Mathews County supervisor O.J. Cole questioned Sheriff Mark Barrick during the July 25 board of supervisors meeting about an incident of automatic weapons being fired near Cole’s home.

Cole said the gunfire occurred around midnight on a recent Sunday, with as many as 30 rounds fired. While he expressed support for gun rights, Cole said that Sunday at midnight seemed “an odd time to be exercising those rights.”

Barrick said there are people in the county with licenses for automatic weapons and that, without a noise ordinance, there was nothing he could do except ask that people be respectful of the time, conscious of their neighbors, and reasonable.

Cole said if the gunfire became a regular occurrence, he would report it.

In addition, Barrick told the board that he had recently had personnel shortages that had made the work environment at his office busy and sometimes stressful. But he said he had hired two new employees who were certified and highly qualified, inc...