Community Corner

Who is Shooting Guns On Sundays in Chatham Township?

Green Village Volunteer Fire Department holds clay shooting event once a year to raise money for cancer.

Welcome to "You Ask … Patch Answers," the weekly column for Chathamites looking for solutions to community problems or issues.

One reader sent in this question on Oct. 17:

Why does the Chatham Township Police Department have to practice at their gun firing range at the Township Police building on Sunday morning beginning at 7:30 a.m.? The sounds of gunfire are easily heard at the churches on Southern Boulevard—the Presbyterian Church and Corpus Christi Church, and may also be heard at the Long Hill Chapel on Shunpike. 

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As we, the Chatham Township Police Department closes its range on Sundays in accordance with the township's noise ordinance.

Lt. Steven E. Hennelly told Chatham Patch that the police schedule practices in  compliance with the ordinance, on weekdays from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and closed on Sundays.

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So where is the sound of gunfire coming from then on Sunday mornings?

Chatham Patch found that on the morning the reader sent this question, the Green Village Volunteer Fire Department held its sixth annual "Fall Blast," a clay shooting fundraising event for the SynCure Cancer Research Foundation.

Chief Kevin Doherty said that because many firefighters are diagnosed with cancer in their lives, the department has worked to raise money for the disease.

Shooting at the Fall Blast began at 9 a.m., and lasted until the afternoon. Entrants shot at clay targets on Miele Field in Green Village. Unlike the Chatham Township Police Department's shooting range, the field is wide and open, and sound travels easily.

Doherty did not respond to requests for further information about the event, including how many people participated in the latest Fall Blast, how much money was raised or whether the department was aware that holding shooting events on Sundays violated the noise ordinance.


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