By DAVE HAMRICK
Staff Writer

After this year, Fayette County 4-H won't be able to use the Sheriff's Department shooting range for its annual fund-raising turkey shoot.

“The range was built for the Fayette County Sheriff's Department, for training,” said county manager Billy Beckett in presenting the matter to the Board of Commissioners Monday.

After it was built, other law enforcement agencies received permission to conduct training there, and then the 4-H shooting club was allowed to train its shooters there as well, Beckett said.

Neighbors of the range, which is on McDonough Road near McCurry Park, have increasingly complained about the noise, he added. “I receive about a letter a month,” he said, “and phone calls occasionally. I am supportive of what they are trying to do, but I'm not sure that area is an appropriate area for a public shoot.”

Commissioner Linda Wells said she was sympathetic with homeowners, but added that the shooting range was there before many of the homes were. “The neighbors have moved to the nuisance; the nuisance didn't move to them,” she said.

But Beckett pointed out that use of the range has increased over the years. “It is not pleasant on weekends when there's a lot of shooting activity,” he said.

County officials are working to find a new location for the shooting range in a more sparsely populated area, Beckett said, but until a new range is built, use of the current one should be limited to training purposes.

Commissioners unanimously agreed to the 4-H request to mount its turkey shoot three Saturdays this year, Oct. 16 and Nov. 6 and 20, but to inform the group that this will be the last year they can use that particular location.