Dateline: January 2, 2003

City aldermen close shooting area

By Roger Estlack, Clarendon Enterprise

Local gun enthusiasts will have to find a new place for target practice after the Clarendon Board of Aldermen closed a local shooting range Monday night.

The action followed complaints by county resident Laban Tubbs, who told the board in December that he had recently found two bullet holes on his property – one in the roof of his house and the other in the side of his barn about four feet from the ground.

“If the shot that hit the roof had been any lower or to the left, it probably would have gone through one living room window and out the other side,” Tubbs told the Enterprise last month.

He also said that he and his nine-year-old daughter had been outside when they heard bullets whizzing overhead and gunshots coming from the range adjacent to the municipal airport. Tubbs’ house is approximately three-quarters of a mile from the range.

“If anyone shoots above the berm, they are directly in line with my house,” Tubbs had said.

During Monday’s called meeting, Mayor Tex Selvidge said the area had never officially been opened as a public shooting range but had been used for several years without incident.

“We never had a problem before,” he said, “but now it’s obvious that there is a problem.”

Selvidge agreed with earlier comments by Tubbs and Sheriff Butch Blackburn that only a few shooters were to blame for the irresponsible behavior which led to the property damage.

“We had a ‘Rules of Shooting’ sign posted out there,” the mayor said, “but they shot holes in that and knocked it over.”

The board voted to cable off the entrance to the range, to post “No Shooting” signs, and to level an earthen berm at the site.

“We’ve already have an ordinance against shooting inside the city limits and on city property,” Selvidge said. “The sheriff assures me that it will be enforced.”

The aldermen agreed that anyone caught shooting at the airport should face the maximum fines allowed by law.

In other city business, Brent Wheeler of GreenLight Gas presented a proposed rate increase for Clarendon natural gas customers. The utility is currently seeking a rate increase for all of its customers through the Texas Railroad Commission, but Clarendon and Hedley have not ceded their local control to the state in this matter.

Wheeler told the board his company’s goal is to have one gas rate for their entire service area rather than different rates in each city.

“We are the first [gas] utility to ask for a regional rate,” he said.

The proposed regional rate is being reviewed by the railroad commission, and Wheeler recommended the city not take any action until the state makes its ruling.

The board agreed and voted to suspend GreenLight Gas’ notice of rate increase, which gives the city a total of 125 days to review the request. If approved, the average residential customer would pay an additional $4.86 per month, and the average commercial customer would pay an additional $15.83 per month.

The city also discussed and approved a lease purchase agreement for the new trash truck at 4.36 percent for five years. And the board authorized the city clerk to co-sign on the city’s general fund in the absence of the mayor or the mayor pro-tem.