ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, February 29, 1996 TAG: 9602290080
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
MEMO: ***CORRECTION***
Published correction ran on March 7, 1996.
Clarification
Franklin County Supervisor Hubert Quinn, three other men and two
juveniles were charged by a game warden with hunting deer with dogs on
Thanksgiving Day last year. A story Feb. 29 reported that a juvenile at
the scene was not charged. Since the story was published, the charge
against one of the juveniles was dropped, and the other was acquitted in
court.
Franklin County Supervisor Hubert Quinn's philosophy on money is simple: Don't spend it.
But there's a notable exception.
Quinn, 63, known as the most fiscally conservative member of the Board of Supervisors, was convicted Wednesday of hunting deer with dogs. It's Quinn's second such conviction since 1989.
Just minutes after he was found guilty and fined $100, Quinn filed for appeal.
"I'll take this all the way to the Supreme Court if I have to," he snapped. "I know it's going to cost me when I could just go ahead and pay the fine, but it's the principle of the matter."
Quinn and another man, William "Sonny" Quinn, 46, were found guilty and fined the same amount by General District Judge Ryland Dodson. Hubert Quinn and Sonny Quinn - who did not appear in court - are not related.
Hubert Quinn's son, Reggie, 37, was acquitted of the charge.
The incident stemmed from an undercover operation by two game wardens on Thanksgiving Day. One of the wardens, David Cushman, testified Wednesday that he hid in the woods about 9 a.m. that day on the Spicewood Hunt Club property, which straddles the Patrick County-Franklin County line off Virginia 785.
He said he heard dogs barking, and later heard a man say, "The dogs ain't runnin' no more," which indicates dogs were on the hunt.
It is illegal in Franklin County to use dogs to flush deer.
Hubert Quinn testified that while hunting alone earlier that morning, he shot and killed a six-point buck. It was hung from a tree to be field-dressed.
While the buck was being secured, a man arrived in a four-wheel all-terrain vehicle. He had shot a turkey - an illegal out-of-season kill - and tied it to the back of his vehicle. Quinn testified that he was antsy about the situation, so he left in his four-wheeler.
Soon afterward, Cushman confronted the man with the turkey.
Reggie Quinn and his 12-year-old son drove up to the scene minutes later, and Reggie Quinn was arrested. A few minutes after that, Hubert Quinn came back up the trail and was arrested, too.
"I saw Cushman standing there with papers in his hand," Quinn said after his conviction. "I knew he was a game warden, so why would I drive back up there? I could have just taken off."
Quinn did not have a gun with him, and when Cushman asked him about the dogs, he said he replied, "What damn dogs?"
Reggie Quinn - who owns a cabin nearby - testified that he and his son were riding through the woods and came upon Cushman. Quinn's son, who was not charged, had a rifle in his hands. Reggie Quinn's gun was strapped to the back of the four-wheeler.
Cushman said several beagles were in a kennel on the back of a pickup truck. Reggie Quinn said they were his dogs, and he'd been keeping them in a barn in that area for several days after a rabbit hunting trip.
The Quinns were represented Wednesday by Jim Jefferson, who is the attorney for the Board of Supervisors.
Will Jarvis, an assistant commonwealth's attorney in Pittsylvania County, served as special prosecutor. Franklin County Commonwealth's Attorney Cliff Hapgood stepped aside because his office gets some funding from the county.
Several newspaper and television reporters were at Quinn's trial. "It's just a misdemeanor," he said when he saw them. "Oh well, I guess I'm a celebrity."
LENGTH: Medium: 77 linesby CNB