Residents take aim at rifle range

By: AMANDA CREGAN
The Intelligencer
The Game Commission is planning to reopen the public shooting range at Nockamixon State Park.

It's been four years since the air cracked with gunshots day and night, some barely grazing nearby homes.

Fears that Nockamixon State Park's public rifle range is set to re-open this summer brought worried residents to Monday night's Haycock supervisors meeting.

It was standing room only as nearly 25 neighbors packed the tiny municipal building telling horror stories of criminal and gang violence, threats against area homeowners, drug and alcohol use, 24-hour activity, toxic lead pollution and groundwater contamination, and reckless gun users - some shooting high-powered assault rifles into the air.

"There were a lot of safety violations that really put us in a state of fear," said Dorothy Comfort, who represented a group of residents who live along nearby East Sawmill Road.

Comfort and her neighbors were angry they hadn't been notified by the state Game Commission, which operates the range, and only found out about the June reopening by seeing a small notice posted under an old rifle range sign.

Once primarily used by responsible sportsmen and licensed National Rifle Association members, the range later became plagued with problems because neither Game Commission officials nor state police regularly supervised the site, said Comfort.

"We had been complaining and getting all the police reports on all the vandalism for years and all of a sudden it was closed and we were told it would never reopen," said Comfort, a resident for 31 years. "We really feel at this point and for having four years of our neighborhood like it is we cannot accept the rifle range to operate in the way it did for 40 years."

Comfort said she remains baffled as to why the rifle range sits next to the only residential area in a span of 2,000 acres of state game land.

Her husband, Bob Comfort, worries about the unseen environmental damage and compared the abandoned rifle range to a Superfund site.

"A rifle range used everyday for decades can have a million pounds in lead that can leach into the ground," he said. "That whole area is a toxic waste dump and it is now abandoned, and it really violates a least a few federal statutes."

The Comforts and several East Sawmill Road residents are working with Rep. Paul Clymer to get some regulations in place. Clymer has petitioned the Game Commission to enforce restricted hours, put in place proper supervision, post types of firearms that can be used and close the rifle range on Sundays.

With the increasingly high costs of private rifle ranges and gun clubs, Bob Comfort is concerned that more people will trek in from out of state to shoot at a public rifle range.

"It's a safety hazard. It's a public health issue, and it's a noise pollution issue. There's no restrictions on anything and no supervision," he said. "These are not responsible hunters. These are not NRA members. A lot of these people come in from Jersey."

Haycock Township Supervisor Chairwoman Kathleen Babb says the board will try to get answers for residents.

"I think what we can do is probably fairly limited, but I think we can get someone from the Game Commission and someone from the EPA or DEP to attend a meeting or even schedule a special meeting."

Amanda Cregan can be reached at 215-538-6371 or acregan@phillyBurbs.com.

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