Lethbridge Range closure

[winger7mm]

I just got word that yet again the city council has decided to propose the range closure. There is a meeting being held at the F&G club house on 9th aveS at 7pm on Feb23rd. Please attend and talk to alderman and the mayor. This must be stopped lethbridge has a fantastic range and we HAVE to fight to keep it

[twofifty]

OMG what can the complaint possibly be this time?
The City invested huge money into those overhead baffles...

[M70]

What's the source of this info?

[winger7mm]

Originally Posted by M70

What's the source of this info?

The local fish & game association, pretty reliable lol

[winger7mm]

Originally Posted by twofifty

OMG what can the complaint possibly be this time?
The City invested huge money into those overhead baffles...

I dont know what the complaint is this time, the noise is bothering the dog walkers, god who knows lol. I love this range the best one I have been to yet and It has to stay

[crawfy]

Is this info on the Lethbridge F&G web site.

[winger7mm]

Originally Posted by crawfy

Is this info on the Lethbridge F&G web site.

I dunno I got an email from them

[migrant hunter]

Just got the e.mail from LFGA. Knew it was coming, just not so soon. I'm in Sask for the weekend, so don't know any more. Very sad. I for one will be letting the city know exactly what I think, just waiting till after the LFGA meeting.

[Pudelpointer]

Originally Posted by twofifty

OMG what can the complaint possibly be this time?
The City invested huge money into those overhead baffles...

Really? Wow, I don't remember the city coughing up any money for the safety improvements to the range. They sure have made a lot of money allowing development at the top of the hill though.


Everyone needs to remember this City Council crap when we have another election. I have had it with these schmuks. Millions on a city website, millions on ANOTHER arts centre, millions wasted on BS projects of all sorts. And my property taxes keep going up to pay for it. Lethbridge is damn near as bad as Calgary for inept governance.

[twofifty]

Originally Posted by Pudelpointer

Really? Wow, I don't remember the city coughing up any money for the safety improvements to the range. They sure have made a lot of money allowing development at the top of the hill though.
.....

It's what I was told by a range officer.

[rccam1]

I see nothing on the Herald's web page about the closure this morning, although the paper has not come yet. Why is there no info from the City to the public if there is a safety issue. I guess it's a case of the counsil making sure that we understand that they are looking out for our best interest as THEY see it! Is there a police investigation? Is it that Fluffy got scared from a loud bang? Is it that guns are bad? People who use guns are bad? Someone taking advantage of the good weather dug up some old bullet while tending their garden? Answers please.

[NewAlbertan]

Originally Posted by rccam1

I see nothing on the Herald's web page about the closure this morning, although the paper has not come yet. Why is there no info from the City to the public if there is a safety issue. I guess it's a case of the counsil making sure that we understand that they are looking out for our best interest as THEY see it! Is there a police investigation? Is it that Fluffy got scared from a loud bang? Is it that guns are bad? People who use guns are bad? Someone taking advantage of the good weather dug up some old bullet while tending their garden? Answers please.

I find this aspect particularly disturbing. If there is / was a new safety risk, then why not tell the public? To me, council taking such action before releasing any information or report smacks of political risk, not public risk. Public risk is always best reduced through spreading information. Political risk is usually tried to be reduced by controlling information

I'd like to encourage everyone to write to council and ask them why they act without sharing information with their bosses, the taxpayers?

[Pudelpointer]

Originally Posted by twofifty

It's what I was told by a range officer.

We have >600 range officers: 1/2 day course that does not discuss the finances of our club or range.

We lease the range property from the City of Lethbridge. All operation and construction costs have been paid for by members of the range and through grants from the province and other organizations.

I am sure the city gave some grant money to the range in he early days, but all the recent (since the 2006 closure) improvements were completed without any help at all from the city. If it wasnt for some supportive and helpful city employees the dimwits on council would have shut us down years ago.

We may have to get very political and very vocal, very soon.

Everyone, whether you are a LFGA member or not, please go tithe LFGA website and sign up for email updates. We will likely need to show a significant presence at City Hall meetings very soon. There is a meeting at the LFGA clubhouse (10th Ave South at 7:00pm on the 23rd of February.

[rccam1]

According to a City Council member who was kind enough to answer an email I sent to all Council members. Indicated that they have not been briefed on the situation yet and will not be until thier next meeting on the Feb 21. So who's making these decisions.

[oh_j0ker]

Hey people...
Let's all send an email to the Lethbridge City Council and those of us who are from out of town can let them know how much we spend when we visit.

Council meeting is this coming Tuesday so let's let them know that we don't just gripe on forums... we are active... the gun registry wasn't squashed without a lot off support. They are being harassed by the anti's and need our support now so take some time and flash of a very kind email to the folks on city council in Lethbridge.

Check the LFGA website at www.lfga.org for all the information and for the city council's email addresses.

Thanks...

[flamesfan4life]

i just became member of fort mcmurray fish and game and was going to join leth range i have been there many times and felt safe while there. also I live above the range (when not working in fort mcmurray) with my daughter 4 and my son 1 1/2 and my fiance I have no fear or worry of a stray bullet coming in my vicinity. I have been down there many times and see nothing but the utmost care and respect by the people there.

[oh_j0ker]

Hi,
I just sent off my email to the members of the Lethbridge City Council and the Mayor.

Since they are having a private meeting this next Tuesday I thought you people may wish to send an email of support to them as well. It took me a long time to make my email show the positive side of the range and all of the safety stuff without pointing fingers or using foul language but I got it done. I hope they actually read their emails so I asked them all for a response and told them that I wouldn't be voting for someone who didn't answer their emails.

Their website is cumbersome so I thought I would gather their email addresses so that it can be just cut and pasted into the to box when you send an email.

Here it is:

mayor@lethbridge.ca, Joe.Mauro@lethbridge.ca, Aldermanryanparker@gmail.com, Bridget.Mearns@lethbridge.ca, Faron.Ellis@lethbridge.ca, Jeff.Coffman@lethbridge.ca, thwicker@gmail.com, Jeff.Carlson@lethbridge.ca, Liz.Iwaskiw@lethbridge.ca

[geezer55]

Latest update on rang closure, I highlighted what I think could be the real reason behind the closure;

CALL TO ACTION -
RANGE REMAINS CLOSED

MEETING ANNOUNCEMENT
Attend our meeting on February 23, 2012 to discuss strategies as we approach the city regarding the future of the LFGA Range. We need you to be there. We need your continued support.

We may have to change the location of the meeting from the LFGA Cluibhouse on the corner of 9th Avenue and 10th Street if we exceed the seating capacity and we hope this will happen. Please register that you will be coming to the meeting by clicking HERE so that we can determine numbers.

Our email lists and the LFGA website will provide you with the meeting location if it changes.

Please continue to send personalized letters and emails to the Mayor and members of City Council. If you know any of of these individuals could you please phone them and find out their position on this issue. We need to fully understand what are their issues. Bring this information to the meeting and email it to us using the email addresses on our website.

Encourage others to visit our website to subscribe to our main email notification system.

LFGA RANGE CLOSURE – UPDATE
We were hoping that City Council would reopen the range after the report by city administration since there didn't seem to be a substantive argument for the range closure by city administration. Allan received a telephone call informing him that City Council wished to discuss the range closure at their next public meeting. We understand that this may be because they have been getting a lot of flack for making major decisions related to land development and sales in private meetings.

The LFGA Range will remain closed until City Council has an opportunity to deal with the range closure in a public meeting on Monday, March 5. Please put this date on your calendar, as well, because we will need everybody there to show support for range.

[NewAlbertan]

As a taxpayer, voter and range member, it upsets me greatly that this council feels that it can act unilaterally, without proper communication or more importantly a true specific safety issue. To use safety as an excuse to act first and talk later is not how this is supposed to work. To hear that suspicions of developer influence are coming true is frankly, sad.
I surely hope that there is a great turnout at both the LFGA meeting and the council meeting to make sure that elected councillors act with transparency and accountability to all parties at all times.
It's apparently that isn't happening here...

Originally Posted by geezer55

Latest update on rang closure, I highlighted what I think could be the real reason behind the closure;

CALL TO ACTION -
RANGE REMAINS CLOSED

MEETING ANNOUNCEMENT
Attend our meeting on February 23, 2012 to discuss strategies as we approach the city regarding the future of the LFGA Range. We need you to be there. We need your continued support.

We may have to change the location of the meeting from the LFGA Cluibhouse on the corner of 9th Avenue and 10th Street if we exceed the seating capacity and we hope this will happen. Please register that you will be coming to the meeting by clicking HERE so that we can determine numbers.

Our email lists and the LFGA website will provide you with the meeting location if it changes.

Please continue to send personalized letters and emails to the Mayor and members of City Council. If you know any of of these individuals could you please phone them and find out their position on this issue. We need to fully understand what are their issues. Bring this information to the meeting and email it to us using the email addresses on our website.

Encourage others to visit our website to subscribe to our main email notification system.

LFGA RANGE CLOSURE – UPDATE
We were hoping that City Council would reopen the range after the report by city administration since there didn't seem to be a substantive argument for the range closure by city administration. Allan received a telephone call informing him that City Council wished to discuss the range closure at their next public meeting. We understand that this may be because they have been getting a lot of flack for making major decisions related to land development and sales in private meetings.

The LFGA Range will remain closed until City Council has an opportunity to deal with the range closure in a public meeting on Monday, March 5. Please put this date on your calendar, as well, because we will need everybody there to show support for range.

[geezer55]

From an e-mail sent out by the LFGA.

City Council Meeting UPDATE

Thank you for all of your support!!! We are building a great community.
Some points to remember when attending the City Council Meeting:
No noise... the Mayor may stop the proceedings if there is a lot of noise
Our values are tolerance, understanding and cooperation.

The Council Meeting starts at 1:30 PM and all of presentations and documentation that will be provided is on our website at www.lfga.org under the title LATEST NEWS. So you can look over the information that City Council will be viewing. There is parking to the South and to the North of City Hall.

We will update the website once the decision is made by City Council so you may wish to check the website LATEST NEWS page for the result.

Please forward this message to your friends and encourage them to subscribe to our email news

[winger7mm]

I had a job that I could not get away from to come to the meeting, I am sorry for not coming but whats the deal did our precious range make it through the meeting????????

[thepyrofish]

I'm still at work and I've been checking this thread whenever I have a minute to spare. I'd love a few details...

I'm blocked from viewing CGN at work. Any idea if there's discussion over there?

[Loki610]

Originally Posted by winger7mm

I had a job that I could not get away from to come to the meeting, I am sorry for not coming but whats the deal did our precious range make it through the meeting????????

They put the decision on hold for another 2 weeks! Most of the council members seem to be leaning towards our side. The police did a horrible job with their presentation which helps us.

[Pudelpointer]

Alderman Ellis and Mayor Dodic needed "more time" to consider the information provided, AND for the LFGA to make the range "safer" - what a tool.

The subject was Tabled until the 19th. So no range until then.

By my count, unless there is a drastic change the range will reopen. Aldermen Coffman and Parker voted against the motion to Table. Mearns, Parker and Iwaskiw (along with Coffman and Parker) were pretty clear that they will be voting to reopen the range, but voted to table as a courtesy to Ellis and Dodic.

Overall I was impressed by the Aldermen's interest and questions.


The presentation by the LRPS was nothing short of embarrassing. His performance made me seriously concerned about the quality of staff at the City Police. I am sure that most of the officers are capable and professional, but the fact Inspector Catonio doesn't even know if an SKS is required to be registered (I loved how everyone in the chamber answered unanimously
"yes"), or whether it will be required to be registered after the registry dies.


Oh! And my favorite part: when asked about "prohibited" firearms he stated: "well, there prohibited... so nobody is supposed to have those."

Had to bite my tongue for 3 hours!

[Gun+Rod]

Originally Posted by twofifty

OMG what can the complaint possibly be this time?
The City invested huge money into those overhead baffles...

LFGA purchased those baffles.

[LFGA]

Hi Folks,
The LFGA Range will reopen tomorrow morning (March 22, 2012). Your cards should work if you have paid your dues. There were two people who cancelled membership cheques and they will have to start the membership and Range Officer process over from scratch. Everyone was able to win and this will be recorded as the greatest thing to happen to our range... it will make it so that we can achieve our dreams.

Thank you very much for your kind support. Tolerance, understanding and co-operation won the day and the good honest Councillors understood that we had negotiated the deal in good faith with the understanding that there would not be a substantive change to the lease. We set out to do this in a win win win manner and everyone in Lethbridge has won today and that was a critical factor in our success.

That being said... We all believe that we were bullied and I believe that the bullying has to stop at all levels. I was really disappointed when the conversations started bullying the police and the people at the city. These people are only trying to do their job and we should tolerate, understand and try our damnedest to work in a cooperative manner. When we look at this situation from their perspective it makes it easier to discuss the real issues. I really appreciated the individuals who brought the conversation back to a focus within our set of values and brought us to a place where everyone can and did win.

Now we just need a ton of volunteers to keep our end of the promise. subscribe on our website and make sure you list the areas you want to volunteer. Some of the areas will be RO's for community open houses, community education programs etc. as well as the other maintenance stuff.

Thank you again!!

Rick Blakeley, President
Lethbridge Fish and Game Association
PS, I hear that the LGR is now history as well...

[Prdtrgttr]

Thank you Rick! The job the LFG did was amazing. Are you suggesting thank you letters for certain council members, if not all?
Great job once again and thanks so much!

[just_dave]

So I'm curious. What was the exact reason for the closure of the range?

Good job to everyone that put in an effort to have the range saved/opened by the way.

[Pudelpointer]

Originally Posted by just_dave

So I'm curious. What was the exact reason for the closure of the range?

Good job to everyone that put in an effort to have the range saved/opened by the way.

Why? Well that question was asked repeatedly. While the answers given were unsatisfactory to us and many members of council, it could be summarized like this:

Due to an incident that occurred in Oct 2011, City Admin. asked the LRPS to write a report looking at the issue of "bullet strikes" in the city. The report provided erroneously reported that bullets found in north Lethbridge were likely to have come from the range (I will leave it to individuals to decide whether this report was prepared from a "neutral" view). The report stated, again erroneously, that the range poses a "safety risk" to the public; in response the City Admin. closed the range.

City council reviewed the report and heard submissions from LRPS, City Admin. and the LFGA. 4 of the 7 council members present were ready to support reopening the range, apparently without prejudice. This was obviously unnacceptable to the Mayor, so he conspired with Ellis to delay any motion to reopen the range by Tabling the issue, which the majority o councillors supported (this is a courtesy often observed in civic politics) which delayed the issue for an additional 2 weeks.

The rest of the proceedings are well detailed in recent posts.

FYI, I am still looking for volunteers to represent the LFGA at the upcoming Outdoor Adventure Show and Sale at Exhibition Park Wed-Sat. this coming week.

Please send me a PM if you can help out for a few hours.

[just_dave]

Originally Posted by Pudelpointer

The report provided erroneously reported that bullets found in north Lethbridge were likely to have come from the range.

"Likely." That's the part that really tells the whole story. There was no evidence of the bullets coming from the range. But someone felt it was enough. Enough for what exactly though? Enough to have the range closed and removed to repurpose the land for city projects? It certainly is an attractive piece of land.

The mayor's tactics are/were disgraceful.