Shooting range OK is disappointing

To the editor:

The Planning Commission’s approval of the shooting range in Sutton is a disappointment to many community members. The company JTAC, owners of the shooting range, had failed to obtain a conditional use permit, as required by the Special Use District that governs land use in the area. To receive one now, ex post facto, is disconcerting to those who spent so much of their time working on the special use plan, in an attempt to avoid these kinds of disruptions to our quiet, residential community.

Sutton does have a serious problem with shooting at the old mine site above the town, but this proposed range only adds to the shooting. It will not abate the existing problems at the mine. Public or private, an outdoor shooting range in our community is just that.

Commissioner Brian Endle does not “live close to this shooting range.” He is probably closer to 5 miles, living off Soapstone Road. If this range was on Soapstone Road he would have a different appreciation of its impact on his residential community.

Commissioner Bruce Walden’s public chastisement of the citizens in failing to read their National Geographics before they came to Alaska is just another sad reminder of the dismissive attitude some of our officials have for their constituency. I have no objection to gun ownership or the shooting arts. I just don’t want an outdoor shooting range in my neighborhood. And I don’t think anyone on the commission would want one in their community either.

William Schmidtkunz

Owner Matanuska

Woodworks, Sutton