What irony..the best economic development the anti-gun governor can bring to Southern Illinois is through the shooting sports 
We need to get a big three gun competition in so we can introduce the governor to evil semi autos.
Jeff
Sparta gets 2nd shooting contest
By Shera Dalin
Post-Dispatch
01/27/2004
The future World Shooting Complex in Sparta, Ill., is getting yet another gun event - involving cowboy-style competition - and Randolph County expects it to be an economic shot in the arm.
The first Single Action Shooting Society Illinois State Championship will be held July 28-31 next year at the complex. The event, to be known as the Randolph County Ruckus, will be open Midwestern members of shooting society, including 1,000 in Illinois.
"This is another important milestone for the World Shooting Complex, which will play a key role in spurring economic development and tourism in Sparta and throughout the region," Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich said in a prepared statement.
The announcement of the event's arrival comes just two weeks after the state beat Las Vegas as the host of the largest shooting event in the world, the Amateur Trapshooting Association's Grand American. The Grand American, set for August 2006, is expected to draw 12,000 participants and $10 million in spending to the region.
The $30 million complex will be built on nearly 1,200 acres 50 miles southeast of St. Louis. Although the complex won't be fully built out in time for the Single Action Shooting Society state championships, the shooting facilities will be ready, Blagojevich's spokesman Andrew Ross said Tuesday.
The complex will have about 120 trap stations over a 3.5-mile course, skeet stations, sporting clays, a pistol range and a 3-D archery range. It will offer hiking, 1,000 camper hookups, ATV trails and fishing. The state will also build a large meeting hall and parking for major motor home and camping rallies, car shows and conventions.
The Single Action Shooting Society shoot involves cowboy-style competition using firearms typical of the Old West such as single-action revolvers, lever-action rifles and side-by-side double-barreled pre-1899 pump or level-action shotguns. The competitors are decked out in cowboy duds and shoot at moving steel targets for accuracy and speed.
"Cowboy action shooters from all over the Midwest are excited to be able to participate in the first-ever Illinois State Championship at such a world-class facility," said championship Director Taquila Tab Bumgardner.
"Shooters from 11 states already have contacted us, asking how they can participate, " Bumgardner said.
State championships and regional matches are held across the country and attract up to 400 competitors each. The organization, based in Yorba Linda, Calif., has 54,000 members.
"This is good news for the region," Ross said. "This will bring in people who will spend their money in the community and boost tourism and create jobs."
Randolph County is slowly starting to wake up to the economic possibilities of the various gun events that are already scheduled for the World Shooting Complex, said the county's economic development director, Ed Crow.
"Around here, everybody is used to two types of shooting: the re-enactors at Fort De Chartres with long arms or deer hunters. Around here, we eat what we shoot," Crow quipped.
His office has started fielding a few calls from people speculating about how to capitalize on the tourist onslaught. Some are contemplating renting out farmhouses, renovating barns into lodges or opening a restaurant.
"Everybody is being very quiet and not talking much or showing their hand," he said.
Crow said he'd like to see someone start a registry of available homes for rental to the event participants, many of whom will bring their families. Randolph County's problem and opportunity is that it has few motel rooms - only about 200, he said.
"That's why I'm trying to skin the cat another way. It's going to take awhile to get this set up," Crow said.
After the shooting events have been established and businesses in St. Louis see that there is money to be made, hoteliers will build in the region, he predicted.
"It's going to be tough on us at first in Randolph County," he said. "The surrounding communities will be excited at the amount of activity they will see until that development occurs."
He predicted that towns as far away as Mount Vernon and Carbondale, Ill., as well as Perryville and Ste. Genevieve, Mo., will feel the impact of the shooting complex visitors. Crow estimates that each visitor would spend about $50 a day during his or her stay.
Reporter Shera Dalin
E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: 618-235-0260
We need to get a big three gun competition in so we can introduce the governor to evil semi autos.
Jeff
Sparta gets 2nd shooting contest
By Shera Dalin
Post-Dispatch
01/27/2004
The future World Shooting Complex in Sparta, Ill., is getting yet another gun event - involving cowboy-style competition - and Randolph County expects it to be an economic shot in the arm.
The first Single Action Shooting Society Illinois State Championship will be held July 28-31 next year at the complex. The event, to be known as the Randolph County Ruckus, will be open Midwestern members of shooting society, including 1,000 in Illinois.
"This is another important milestone for the World Shooting Complex, which will play a key role in spurring economic development and tourism in Sparta and throughout the region," Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich said in a prepared statement.
The announcement of the event's arrival comes just two weeks after the state beat Las Vegas as the host of the largest shooting event in the world, the Amateur Trapshooting Association's Grand American. The Grand American, set for August 2006, is expected to draw 12,000 participants and $10 million in spending to the region.
The $30 million complex will be built on nearly 1,200 acres 50 miles southeast of St. Louis. Although the complex won't be fully built out in time for the Single Action Shooting Society state championships, the shooting facilities will be ready, Blagojevich's spokesman Andrew Ross said Tuesday.
The complex will have about 120 trap stations over a 3.5-mile course, skeet stations, sporting clays, a pistol range and a 3-D archery range. It will offer hiking, 1,000 camper hookups, ATV trails and fishing. The state will also build a large meeting hall and parking for major motor home and camping rallies, car shows and conventions.
The Single Action Shooting Society shoot involves cowboy-style competition using firearms typical of the Old West such as single-action revolvers, lever-action rifles and side-by-side double-barreled pre-1899 pump or level-action shotguns. The competitors are decked out in cowboy duds and shoot at moving steel targets for accuracy and speed.
"Cowboy action shooters from all over the Midwest are excited to be able to participate in the first-ever Illinois State Championship at such a world-class facility," said championship Director Taquila Tab Bumgardner.
"Shooters from 11 states already have contacted us, asking how they can participate, " Bumgardner said.
State championships and regional matches are held across the country and attract up to 400 competitors each. The organization, based in Yorba Linda, Calif., has 54,000 members.
"This is good news for the region," Ross said. "This will bring in people who will spend their money in the community and boost tourism and create jobs."
Randolph County is slowly starting to wake up to the economic possibilities of the various gun events that are already scheduled for the World Shooting Complex, said the county's economic development director, Ed Crow.
"Around here, everybody is used to two types of shooting: the re-enactors at Fort De Chartres with long arms or deer hunters. Around here, we eat what we shoot," Crow quipped.
His office has started fielding a few calls from people speculating about how to capitalize on the tourist onslaught. Some are contemplating renting out farmhouses, renovating barns into lodges or opening a restaurant.
"Everybody is being very quiet and not talking much or showing their hand," he said.
Crow said he'd like to see someone start a registry of available homes for rental to the event participants, many of whom will bring their families. Randolph County's problem and opportunity is that it has few motel rooms - only about 200, he said.
"That's why I'm trying to skin the cat another way. It's going to take awhile to get this set up," Crow said.
After the shooting events have been established and businesses in St. Louis see that there is money to be made, hoteliers will build in the region, he predicted.
"It's going to be tough on us at first in Randolph County," he said. "The surrounding communities will be excited at the amount of activity they will see until that development occurs."
He predicted that towns as far away as Mount Vernon and Carbondale, Ill., as well as Perryville and Ste. Genevieve, Mo., will feel the impact of the shooting complex visitors. Crow estimates that each visitor would spend about $50 a day during his or her stay.
Reporter Shera Dalin
E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: 618-235-0260
