The hunter who fired a gun at deer near Maine Yankee's stored nuclear waste site last month has been charged, according to the Maine Warden Service. Maine Yankee was the state's only nuclear power plant until it was dismantled in 2005.

According to District Game Warden Doug Kullis, Dakotah Mank, whose license lists his address as Nobleboro, was summonsed for discharging a firearm from a public paved way. Kullis says Mank told him he is now living in Boothbay Harbor.

The shooting occurred on Tuesday, October 30, but Maine Yankee officials were not aware of it until Thursday, November 1, when Roger Jones, an eyewitness, came to the Maine Yankee gatehouse to speak with someone from security. On Friday, November 2, Kullis came to Maine Yankee as part of his investigation of the incident, according to Eric Howes, a spokesperson for Maine Yankee.

The plant's nuclear waste is stored in cement casks on the site.

Howes said a trespassing charge against Mank was discussed by the warden service and Maine Yankee officials. "It is my understanding Maine Yankee security and the warden service discussed the issue of whether Mank should be charged with trespassing, and agreed that in all likelihood the individual was on the public road, rather than on Maine Yankee property," he said.

Maine Yankee property, located next to the Ferry Road, has many "No Trespassing" signs along the sides of the road.

Last week's story in this newspaper on the incident has prompted many comments from readers. A link to the story was posted on The Drudge Report, prompting several e-mails from around the country. The Drudge Report website is described by Wikepedia as "a U.S. based news aggregation website run by Matt Drudge. The site consists primarily of links to stories from the U.S. and international mainstream media about politics, entertainment, and current events as well as links to many popular columnists."

Frank Brady, President of Brady & Associates wrote in an e-mail, "You wrote the incident occurred October 30, when a hunter standing on the Ferry Road fired off two shots at four deer standing in a field, about a quarter of a mile from where the nuclear waste is stored. Good Lord! Slow news day? What weenie decided this was worth covering? Whoever reported this `incident' to the authorities is an idiot."

Jim Casey, from Virginia Beach Va., wrote, "Just wondering if after the story was published whether you found out if there were guards on the premises or not? Your story didn't say. And, if there was a camera surveillance, how long would it have taken some guards to get there? Fast enough to catch a thief in the act? We old retired newspaper editors and reporters just wonder things like that."

The article in last week's newspaper did say there were guards on duty at the Maine Yankee site 24 hours a day, seven days a week. However, they were not inside the gatehouse during the incident.

According to Kullis, Maine Yankee gave them a surveillance tape recorded on the day of the incident. However, Kullis said he could not elaborate on what the tape shows.

In a Letter to the Editor Casey wrote, "I don't blame the guy who saw the hunter shooting at the deer on the plant's property one bit for being upset about no guards showing up. That says to me at least the hunter knew about some way or ways to get into the fenced area to retrieve his prize… and if he could get it, someone else with even more terrorist motives could too." The Maine Yankee property where the deer were standing is not fenced.

Charles Bruni, from Arkansas, wrote an e-mail that criticized the reporter who wrote the article: "Seems like the people guarding the facility have more common sense than the Chicken Littles. They apparently know the difference between a terrorist attack and a couple of guys hoping to bag a deer in the late afternoon during deer season. However, the tone of the article is that some law was violated, and a breach of security occurred. Have you considered a refresher course in Journalism 101?"

John Payton, from Worcester, Mass., wrote, "I don't know if the reporter who wrote the article about the nuclear power plant is a liberal from New York and directly anti-gun, but her headline was entirely bogus. The entire issue concerning the deer at the nuclear plant or hunters firing bullets had nothing to do with the concern of the nearby resident. It is obvious to anyone who read the article that the nearby resident is concerned about the casks of spent nuclear waste being stored and no human security manning the guard shack at the main gate. Hunters firing at the deer has nothing to do with a possible terrorist attack on the facility. Years ago in Journalism 100, I learned that the headlines must relate directly with the theme of the article. This reporter needs to drop her anti-gun views and learn to write correctly." The headline on the article was, "Hunter shooting near Maine Yankee worries resident."

Jones, the eyewitness to the incident, who lives near the Maine Yankee site, says he is not against hunting. His concern is that a shot was fired close to the gatehouse, but there was no response from security at the site - either from the gatehouse or somewhere else on the site.

"I expected guards would be running out after the shot was fired," Jones said, "but the guards never came. I was told the area is being observed by cameras. What good are cameras if there is no one watching them?"

Asked if their cameras are being monitored all the time, and how long it would take the guards to react to an incident such as unauthorized trespassers, Howes responded in an E-mail, saying, "As we have said, Maine Yankee provides security to the spent fuel storage facility in accordance with our Nuclear Regulatory Commissioner approved security plan and federal regulations. That security plan includes involvement by local, state and federal law enforcement agencies as well as the Maine Army National Guard. Security being what it is, we can't discuss it publicly. Our local, state and federal partners who need to know the details of the security plan are fully informed, and we communicate with them regularly. After learning of the October 30 alleged shooting from the public road, we notified the Nuclear Regulator Commission, state police and FBI."

According to the Maine Warden Service, Mank will appear in court to answer the charge at a later date.