🚀 go-pugleaf

On Thu, 23 Apr 1998 08:24:38 -0600, "wMoore" <anon4211@nyx.cs.du.edu>
wrote:

>Scott Weiser wrote
>>
>>So, you'll just have to get used to the sound of gunfire as you
>>jog...or bike...or go somewhere else.  You *don't * get to reserve the
>>*whole* county for your personal pleasure, you know....
>>
>It happens to be my back yard, and a lot of other people's back yards, too.
>More than 100 homes are in the 1.8 mile radius Epp says is uninhabited
>surrounding the proposed site.

And most of them are sufficiently far away that the noise will not be
a factor of significance, since the sound will be directed up by
berms, and the sound decreases with the square of the distance.  

You live in a rural area, and rural noises occur in those
areas...including shooting.

>
>We're not talking a small range like the Rifle Club has run without incident
>across Nelson on the dairy farm, or a handfull of Commerce Dept. officers
>plunking away in the current quarry pit to keep their guns clean either.
>The kind of site needed is just like the site they are currently using, but
>with the changes required, like ownership by Boulder County.  This is the
>easier solution and can be effected with similar intra-governmental
>cooperation as Epp has attempted with the Commerce Dept.

Precisely, and that is why the site is ideal for the purpose.

>
>>>This area has been untouched since the front range was settled 120 years
>ago
>>>and is home to a special island of wildlife, including deer, mountain
>lyon,
>>>coyote, fox, golden and bald eagles, large horned owls, redtail hawks,
>>>racoons, skunks, prairie dogs and much more.
>>
>>Excuse me?  It's a barren gravel plain covered with diffuse knapweed
>>and has been used to mine gravel, not to mention the fact that there
>>are a couple of large radiotelescopes on the top....
>>
>Well, pearls before swine...

Deer will find a home almost anywere...in fact you can't get *rid* of
them most of the time, I doubt mountain lions do more than pass
through, as they tend to stay in the higher hills to the west, coyotes
will survive *anywhere*, and will most likely inhabit the range
whenever nobody else is there, golden and bald eagles...well, unless
they are nesting there, which they aren't, can find another tree a
half-mile away to sit on, the same is true of other raptors, which
will probably continue to use the site, racoons and skunks are hardly
endangered, and as for prairie dogs....they make great long-range
targets...though I doubt the county will let you shoot at them.

Pearls?  I doubt it, those come from shellfish, and if we're lucky, no
hog farming will take place in the area.

>>
>>The shooting range near Erie is a private shooting park, it does not
>>belong to the county.
>
>That can be changed and more easily than can the expansion of a full scale
>range on Table Mountain.  It's an ideal spot that can easily be made to suit
>the future needs of the police and sheriff's departments.

Er, not really.  The range is not located properly for long-range
shooting, it lies on a downslope of a series of rolling fields, and
the rifle pits have to be dug quite deeply down with a tall berm.   At
the moment, residential development of the adjacent fields is not an
issue, but as soon as one of the neighboring landowners chooses to
develop it, rifle and pistol shooting will likely be a thing of the
past because of the geography.   Shotgun shooting will likely remain
because of the limited distance the shot flies.

Also, there are significant improvements on the site which would make
acquisition prohibitively expensive.

And, of course, the most significant problem is that *it's not in
Boulder County*, it's in Weld county.

I think we've provided plenty of places for hikers, bikers and
birdwatchers to enjoy themselves...over 24,000 acres of city open
space alone, not to mention the mountain parks, it's high time we
spent some money on *other* recreational pursuits, and a shooting
range has been badly needed in Boulder County for many years.  This
would also help alleviate the "social ranges" which spring up in the
mountain canyons, and which are unregulated and become a problem from
time to time.

>  I think what is
>really at issue for Epp is how tempting Table Mountain seems: so close to
>town and so under utilized.

Precisely correct.

>  I think he will find he has a big fight on his
>hands, like the gravel mining group had, to ask the Commisioners for
>approval on this.  They shut down the mining request for expansion.  I will
>be working to see that they do the right thing again.

And I'll be working to see that they get the range, which is an
appropriate use for the area.

>
>Sorry, Scott.  We live in Boulder, not Rock Springs, Wy.

That doesn't mean that you can deny everyone else their recreational
pursuits.   Law enforcement firearms training is essential, and it's a
perfectly reasonable proposal, and combined with the need for a public
shooting range, it's even more reasonable.

But, if you have some other place in mind which would be better
suited, then by all means let us know where it is, I'm sure everyone
would like to know.

Regards,

Scott Weiser

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