NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1975 SESSION

CHAPTER 269

HOUSE BILL 582

AN ACT TO PREVENT THE USE OF ARTIFICIAL LIGHTS IN AREAS INHABITED BY GAME IN JOHNSTON AND HERTFORD, GATES, NORTHAMPTON AND WAYNE COUNTIES.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

Section 1. Any person who, between the hour of eleven o'clock p.m. on any day and one-half hour before sunrise on the following day, deliberately flashes or displays an artificial light from or attached to a motor-driven conveyance or from any means of conveyance attached to said motor-driven conveyance so as to cast the beam thereof beyond the surface of a roadway or in any field, woodland or forest in an area frequented or inhabited by wild game animals shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. Every person occupying such vehicle or conveyance at the time of such a violation shall be deemed prima facie guilty of such violation as a principal.

Sec. 2. Each person violating the provisions of this act, shall, on the first conviction thereof, be fined not less than twenty-five dollars ($25.00) nor more than fifty dollars ($50.00). Upon a second or subsequent conviction, such person shall be fined not less than one hundred dollars ($100.00) nor more than two hundred dollars ($200.00) or imprisoned not more than 60 days, or both, in the discretion of the court.

Sec. 3. The provisions of this act shall not apply to a person while on land owned by him in fee simple or in which has has a life estate or a person who leases land for agricultural purposes, but the fact of such ownership shall be a matter of defense in any prosecution for violation of this act.

Sec. 4. All lawful peace officers of the county and State, including wildlife protectors, shall have authority to arrest for violations of this act.

Sec. 5. This act shall apply only to the counties of Johnston and Hertford, Gates, Northampton and Wayne.

Sec. 6. This act shall become effective upon ratification.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 12th day of May, 1975.