Pubdate: Sun, 25 Jan 2009 Source: Hendersonville Times-News (NC) Copyright: 2009 Hendersonville Newspaper Corporation Contact: http://www.blueridgenow.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/793 HUNTER, DEALER SHOULD BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE Printed on the same day on the front page of the Times-News last week were two stories about tragic and avoidable death. On Thursday, a Transylvania County magistrate issued a warrant charging a hunter with involuntary manslaughter for the accidental shooting death of a galax gatherer in the woods. [Name redacted] was hunting in the Turkey Pen area of Pisgah National Forest when the hunter allegedly fired a Winchester rifle shot that killed Luciano M. Martinez. Martinez, 50, of Marshall, had received a permit to gather galax in the forest two weeks before Christmas, a plant that is used in holiday decorating. "They both looked through the scope and both thought what they were shooting at was a deer," said Capt. Greg Daniels of the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission. [Name redacted], turned himself in Thursday. As hunters and wildlife officers said after the shooting, in safe hunting there is no such thing as being pretty sure about the target. The shooter has to be absolutely sure. District Attorney Jeff Hunt and Transylvania County authorities were right to bring the charges. Authorities said immediately after the shooting that the hunter could be charged with negligent hunting. That investigators chose the more serious charge of manslaughter shows they were unwilling to take the case lightly. A life was taken unnecessarily, and even if the fatal action was an accident, justice should be done. A court of law should decide. Another arrest in another jurisdiction was made last week that upholds the principle of accountability. Henderson County sheriff's deputies charged [Name redacted], 19, with second-degree murder for allegedly providing the narcotic that killed a young Mills River man. Christopher Thomas Waters, 19, of Mills River, died Aug. 11 of an overdose of methadone, a powerful drug that authorities say Flores supplied. The arrest this week was the second time Davis' office has brought a second-degree drug charge against an alleged drug dealer whose product caused death. Four months ago, deputies charged 23-year-old [Name redacted] in connection with the death of Justin Kane Anderson, who died of a Fentanyl overdose. We compare an accidental hunting death and a drug overdose potentially attributable to a drug dealer only to the extent that both have a cause. Investigators and prosecutors have done the right thing in making a charge to hold someone to account. "We will always pursue the course of charging those who contribute to the death of others while pursuing their own criminal interests wherever the law allows," Sheriff Rick Davis said of the [Name redacted] arrest. "Those who choose to sell or distribute illegal drugs in this county must understand that they alone are responsible for effects of that product on the life and welfare of others." Drug users have to be held to account, too, of course, but Davis and local prosecutors are right to focus resources on the sellers. Without them, there can be no users. The arrests this week at their most basic level tell the story of two lives ended, and two lives altered forever in a harmful way. It is up to a judge and jury to decide the guilt or innocence and penalty for the two young men arrested. Justice in either case cannot bring back two lives. But the message sent by the arrests is that law officers and prosecutors will demand accountability. And in the end, justice may prevent a similar death, either by a careless hunter or a drug dealer peddling poison. - --- MAP posted-by: Doug