North Carolina: "Battle on Jones County shooting range continues"

[cuchulainn]

from the New Bern Sun Journal

http://www.newbernsunjournal.com/Details.cfm?StoryID=7686

Battle on Jones County shooting range continues

By Karen Welsh/Freedom ENC


Commissioners tell county attorney to get more details on a possible ordinance

TRENTON -- Jones County has its own Hatfield and McCoy-type scuffle brewing. It is pitting neighbor against neighbor and landowner against landowner.

Both bullets and heated words have literally flown between Pollocksville residents Alfred White and retired Marine Robert Davis, owner of Mill Creek Farms, concerning the Davis' use of guns on his private land. The two showed up to express their opinions and debate about a potential shooting range ordinance at a recent Jones County Board of Commissioners meeting.

Although the public shooting range ordinance wasn't actually discussed, it appeared the meeting brought to light a private, long-standing and deep-seated personal battle between White and Davis.

During the course of the meeting, White told the commissioners the incessant noise from Davis' shooting range is driving him crazy, while Davis said he's tried to make concessions, but it's his property and he should be able to do with it as he pleases.

Board chairman Joe Wiggins said the commissioners were there to discuss a shooting range ordinance dealing with safety issues on public ranges only, not a noise ordinance as White was requesting.

Davis, a volunteer assistant coach for the Jones Senior High School shotgun team, told commissioners many of the statements made by White during the first public hearing in February concerning gun use on his property were inaccurate.

White had told commissioners that Davis didn't care when the neighbors surrounding his property complained about the noise coming from his private range.

Davis said he responded within three days to a petition sent to his address in April 2000, stating the dates and times youth from the high and junior high schools come to practice for the FFA Hunter Safety program.

Davis also said he's tried to be cooperative and made concessions by cutting both the days and length of time used for practice to please his neighbors. However, he said there should be some give and take.

"I am very sensitive to our community and I know exactly what I am doing -- training the youth to compete at the local, state and national level," he said. "They need to practice. It's my farm and my field. It should be my prerogative of what I do with it."

Davis even said shots had been fired in the direction of those practicing at the range.

Derrick Eubanks, a former student in the high school rifle program, told commissioners he's watched the personal problems and tension between White and Davis escalate over the years.

He said the "wild, wild west" mentality of people shooting each other has to stop before someone gets hurt or killed.

Eubanks said those born and raised in Jones County are often the worst offenders for taking matters into their own hands.

"We all know that people who aren't born and raised here receive less than a warm reception when they get here," Eubanks said. "The last thing we need in Jones County is more bad press."

Davis said the sheriff's department was called each time shots were fired. Over time, he said former Sheriff Robert Mason and then deputies Tim Morton and Joey Thigpen responded. He said the shooting stopped after Morton and Thigpen accompanied Davis to go and speak with White.

However, Davis said he's afraid the conflict both men have felt during the public hearings might start the shooting over again.

White told the commissioners he's not mad at the youth, Davis or anybody else.

He also said it's not the safety issues associated with rifles or shotguns that bother him, but the noise.

"What (Davis) is trying to do is avert attention from the problem," White said. "They try and make it an issue between me and the boys on the shooting team, but it's not. We're talking about a steady barrage of bullets. The problem is the noise -- not Bob Davis or the boys.

"The noise is infringing on my rights for (Davis') own personal pleasure. It's happening in my backyard. If it was in your backyard I wouldn't care, but it's not. It's been going on for eight years now. We don't like the noise in our neighborhood."

Jones FFA Hunter Safety coach and Hunter Association member Mike Sutton spoke on Davis' behalf.

He shared his concerns that a strict shooting range ordinance would shut down the youth's chances of competing on any level.

Sutton also said he's concerned about the implications of any regulations that could potentially curtail the hunting activity in Jones County.

In the end, Wiggins directed County Attorney Clare Lynn Brock to take a closer look at the potential public shooting range ordinance, but promised the commissioners would not regulate private hunting grounds.

Karen Welsh can be reached at 527-3191 ext. 242 or [email protected].

 

[Blackhawk]

As usual, the details necessary to vet this are missing. How far from White's property is Davis' range? What are the noise measurements? And so forth....

I've lived in downstairs apartments, near freeways, and near airports. Whenever new upstairs neighbors moved in, they would sound like a buffalo stampede. The digs near a freeway were incredibly noisy upon moving in. Likewise near an airport.

However, in EVERY case, it didn't take but a few days to get used to the "environmental" noise and subconsciously tune it out.

Some women complain that men have a natural ability to tune out unwanted noise when they say, "He doesn't listen to me!"

Maybe Davis should give White a gift of some earplugs....