Dateline: June 20, 2002

City Aldermen put shooting range on hold 

Plans for a shooting range at Clarendon Municipal Airport are on hold following last Tuesday’s Board of Aldermen meeting.

The shooting range was approved at the May 28 meeting, but Alderman Janice Knorpp and City Secretary Linda Smith voiced liability concerns last week when Mark C. White sought the city’s approval for a safety regulation sign to be posted at the new range.

Smith said she had contacted the Texas Municipal League (TML), which carries the city’s insurance, and was told the city should get a contract from the county to absolve Clarendon of all liability at the range. The contract would have to be approved by both TML and the Federal Aviation Administration.

Knorpp also raised concerns about the safety of planes in the area. Alderman Michael Tibbets said the range is pointed away from the landing strip, but Knorpp said planes sometimes circle before they land.

Mayor Tex Selvidge said he had been concerned the shooting range might endanger a grant from the FAA to improve the airport in 2004.

The board discussed making the range in compliance with National Rifle Association recommendations and the formation of a club to oversee the range to mitigate the liability. The aldermen then voted to table the matter until a club could be formed.

But White says he is not really interested in forming a club.

“I’m a lifetime member of the club in Memphis,” White told the Enterprise. “By the time we charter a club, draw up by-laws, collect dues, and wait 16 months for TML and the FAA to approve it, I can load up a bunch of guys and make lots of road trips to Memphis.”

White also said any club would want a long-term lease from the city, which the city did not appear willing to give at last week’s meeting.

The plan was for the city to work with the Donley County Sheriff’s Department to build the range. It would have been a 25-foot area south of the hangers with a 12-foot earthen berm. The sheriff’s office would have furnished the pipe and cable, dug the holes to stand the pipe, and stretched the cable for the targets.

White said city crews had already completed the dirt work for the range. In other city business, City Superintendent Jim Roberts reported that one 18-year-old trash truck needs to be replaced and a backhoe needs repairs.

The board tabled the contract for street engineering services until the city attorney can review it.

Roger Estlack presented a request for advertising in the Pioneer Edition of The Clarendon Enterprise. The board approved the request.

The aldermen discussed the vacancy on the Economic Development Board created by the resignation of Dee Dee Autry. No action was taken.

The Classic Cable franchise agreement was discussed, but the board tabled that issue because Classic did not send a letter guaranteeing local churches’ access to the cable system.

The board voted in favor of assisting the Clarendon Independent School District with seal coating a portion of Fourth Street.