Joan Sandles remembers how much she loved watching the deer as they ambled by the bay window in her kitchen.

An animal lover, Sandles couldn't have chosen a more idyllic setting - the back yard of her Mountainside home is bordered by Union County's 2,200-acre Watchung Reservation.

For a girl from Jersey City, this was heaven.

For years, Sandles would put feed and salt licks out for the deer visiting her Laurel Court home. But
as the years passed, their numbers started to grow - and grow.

Although she stopped feeding them years ago, the deer never stopped coming around, looking for a free meal. They ate most of her yard - where once there were beds of ornamental shrubs, now colored stone and statuary break up her landscape. She won't even walk in the yard anymore because it is so covered with deer excrement.

She has seen more than 30 deer in a single day. - See Accompanying Photo>

Even with the county's annual hunt, which netted 82 deer last month, many area residents believe the deer still overwhelm the area. And many think the problem is compounded by neighbors who continue to feed the deer.

So Sandles mounted a petition drive, calling upon the borough to ban the feeding of deer. In one of the largest outpourings of support that local officials have ever seen, residents turned out to council meetings to push for the ban.

Even Mayor Robert Viglianti was stunned. "This was the first time I ever had such a mass amount of letters supporting a council action - I got petitions a half-inch thick," Viglianti said. "Most times, you have people up in arms against your actions."

The council ultimately agreed, and on April 13, the feeding of deer and other wild animals will be illegal in Mountainside.

Union County, which already bans the feeding of wildlife on county parklands, would like to see more communities bordering the reservation adopt feeding bans, said county Parks and Recreation Director Charles Sigmund.

"Biologists will tell you, it's not necessary. These animals are very capable, on their own, to forage for food; and in some ways, it (feeding) can harm them," Sigmund said.

In order to restore ecological balance to the reservation, where deer caused extensive damage to the low growth favored by birds and small animals, the county has tried to limit the size of the herd in the reservation.

"We've always said that it's an impossibility that we would ever be able to reduce the herd to zero; nor is that our intention," Sigmund, said, noting that wildlife biologists have recommended limiting the deer population to 20 per square mile.

While Sandles was able to garner nearly 200 signatures on her pe-, tition to enact the feeding ban, and there was overwhelming support, for the move at the council meetings, it is not sitting well with everyone.

"I think my civil rights are, being trampled," said Anthony DeChellis. "I think it's your own property, you should be able to do what you want."

DeChellis believes the borough is .overreacting. But with a $100-a-day fine for each violation, he won't continue to feed the deer visiting his Outlook Drive home.

"We won't do it any more," he said.

However, there are those residents, like Peter Kohn, who put out feed to attract the birds to the back yard of his Bayberry Lane home.

"I'm not feeding the deer; I'm feeding the birds," Kohn said.

But he freely admits that deer will knock into the feeders to dislodge the seed so they can also shi3rre in the food fest.
I'm not intentionally feeding them," said Kohn, who loves to watch* and listen to his avian visitors "I have no reason to attract deet to my property; I have enough."

But under the new ordinance, even those wishing to feed the birds will have to be more careful with the types of feeders that they use, warns James Debbie.

Debbie wears two hats in Mountainside. He is both police chief and borough administrator.

"If the deer, or any wild animal, feed from it, it would be in violation," Debbie said.

While police are not going to be out on patrol hunting for violators, Debbie said they will respond when complaints are called in. And under the ordinance, residents have the ability to file a complaint against any neighbors they believe are violating the new regulations.

Viglianti said he is concerned there may be some run-ins between neighbors over the new restrictions.

But Mountainside, which modeled its ban after one enacted in Princeton, no longer had any choice, the mayor said.

"A rational person would try to balance out both," Viglianti said, citing the recent decision by the Audubon Society endorsing the need for hunts to reduce the number of deer.

"The neighbor who means well is not helping the animal," he said. "It makes them less fearful of people, which brings them closer to streets - and then you have accidents."