Warren County Sheriff’s Office Calculates Bentonville Transfer Station as Ideal Location for Firearms Training Range

At its regular meeting on Wednesday, July 10, beginning at 7 p.m. in the Warren County Government Center at 220 North Commerce Avenue, following a work session in which the fifth chapter of the county’s developing comprehensive plan was tweaked, the county planning commission was asked to balance the need for a firearms training range with the complaint of many in attendance, who live nearby the proposed location, that among other concerns the resulting noise would be offensive to their peace. After the public hearing and subsequent discussion, the item was tabled until more information could be gathered, namely, whether the proposed location at the Bentonville Transfer Station property is truly the ideal place for the Warren County Sheriff’s Office to establish this much-needed public protection facility.

The county planning commission meets for a work session on the evening of July 10. Royal Examiner Photo Credits: Brenden McHugh.

A summary of the request, included in the evening’s agenda packet, reads as follows: “The Warren County Sheriff’s Office is requesting a conditional use permit for a public protection facility for use as a multi-disciplinary firearms training range in Bentonville on Warren County-owned land at the Transfer Station property. The proposed firearms range will be utilized as a multi-use training range for search and rescue, K-9, less than lethal, and scenario-based training exercises spanning over a three-year-phase plan. The Warren County Sheriff’s Office does not currently have a dedicated firearms training facility and relies on neighboring jurisdictions and a site near Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia, to use their ranges, which are limited in availability and accommodations.”

And costly. The amount of time spent on travel is sapping the resources of the police force, which would be better served by a local facility. And it is not as though the sound of gunshots will be a daily reality. At most, thirty days out of the year will be dedicated to training. In a lengthy presentation, Officer Jay Roy explained the logistics of what the backstop would be as well as the plan for lead recovery and recycling. Admittedly, some agency comments are still pending, but in the eyes of the Sheriff’s Office, every concern has been addressed. The concerns presented by the public, aside from the most prevalent noise pollution, seemed to be preexisting problems that the police presence would potentially but not provably exacerbate, like methane concentration in the ground and any lead concentration that may already exist. One gentleman suggested that the local cows might be spooked. Another gentleman, a health professional, claimed that the children that he services might be psychologically impacted by the sound of gunshots. Apparently, not all children are conditioned to hear a police training exercise as the sound of their security. Commissioner Hugh Henry explained that he lives near an airport and often must readjust frames on his wall after the planes pass over. Does he complain? No. He praises God because “somebody needs that!”

Officer Jay Roy presents to the County planning commission an application from the Warren County Sheriff’s Office for a conditional use permit to establish a firearms training range at the transfer station in Bentonville.

The commissioners did not take the concern about noise lightly, as proven by their decision to table the item for further examination. The common lament among those who addressed the commission during the public hearing was that they already tolerate the annoyances inherent to living near the transfer station, so why make it worse? It would seem the public is being asked to balance their desire for services with the costs that those services entail. Even if property values go down because of this police enterprise and the sound of dump trucks continues to be irritating, perhaps locals should weigh those minuses against the value of being assisted with their safety and, yes, their waste. This reporter would gladly listen to a police gunshot symphony thirty days out of the year.