Discussions held on debated Bristol firing range

BRISTOL, Tenn. – Bristol officials and Bluff City resident Stanley Roberts said they recently had a positive meeting addressing Roberts’ concerns about the nearby Bristol Police shooting range – one that could produce changes at the practice area.

“Mr. Roberts has some concerns that we saw, and we’re going to look into them further,” Bristol Police Chief Blaine Wade said Friday. “Anything we can do there to increase the safety and mitigate the noise, we’ll certainly pursue.”

Roberts, who owns a personal home and mobile-home park within yards of the shooting range – located at a demolition landfill on Patterson Hill Road – was equally encouraged by his session with city officials.

“I feel it was very productive,” Roberts said Friday.

“I feel like they listened to my concerns and could see, with their own eyes, the safety issues I mentioned. They said they’d get back with me soon and I look forward to that.”

On Thursday afternoon, Wade, Bristol City Manager Jeffrey Broughton and police Lt. Terry Johnson toured the firing range with Roberts, who has long contended the facility is too noisy and has design flaws that could put nearby residents at risk from stray bullets and other problems.

Bristol police have been using the shooting range since 2006. Roberts said he’s owned his nearby home since the late 1980s.

Thursday’s meeting was a calm chapter in what’s occasionally been a stormy story between Bristol and Roberts: He is currently facing two disorderly conduct charges for setting off a siren that disrupted a police drill in October.

Roberts has a scheduled Nov. 30 appearance in Bristol General Sessions Court.

Roberts said during his tour with Bristol officials, he pointed out areas where the shooting range lacks proper security. At one stage, Roberts said, he showed city reps where a bullet had become lodged in a tree at the upper edge of the shooting range.

“I mean, it was nowhere near any shooting target that the police have,” Roberts said of the found bullet. “It was well above it. So I think it opened their eyes a bit to what I’ve been saying.”
Wade acknowledged Roberts’ account of the discovered bullet, but also noted that it wasn’t the type Bristol police use when firing practice rounds.

“It was some old bullet we call a ‘wide-cutter,’ which we never even remotely use,” Wade said.

“So just because there’s a bullet found doesn’t mean it was fired by a police gun. We have had complaints about people sometimes illegally shooting in that area. There’s a lot of acreage down there, and some areas are more secured than others. And that’s something we’ll look into,” Wade said.

Broughton said the city would spend the next several weeks reviewing information on the shooting range.

“Whenever there’s anything involving safety, we always want to stop and take a second look,” Broughton said Friday.

Wade said that while he and other Bristol officials have an open mind about Roberts’ safety concerns, there’s no flexible attitude regarding Roberts’ upcoming court date.

“He still has the matter of those criminal charges, and that has to be dealt with,” Wade said.

The chief has said his department has no power to drop Roberts’ disorderly conduct charges before Nov. 30, and it is “up to the court” to decide whether Roberts should be punished for using the siren.

But Roberts said Friday that while he appreciated the city’s willingness to meet with him and seek a solution, he didn’t regret using the siren. Roberts said he set it off to warn his young relatives to come inside when police were using the shooting range. 

“No, I don’t regret it,” Roberts said. “Not at all. I don’t want to go to jail over this. But if I have to go to jail, I have to. I feel this is a very dangerous situation.”

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