Sutton residents push for short-term solution to shooting range

SUTTON — Local residents described bullet holes in houses, in the air near their heads, and a constant barrage of gunfire sounds in the air at a meeting with state officials Tuesday evening.

Testimony at the listening session largely revolved around the former mining districts — now owned and managed by the Alaska Department of Natural Resources — that serve as an uncontrolled recreation area for locals and visitors from Anchorage. In recent years, the area has inherited a reputation for lawlessness once held by the Jim Creek section of the Knik River Public Use Area. Residents and officials held up the once frequently troubled Jim Creek area as a potential success story, and a group of residents said they were working toward crafting legislation in support of it.

Rocky Dolfi, a Sutton community council member and longtime resident, said relatives of hers encountered a large target at Slipper Lake while using ATVs in the area of Slipper Lake. Her relatives didn’t see anyone around, so they knocked down the target, only to be confronted by irate shooters, Dolfi said.

“They were shooting the whole length of the lake,” she said. “The whole length. There’s kids in there, they’re swimming in the lake.”

Nancy Johnson told officials she was related to Adam Malaby, who died in April following a shooting incident in the area. The lawlessness of the area contrasted with sensible limits in other rural areas of Alaska, Johnson said. For example, during a hunting trip to Chicken, she noticed some signs prohibiting shooting within a quarter-mile of a local campground.

“That seems reasonable,” she said. “There’s also several areas up at Slipper Lake that would be a good place to have designated shooting. Away from the kids, away from the campers. So I’m asking you, please help us.”

Others, like Ed Appellof, said the heavy use of shooting had ruined the area for them.

“I don’t go up there at all during the week anymore with my dogs,” he said. “I don’t really have experience as far as being shot at. I just noticed the critical mass has changed.”

Appelof said he’d noticed an influx of people on recreational vehicles, but said the majority of out-of-towners were well-mannered and responsible. A small minority of ill-behaved visitors had made the Jonesville area undesirable, Appellof said.

“Eighty-five, ninety percent of those people are fantastic,” he said.

The changes had happened within approximately the last 15 years, said Vinnie Volpe. Relatives have had bullet holes put in their houses, and Volpe said he’s had bullets as close as 20 feet away from his head.

“We essentially live downrange,” he said.

For the most part, officials said solutions are an undeniable need. DNR Southcentral regional manager Clarke Cox said installing a formal shooting range — one component of the fix at Jim Creek — probably was a long-term, not a short-term solution.

“A shooting range … it’s complicated,” he said. “I know that’s not the answer you want to hear, but where it is, how big it is, what days it’s open, that’s all public input.”

George Rauscher has participated in a committee seeking to draft legislation based on the Jim Creek area to address the issue. Other committee members credited him with having built up the committee’s profile since early January. Even so, Rauscher told residents at the forum preliminary movement could take until November.

“Realize this is a process,” he said. “The whole group realizes this a process. It’s not going to be an easy process.”

Alaska Rep. Jim Colver said he asked Cox, Public Safety Director Walt Monegan, Alaska State Trooper Director Col. James Cockrell and Palmer Post Commander Captain Hans Brinke and deputy commissioner Bill Comer to address the issue and listen to Sutton residents. The forum was not about taking credit, but about fixing the problem, Colver said.

“I think what we really need to do is hear from law enforcement about what can be done in the short term to address some of these concerns of issues,” he said. “We know it’ll happen this weekend. I guarantee you, I’ll get phone calls at home because stuff is going to be happening in the neighborhood.”

Cockrell told residents the answers might be more easily found with better behavior.

“Realistically, it’s common sense,” he said. “If you’ve got people around, you don’t shoot.”

Contact reporter Brian O’Connor at 352-2270, brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com, or on Twitter @reporterbriano.