Dear Editor,

I am disappointed to see that Jim Thorpe Borough Council hasn’t acted on the request to ban target shooting in a R-1 Residential zone. Hedes, J. (2021, Jan. 18) “Jim Thorpe council takes no action on target ranges” Times News. The excessive gunfire in our residential community started June 2020 when I and my husband, Mark, along with our son were sitting on our outdoor deck in a normally quiet and tranquil neighborhood. We began to hear a kind of shooting we had never heard before in the years we have resided in the Glen Onoko Estates.

All of a sudden we hear ARs, several ARs going off, all at the same time over and over and over for a seven-hour time period. It was clearly disturbing to everyone.

We mobilized against the new weapons range in the usual way. We complained about the noise. We showed up at borough council meetings. The community presented a united front at the July 9, 2020, borough council meeting and our concerns are recorded in that meeting’s minutes.

In the months that followed, the zoning dispute turned into another less familiar kind of problem. Borough council passed a variance for a “recreational cabin” in which a local state police officer uses for a weapons training facility. This off-range shooting also poses an environmental risk from shooting into the ridgelines. The informal shooting ranges are a community problem that constitutes danger to the health, safety and welfare to residents of the borough of Jim Thorpe. By failing to take action on this issue, you are jeopardizing the life and livelihoods of your neighbors and community. I encourage council to resolve this issue to ban shooting ranges in residential zones areas that reflect our views as residents in the community.

Sincerely,

Dee Reitz

Jim Thorpe