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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2001 Mar 29 - The Register Article: "Sunday shooting ban 'not recommended'"un a s 'hoot* in.4 X03 no recommen'ded3,�Oc =t By Bill Bairns joined the'club in 1943: He said he Nugent. The club's . shootinAl After hearing both, sides of the enrolled all his children and sons= " ranges are open.from 9 a.m. ao,stip- debate on a Tawn Meetmg, article in-law in :the club and was an set on Sundays. that would outlaw recreational active member until recent years Some ,of„ ;the club's: $unda,,) shooting of guns over::22 caliber when the' amount of shooting events draw' participants from dl(' Q' on Sunday, .Selectmen voted not began to get to.him and he let his over New England : and across,me to recommend the Sabbath ban at membership lapse.; country, he said ��' Their meeting Tuesday night. His son,;Bob, is a former presi Nugent said the club has madou The article is ;directed at the dent of the club and currently efforts to reduce thenoise by rel©- Sunday activities of the Bass serves on the board of directors, he bating ranges, building, bermsi ando River'- Rod and Gun. Club in said: encouraging trees and, plant lifaj Yarmouthport and was petitioned Toiley said he had sought com- and that when he checked with the onto the, warrant by 13 neighbors, promi$e with the club before com- police he found ' that there was n led by Walter Tolley of Acorn ing'forward with the town meeting record of noise complaints.,;- )D Hill Drive. article; meeting with its executive He said that noise monitoring j Tolley told' selectmen that the committee for an 'hour last year to has been done at various points: on amount of Sunday shootingat the see, whether shooting hours might the property and "We found no dSLD club has tripled over the past be limited, but that meeting and cernible difference between, t three or four years as the club has three follow-up letters brought no noise from traffic` on 6A.:'and expanded its ranges. "It is intense response. noise from. the shooting mange and prolonged," lie said, claiming Bud Nugent, a member. and T6I1ey disputed that finding, base he's heard more than 100 gun- another, neighbor of the rod and on his own'.;ezperien¢e shotsin a minute on a Sunday: gun club; spoke .on the.. -club's But Nugent had one more point He said the amount of shooting behalf at the meeting. to make and asserted that a 199 is "a','health hazard" "that ' has Nugent noted that the. club was state law exempts existing shodt affected Sunday barbecues and founded in ,1936 and owns 230 ing: ranges from new, noise ,contr his enjoyment of his yard. acres of land and.a 50 acre pond, laws and would make the Town "Peoples conversations are dis- which it maintains for its members Meeting article invalid: "Shoud� . erupted," he said. "If you're read- and the community., It has 400 this pass," he said, "it would`be our,- n. a book you°re disrupted. members, he said; 180 of whom intent to litigate." For'the gun .club, Tolley: is a live in Yarmouth. When Selectman Herb Schnitzey curious adversary, "a hunting ! He portrayed the club as a com- suggested the parties pursue Yperson,, a shooting person, who munity asset :that,: attracts bird compromise, Nugent indicated, watchers and other members of the club was willing, `' but .'only "i,'.`' ` "4 public to its trails, its pond and its someone could suggest alternatives, herring run,. all 'maintained at no that are feasible."' ",If the town expense to taxpayers. He described passes'this::article the club would a number of public outreach pro see this as .a threat to otlr hve grams the club offers, ranging from hood," he said traditional, clam• bakes 'to firearmsSelectman j6rry Sullivan' fo ' safety courses: that selectmen' "not rqnen 'Shooting sports' have been the the :article:' Schnitzereconde bac%',o"e of our` activities," lie saying, "While I am sympathetic' said�lbdffi.in termsof their popular- the petitioners, the petitioners ham;: ity ;and ;for the income they bring not presented any hard data ia.,As>a:t most shooting clubs, most show they are being subjected to "f the shooting is on Sunday, injustice."` All five sele_ctme i ec a that's when most members including Bill as e . f e to come; according to of the rod aridg ,