Bristol, Tenn., officials attempt to mediate dispute over police firing range

BY ROGER BROWN
bristol herald courier
After all of the noise, court summonses and wailing sirens produced during his ongoing debate with the Bristol Tennessee Police Department over its firing range near the Patterson Hill Road demolition landfill – and his property – Arthur Roberts hopes for something else when city officials meet with him and tour the area:
A quiet compromise.
“I would just like them to see it, say, ‘Yes, this is a possibly dangerous situation,’ close it down and have an expert come out to advise them on what to do next,” Roberts, of Bluff City, said of his upcoming meeting with Police Chief Blaine Wade and City Manager Jeffrey Broughton.
If little else, so far, at least Roberts’ desire for a compromise is shared by Wade.
“We’re certainly going to do what we can to resolve this, because we have no desire to ever be a bad neighbor,” Wade said.
“But Mr. Roberts has complained about the noise [from the firing range], and I don’t know if that will ever be totally alleviated,” Wade said. “At the end of the day, it’s a firing range near a demolition landfill. And firing ranges are noisy.”
The planned meeting between Roberts and Bristol officials, likely Monday or Tuesday, is the latest development in a lengthy dispute over Roberts’ complaints that the police firing range – about a half-mile from his personal home and a mobile-home park he owns – is dangerously located, improperly built and excessively noisy.
The session also will come just weeks before Roberts’ scheduled Nov. 30 appearance in Bristol General Sessions Court on two charges of disorderly conduct. The charges were slapped on Roberts in October, after he repeatedly set off a siren when Bristol police instructors, officers and trainees were using the firing range.
Wade said Roberts’ siren interfered with the instructors’ ability to shout instructions during shooting drills, causing a potential safety hazard; Roberts has said the siren blasts were necessary to warn his family, which includes young grandchildren, to stay away from landfill and range – and avoid possible stray bullets.
“I get the sense the city thinks well, they’re the government and they can do what they want,” Roberts said. “But I just think that anyone with common sense would look at this range and say it’s not totally safe.”
Roberts said he wanted Bristol to agree to let a firearms expert from an outside group, such as the National Rifle Association, take a look at the range’s design. And, he said, he’s hoping the city will “cut some slack” and agree to drop his disorderly conduct charges.
“I’m not a rich man and I’m not looking to be sitting in the jailhouse,” Roberts said. “I’m just looking for more safety and a little less unnecessary noise.”
Wade said city officials did properly consult with firearms experts before building the firing range in 2006, and there has been no evidence it causes higher safety risks in the area.
“It’s a secured area in a demolition landfill,” Wade said. “The range is at a significant level [and distance] from Mr. Roberts’ area.”
And Wade didn’t offer Roberts much hope that he’d be able to avoid his Nov. 30 court appearance.
“Oh, he has a court date,” Wade said. “We can’t do anything about that. It’s not like we can suddenly take [the summonses] back. But the courts have a lot of latitude in what they can do. We’ll just have to see what happens.”
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