Verdict in Crop Duster Shooting Trial

TWIN FALLS - After deliberating for nearly five hours, a jury returned its verdict Thursday afternoon in the case of a Filer man accused of firing a shotgun at a crop duster.

Christopher V. Lewis, 42, was found guilty of discharging a firearm at an aircraft, a felony.

His trial started Tuesday morning.

At about 10:45 a.m. Aug. 24, a pilot with Ken-Spraying LLC told police he was spraying from his crop duster when someone wielding a shotgun waved at him and "did not appear to be happy."

At the same time, someone contacted the spraying company threatening to "dust the pilot with his 10-gauge shotgun."

Jurors heard a recording of the call.

In the recording, the angry caller said the pilot was flying too low over homes and threatened to “spray him with a 10 gauge.”

Two neighbors in the area near where the plane was flying told deputies they saw a man, later identified as Lewis, standing outside with a shotgun.

But Shana Gonzales, a Twin Falls police and fire dispatcher, testified she was in her house Aug. 24 when she heard four shots, walked outside and saw Lewis fire twice at the low-flying plane.

Lewis told deputies that a neighbor brought children into Lewis' home because the neighbor was frightened by how low the crop duster was flying.

Lewis told the deputies he became angry, went outside with his shotgun and "did something bad."

A sentencing hearing is scheduled May 5.

Story and photo:  http://magicvalley.com 

Love-hate Relationship with Crop Dusters in Magic Valley 

HAZELTON • A disgruntled neighbor fired a 10-gauge shotgun at a Ken-Spraying LLC crop duster in August as it flew over his house south of Filer.

He was tired of the crop duster flying over his home.

Christopher V. Lewis, 42, told deputies that his neighbor brought his children into Lewis’ home, because the neighbor was frightened by how close the crop duster was flying to the ground. Lewis told the deputies he became angry, went outside with his shotgun and “did something bad.”

He was arraigned in Twin Falls County District Court on one count of discharging a firearm at an aircraft, a felony.

A preliminary hearing for Lewis was delayed until Nov. 1.

Incidents like that are “really rare — and really extreme,” said Rod Weeks, flight office manager of Ken-Spray Inc. People have a love-hate relationship with crop dusters, those low-flying acrobats in the sky.

“Some love to pull over and watch our planes in the air,” said Clay Jurak, manager of Red Baron Ag Service. “Others think we are out to kill the planet.”

But chemical pesticides used today are not as toxic as in the past, Jurak said. And modern planes are safer, too.

Clay’s parents have owned Red Baron for more than 30 years. His dad, Mike Jurak, has flown since he was 18.

“I used to run the business,” Mike Jurak said, “but I really just like to fly.”

While it might appear that crop dusters fly with reckless abandon, they don’t. Pilots must follow strict FAA regulations, as well as federal chemical applicator laws, he said.

Wind speed and direction, time of day and temperature all play into when and how fields are sprayed.

Communication between farmers and their neighbors “is the backbone of any crop dusting business,” he said. That’s where Clay comes in.

“I have a master’s degree in plant pathology,” Clay said. “But I spend most of my day talking to all the neighbors (of sprayed ground) to let them know what we are doing.

“I encounter a lot of folks with respiratory issues, and I’ll stand out in their yard with them, talking to the pilot on the radio as he sprays.”

Weeks said his company also tries to be proactive.

“The most common complaint I here is, ‘Why do they have to fly so low to the ground and pull up right over their house or trees?’” Weeks said.

Most times, pilots have no other choice, he said.

Only experienced pilots with more than 1,000 hours of flight time are hired to fly crop dusters, because of insurance requirements, he said. Many of them were military pilots.

Weeks said he understands where some fears come from. In the past, fields sprayed with some toxic chemicals had to be posted and quarantined for a few days.

“Today’s chemicals are very safe compared to even 10 years ago,” Weeks said. “If you read the label, the basic ingredients are the same stuff sold off the shelf in a gardening store.”

Considering how many hundreds of thousands of acres one plane covers over the course of a year, the industry is a safe one, said Clay Jurak.

One field will be sprayed a dozen times in one season, he said. “We hit potatoes with fungicides and insecticides five or six times, then another five or six times with fertilizer.”

One advantage to aerial application over ground spraying, said Mike Jurak, “is a farmer doesn’t have to shut off the irrigation and dry out the field just to get a ground sprayer in.”

On top of that, with GPS installed in the planes, crop dusting is as precise as ground spraying, he said.

But sometimes, things get sprayed that aren’t supposed to.

“I had some problems when they first sprayed pesticides,” said Randy Stock of Jerome. “I have a field of hay on one side of me and a potato field on the other. And I didn’t want them to spray on my property.”

Stock called Clay Jurak.

“He was very accommodating, very responsible,” Stock said. “We live in a farming community and I make a living from that farming community.

“It’s my belief that some people just overreact.”

Story, photo and comments/reaction:  http://magicvalley.com