The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Down Range Cafe => Topic started by: Tyler Durden on March 11, 2012, 09:57:01 PM
-
yeah, you can read the article here:
http://www.bnd.com/2012/02/29/2078589/gun-club-will-stay-put-near-scott.html
a few years back....heck probably more like 10.... I paid a total of $2,000 for a life membership to that club. back when the club was in financial dire straits.... I thought I was doing the club a favor by helping them out financially.
then about two or three years back, a last minute unannounced (at least to me) meeting was held where the membership voted to tack on a $35 or $40 per MONTH! fee to use the range, for everybody, even lifers like me.
I am a member of another range where the membership fee is just $50 a year...and....AND! they have a wholesale dealer's account with Graf's so I get my reloading components at dealer's cost.
so...DUH! no brainer there.....I didn't pay the extra $35/$40 per month for the club I am still a lifer at.
anywhooo...I wouldn't trust our county's leadership any farther than I could throw them.
I wouldn't be surprised if the county re-negs on the agreement.
-
County leaders had sought close the shooting range, which opened in March 2007, on the grounds it posed a hazard to low-flying military aircraft and therefore jeopardized the air base's future.
The county reached the settlement after a nearly seven-year legal battle in which the county lost nearly every legal round in county court and the 5th District Appellate Court in Mount Vernon. The county spent almost $400,000 on lawyer and consultant fees seeking to shut down the gun club since 2005, county records show.
The County, not the Air Force who's planes allegedly were in danger.
Liberals are like drunks, they ALWAYS have an excuse.
-
there is way more to the story, but I believe this golf course subdivision developer was in cahoots....errr...is still in cahoots with county officials to basically rob the gun club of its original location, and again rob it of its second location and reneg on all the construction costs.
-
Yeah, real fishy. The AF strong armed the county to carry out this legal action? Right.
And while Scott AFB is the command HQ for AMC (formerly MAC), I was never impressed with it. They could close it at any time and move the functions to Ramsey, Charleston, or somewhere on the west coast.
-
Had to go look this up in maps.
The club lies off North County Road (aka Lake Rd) about 1/2 mile south of SR 161. This is located south of SAFB. There appears to be a single trap range by SR161, but the rifle ranges are further south across from the cement factory.
Looks like a well built facility. And yes they do shoot in the direction of SAFB but as I measure it, it's over a mile from the 200 yd backstop to the runway. I'd be more concerned about the folks driving on SR161 than the AFB.
-
slight thread drift....
when I was in the Air Force, I had this shoe clerk of a job as a command post controller. We did other things, but our main thing was "flight following". The Air Force bean counters liked to see the planes take off and land on time, and some planes/missions we had to punch in the take off times and landing times into a computer system called GDSS.
anywhoooo.....my point being is....I know how little flying goes on, on the weekend in the active duty Air Force, which is like zero.
if there were to ever be any matches out at the club, they would be on the weekend....when there is no flying going on.
and Scott's only flying I am aware of are the C-9's for aeromedical evaction/transport and the C-21's (Leer jets) for transporting all the Generals, I guess.
alfsauve.... yeah, you pretty much got the layout of the area right.
for those following along at home, here is google maps's satellite view:
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=mascoutah,+IL&hl=en&ll=38.519883,-89.822556&spn=0.006254,0.012778&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=51.355924,71.191406&hnear=Mascoutah,+St+Clair,+Illinois&t=h&z=17
that road between the range and the concrete plant used to run due north, straight into Highway 161. the state or township or whoever in their infinite wisdom decided to make the road jog to west/northwest, right behind the back berms. that new construction was done within the past 3 years.
weird...huh!?
-
Hi;
10-15 years ago, Dover AFB had a skeet range on base @ 100yds from the 1 runway. Although it faced RT 101/13...If Dover had no problems - whats up with Scott.
I had to deliver there when I worked for the fed and thought that was interesting.
-
North Hampton NH has a skeet range about 100 yards from the Junior High School.
Both have been in place with out problems for decades.
-
Gentlemen, gentlemen, gentlemen, think where this is located. This is in the Peoples Republic of Illinois where they are going to inpose a $25 on every handgun the citizens own renewable every 5 years. I'd bet Scott had very little to do with this and it came from St. Clair Co. Hell the mayor of East St. Louis just ordered all liquor sales to stop in his town at 1 am in spite of state law which allows a later closing time. Remember where this is all located.
Tyler, think they'll go after the indoor range in Belleville next? The bullets might make through the back wall.
Pecos
-
There has been a small local movement to harass/close my local gun club, which is in the freakin Everglades, privately owned, not for profit, and Grandfathered in because Papa Dean owned the place as his home and range back in the 60's, and when he died, left it all to his daughter.
Town Council of Southwest Ranches, has now attempted to use EPA regulations (very gun friendly group), NOT....to determine if the grading and expansion of a second range used fill dirt...(which it didn't)....and wants to have an EPA inspector come on the property.
Sharon, the owner attended the meeting, provided a copy of the 4th Amendment and told them without a warrant they can piss up a rope.
It's locked and gated, and unless you want to wade across an alligator, snapping turtle, water moccasin infested moat, they have since backed off, but they are like the anti gun folks,....they just won't freakin stop, and have to be dealt with legally, until its time to utilize good Kentucky Hemp, and the large live oaks around.
To the OP, it is Ill....so who knows the BS the club is getting from "others" in the County, that want them out.
-
I made an emergency trip to Scott AFB one night. Was way less than impressed. We weren't Generals, but our crew had a Major, a Captain, a 1st Lt and about 11 enlisted men. Scott operations requested us to come bail them out but we were treated with indifference and ignorance. They insisted they had no place to house persons of our low rank on base so put us up in a flea bag hotel in ESL. We basically stole a base bus to provide our own transportation. The next morning base ops insisted they had no idea why we were there. We said forget it and drove up and down the flight line till we found the plane that was causing them embarrassment. We made it airworthy in about an hour, pre-flighted it told the tower we were taking it on a VFR check ride and left. Once air born we verbally filed a flight plan back to Charleston.
We caught static because there evidently were a bunch of VIPs scheduled to take this plane on some tour. They were ticked and the original flight crew of course was stranded in IL. Our commander gave us a couple extra days off and the flight crew, when the got back bought us a beer. That tells you the level of boondoggle the whole mission was to begin with.
TYLER: What did you do in AF? I was, in theory, a 32550, fire control specialist and my group was tasked with recovering downed aircraft worldwide. Most of the time we went on pre-emptive missions to make sure that the a/c didn't become stranded in the first place.
-
I made an emergency trip to Scott AFB one night. Was way less than impressed. We weren't Generals, but our crew had a Major, a Captain, a 1st Lt and about 11 enlisted men. Scott operations requested us to come bail them out but we were treated with indifference and ignorance. They insisted they had no place to house persons of our low rank on base so put us up in a flea bag hotel in ESL. We basically stole a base bus to provide our own transportation. The next morning base ops insisted they had no idea why we were there. We said forget it and drove up and down the flight line till we found the plane that was causing them embarrassment. We made it airworthy in about an hour, pre-flighted it told the tower we were taking it on a VFR check ride and left. Once air born we verbally filed a flight plan back to Charleston.
We caught static because there evidently were a bunch of VIPs scheduled to take this plane on some tour. They were ticked and the original flight crew of course was stranded in IL. Our commander gave us a couple extra days off and the flight crew, when the got back bought us a beer. That tells you the level of boondoggle the whole mission was to begin with.
TYLER: What did you do in AF? I was, in theory, a 32550, fire control specialist and my group was tasked with recovering downed aircraft worldwide. Most of the time we went on pre-emptive missions to make sure that the a/c didn't become stranded in the first place.
Does this mean your motto was NOT "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" ? ;D
-
All this talk about Scott AFB brought up some memories. I used to do archeology right outside the base. We had C-19, C-21, C-130 and C-141 flying over us all of the time as we dug the village site. I really wanted to see a B-52 or three, but that was not to be. It was hte height of Nam and many of them were otherwise engaged elsewhere.
Best of all was the off-base bar called the Thunderbird. I was barely legal, and a couple of us were, um, not so legal. But we would work from 7AM to about 1 - we were getting paid as this was highway salvage operation - and the boss would haul us all to the T-bird for lunch. Back to work for a couple of hours in the hot summer southern Illinois sun, then back to the T-bird for drinks. One of the bartenders was great, he would pull the frosty mugs out of the freezer as we exited our cars or trucks, so the beer was on the counter waiting for us just drafted. Wonderful.
We were there one time when a van of AF boys showed up. I loved it - the full bird Colonel came in first, followed by the Captain, followed by the E-8 - all while the Lieutenant was holding the door for all of them! ;D
-
huh? I wonder if the Thunderbird is still open.
I'll have to drive by there one of these days and check it out.