet clear air standards. The police can enforce that. You don't need the D.E.M. It's time for this community to step up to the plate and take a swing at something that is having a real negative effect on us, dividing and endangering us.

Every year the D.E.M. closes miles and miles open beach for the benefit of a nesting bird. We are much more important than that little bird. The D.E.M needs to do more to protect our nest from the dangerous and deadly game of hunting that is occurring all around us. Hunting belongs in the wilderness not in our backyards.

Thank you and wear orange.

Alan Sorrentino

Barrington