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Officials call for draft shooting range rules
By Derek Hodges
Jackson County commissioners Monday (April 18), voted to direct the county planning board to draft an ordinance to govern shooting ranges.
The issue dominated discussion for the fourth meeting in a row, leading to some heated exchanges, even from commissioners.
The meeting began with public comment from five citizens concerned about the possible construction of a shooting range on Tilley Creek by Smoke Rise Field Club, which has lost the lease on its current location in Cashiers.
Louis Spagna, a Pressley Creek resident, began by asking commissioners to draft an ordinance regulating shooting ranges.
Cherry Martin, a Tilley Creek resident who homeschools her daughter, said the idea that the range would have little effect on neighbors is untrue.
“I would be affected,” she said. “It’s not easy to move in this county.”
Terry Michelsen, who also lives near the proposed range, said she hopes to adopt children soon and fears the noise and danger the children might have to live near.
“I don’t want my children to hear (the guns being fired) all the time. You do have the noise and you do have the lead. We are never going to have the money to clean up a shooting range,” she said, explaining that ranges must be cleaned after they are closed or the land can never be used again. Oftentimes that responsibility falls to local governments, she said.
Vera Guise of Tilley Creek thanked Commissioner Joe Cowan for what she called an “important motion.”
At commissioners’ April 4 meeting, Cowan moved that a moratorium on shooting ranges be adopted. His motion failed for lack of a second.
Guise’s comments drew applause from the numerous ordinance supporters, some of whom had shouted “Cowards” after commissioners refused to vote on the issue April 4.
One speaker, Randy Deitz of Sylva, spoke in opposition to the others.
“You got folks in this county that are opposed to everything that comes up,” Deitz said. “It’s time to listen to the whole county, not just some small group that’s opposed to everything.”
While Deitz didn’t specifically address the range issue, instead directing his comments at the other speakers, he has spoken in favor of the range in the past.
During the part of the meeting dedicated to comments from the commissioners, both Cowan and newly-installed Commissioner Conrad Burrell made comments on the ordinance.
Cowan told the other commissioners that he had been meeting with some of those in favor of an ordinance and had found there is still a lot of opposition to the range, pointing to petitions bearing the names of 1,000 county residents.
Burrell, who joined the board April 4, said he felt he had been “thrown into the fire first thing.”
“I want to make sure Jackson County is protected,” Burrell said, explaining he didn’t second Cowan’s previous motion because he didn’t feel he had enough information.
“I want to go up (to the proposed range site) and get a feel for it. This is something the county needs to be concerned about,” Burrell said to applause.
As commissioners opened the business portion of the meeting, Cowan addressed an agenda item he requested be added which he called “Safety.”
“I’ve given an awful lot of thought to what we’re doing,” he said.
Barry Moore, president of Smoke Rise, wrote a letter to commissioners in March, telling them the club was in favor of an ordinance in accordance with national standards.
“They don’t seem to be opposed to an ordinance,” Cowan said, suggesting the ordinance request would be a test of how true the letter was.
Cowan suggested that commissioners direct the planning board to draft an ordinance to address several issues. He included noise concerns, safety issues and environmental regulations as things that should be included in the ordinance.
Cowan also addressed concerns that had been brought up in previous meetings that the ordinance would only be a way for the county to restrict gun use by private citizens in hunting.
“It should be stated this ordinance would never be interpreted to stop hunting as it has always been done,“ he said. “To suggest this is some kind of witch hunt against guns – that case is weaker than soup made from the shadow of a starving pigeon. The right to bear arms has nothing to do with it.”
“The citizens of Tilley Creek were there first,” Cowan said. “They have a vested interest. The club only has a proprietary interest in a potential playground.
Cowan then made a motion that would have directed the planning board to draft an ordinance, keeping in mind the concerns he had mentioned. Burrell seconded the motion.
Some heated discussion followed, including a confrontation between Cowan and Deitz, and several outbursts from Spagna.
Commissioner Eddie Madden requested Cowan refine his motion so there would be no confusion about what had been voted on.
“This has been one of the most difficult things I’ve ever had to deal with,” Madden said. “We have to make smart decisions, and sometimes they’re not popular.”
A 15-minute recess was called to allow Cowan to write out his motion. When commissioners returned, Cowan presented a motion that included asking the planning board to draft an ordinance addressing the concerns he had named.
His motion also addressed concerns raised about the proposed ordinance. Among them is one provision that states: “It is expressly intended that this ordinance shall in no way be construed to affect or be restrictive on U.S. Constitution Second Amendment rights.”
Madden suggested several changes in the motion’s wording, one of which would specify that the ordinance does not apply to licensed hunters and/or shooters, a move that some in the audience thought defeated the purpose of the motion. The suggestion brought outcry from Spagna and other members of the audience.
Commissioners finally voted on the ordinance nearly two hours after the meeting’s beginning. Cowan, Burrell and Madden voted in favor, while Commissioner Roberta Crawford and Chairman Brian McMahan, who had remained relatively silent during the discussion, voted no.
In other business April 18:
Library support – Commissioners adopted a resolution supporting the county’s public libraries and calling for an increase in state funding provided to such libraries.
Proclamations – Commissioners adopted three proclamations denoting certain times to recognize several groups, including: “Jackson County Extension and Community Association Week,” Monday, April 24-Sunday, April 30; “Older Americans Month” in May; and a marking commendation John Bardo’s 10 years as chancellor of Western Carolina University.
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