[LEAPSECS] Legal violation for failure to know sunrise/sunset to nearest minute

[Gerard Ashton]

In a phone discussion, a spokeswoman for the Vermont Department of Fish 
and Wildlife
[ (802) 241-3700 ] claimed that the hunting hours regulation, which are 
stated in terms of sunrise and sunset,
would be enforced to the nearest minute. A table is provided in the 
regulation, and is updated
each year based on information from the US Naval Observatory. She noted 
the time changed
a few minutes each year (which is to be expected due to leap year effects).

She indicated that any claim that the correct sunrise or sunset differed 
from the tabular
values due to location would be a matter for the individual game 
warden,  judge or jury
to decide.

Of course, discovering if the rules are actually enforced as rigorously 
as indicated by the
spokeswoman would be an enormous effort, visiting the locations where 
the relevant court
cases are stored and searching through them, or conducting polls of 
hunters and/or
game wardens.

Gerard Ashton