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Gun club offers concession; 90-day moratorium begins
By Derek Hodges
“We will not operate a shooting range on Tilley Creek if there is no ordinance.”
That’s the message Jackson County commissioners got Monday (May 16) from Smoke Rise Field Club President Barry Moore.
Moore’s comments came in a letter dated May 4 and sent to commissioners Eddie Madden and Joe Cowan.
“It is very unfortunate that our attempt to purchase the Matthews property on Tilley Creek Road has turned into such a divisive issue in the county,” Moore wrote.
The club has been in negotiation to buy a 194-acre piece of property on Tilley Creek from Sam Matthews of Caney Fork. Several Tilley Creek residents have started a movement that has garnered countywide dissent to the proposed range.
“We were very straightforward and told the neighbors what we intended to do with the property from the outset. We tried to do everything we could to accommodate their concerns,” Moore wrote.
Tilley Creek resident Perry Eury had said at earlier meetings he didn’t feel the club had done anything to work with its potential neighbors.
“They say they want to be good neighbors, but I have yet to see any attempt at that,” Eury said.
Moore’s letter went on to promise that the club would not locate a range near any populated area, nor would they try to relocate in Jackson County.
“We are not now and have no plans to look for other property in Jackson County,” the letter stated. “We are currently looking out of state. You will not face this with us again because we do not want to be involved in another fight. We just want you to drop the proposed ordinance.”
In previous statements, Moore and other Smoke Rise leaders said they supported an ordinance being placed on ranges in the county, so long as it was written to National Rifle Association standards.
Commissioner Cowan said those two contradictory statements, as well as other comments and actions by members of Smoke Rise, made him wary of accepting Moore’s offer.
“I like the letter, but there’s one thing that I don’t know about – I don’t know Mr. Moore,” Cowan said.
Cowan pointed out that the letter represented no legal contract between the county and the club. If Moore were to resign as Smoke Rise president, then new leadership could be installed that would go back on the promise, Cowan said.
The planning board had presented commissioners with a draft ordinance at Cowan’s request. However, several members of that board had requested more time to complete their task.
“I thought it was a masterpiece of an ordinance. If it’s tougher than any in eight Southeastern states then I say ‘Hallelujah.’ It ought to be a model for the rest of the Southeast, if not the nation,” Cowan said. “But I am willing to hold this ordinance in abeyance for 90 days to allow the board more time.”
Cowan made a motion that commissioners adopt a moratorium on all shooting range development for 90 days.
“I tend to agree with Commissioner Cowan that we need a safeguard,” Commissioner Conrad Burrell said in seconding the motion. “If they intend to pull out of Tilley Creek, why would they include that stipulation, ‘If you drop the ordinance?’”
Commissioners’ Chairman Brian McMahan said he still has concerns about the issue.
“We have a promise and I tend to be like Dr. Cowan and want to believe people. I don’t believe (the Tilley Creek site) would make an appropriate site for a gun club,” McMahan said. “There are some issues with the ordinance that, in my mind, would prohibit a shooting range from being developed anywhere in the county.”
The 90-day moratorium would give the planning board time to work out those issues, Commissioner Madden said.
“It will give Smoke Rise Field Club time to terminate their contract and turn in a copy of that termination (to county officials),” Madden said.
Commissioner Roberta Crawford spoke out against the moratorium, saying it was unnecessary.
“I just don’t know why we would need to have a moratorium. I don’t see how they could go back on this promise,” Crawford said.
Because the letter was just a personal correspondence and, therefore, held no legal weight, the promises Moore made were non-binding, said county attorney Paul Holt.
When the vote was called, Burrell, Cowan and Madden voted in favor of the moratorium while Crawford and McMahan voted against it. The vote mirrored an earlier vote on directing the planning board to draft the ordinance.
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