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Kinderhook Sportsmen’s Club members shed light on practices
By Bob Green
Following complaints to the Town Board about increased noise from the Kinderhook Sportsmen’s Club, officials and members of the club are speaking out about its roots and contributions in the community.
Several neighbors told the board in October that the amount of shooting had risen markedly, and they wanted to know if the town could help find a compromise.
The club, located on more than 50 acres off Fowler Lake Road in Ghent, was founded in 1954 and predates the town’s zoning laws.
Club President Terence Toomey says that little about the club’s operation has changed recently. While a Wednesday trap and skeet session was added last year, other ranges on the property have always been available “at all hours of the day”, within the limits of club policy, which is more restrictive than the applicable state law. “We do not shoot after dark,” said Toomey, and a recent club newsletter suggested that members hold their fire until 9 a.m.
Toomey also didn’t agree with the assertions of a neighbor who told the board that “firearms have gotten a lot louder over the last 30 years.” Toomey thinks the loudest guns in use at the club are .50 caliber flintlock muzzle-loaders, relics of the Revolutionary War but still popular with some. This year’s muzzle-loader season starts Dec. 14 and runs for 10 days, he said.
Some members shoot competitively, and they practice at the club. Toomey says semi-automatic firearms have been used in competition “for years”. For those members with “non-conventional hours”, he says, “they have to get in their shooting when they can.”
Club member Rick Olivo is chairman of the Columbia-Greene Friends of the NRA. He says the club is a place for “skill building”. When the club’s founders “carved this road out 50 years ago”, they were “pioneers” he said, adding, “This land was worthless, nobody wanted it.”
That has changed. Fowler Lake Road has seen a number of new homes built in the last decade, and more than two dozen neighbors have signed a petition asking for the town’s help in negotiating a schedule. The petition was presented to the board in October.
The club runs a number of activities for youth, including the 4H Shooting Sports program, which the club has hosted for around 15 years, according to Toomey. A certificate at the club showed appreciation from the DEC for sponsoring children to attend environmental camps, and in 2010, a “Youth Day” will again be held, this time with a $2,100 grant from the NRA, according to Olivo.
The club’s Web site can be found at www.kinderhooksportsmen.com.
Several neighbors told the board in October that the amount of shooting had risen markedly, and they wanted to know if the town could help find a compromise.
The club, located on more than 50 acres off Fowler Lake Road in Ghent, was founded in 1954 and predates the town’s zoning laws.
Club President Terence Toomey says that little about the club’s operation has changed recently. While a Wednesday trap and skeet session was added last year, other ranges on the property have always been available “at all hours of the day”, within the limits of club policy, which is more restrictive than the applicable state law. “We do not shoot after dark,” said Toomey, and a recent club newsletter suggested that members hold their fire until 9 a.m.
Toomey also didn’t agree with the assertions of a neighbor who told the board that “firearms have gotten a lot louder over the last 30 years.” Toomey thinks the loudest guns in use at the club are .50 caliber flintlock muzzle-loaders, relics of the Revolutionary War but still popular with some. This year’s muzzle-loader season starts Dec. 14 and runs for 10 days, he said.
Some members shoot competitively, and they practice at the club. Toomey says semi-automatic firearms have been used in competition “for years”. For those members with “non-conventional hours”, he says, “they have to get in their shooting when they can.”
Club member Rick Olivo is chairman of the Columbia-Greene Friends of the NRA. He says the club is a place for “skill building”. When the club’s founders “carved this road out 50 years ago”, they were “pioneers” he said, adding, “This land was worthless, nobody wanted it.”
That has changed. Fowler Lake Road has seen a number of new homes built in the last decade, and more than two dozen neighbors have signed a petition asking for the town’s help in negotiating a schedule. The petition was presented to the board in October.
The club runs a number of activities for youth, including the 4H Shooting Sports program, which the club has hosted for around 15 years, according to Toomey. A certificate at the club showed appreciation from the DEC for sponsoring children to attend environmental camps, and in 2010, a “Youth Day” will again be held, this time with a $2,100 grant from the NRA, according to Olivo.
The club’s Web site can be found at www.kinderhooksportsmen.com.
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brianjconway wrote on Dec 2, 2009 7:47 AM: