Land has been cleared for construction of a Catoosa County Sheriff’s Office firing range in Ringgold, Ga. Neighbors, some of whom live as close as 500 feet from the new range, are concerned about the sound of gunfire and its effects on their property values.RINGGOLD, Ga. — Eric Geissinger was jogging in his neighborhood about three months ago when he ran across bulldozers sweeping away a bundle of pine trees. He was surprised.
A construction worker told Geissinger the crew was clearing land for a firing range that Catoosa County Sheriff Gary Sisk wanted. A public entity, building on public land, where public workers will train.
“It’s the first I heard about it,” Geissinger said last week.
Turns out, many other residents of Ridgeway Estates didn’t know about it either. Nobody from the county told them that the sheriff wanted to build a 200-yard-long firing range behind some of their homes in western Ringgold, though county officials say they have discussed the project with Sisk for about a year.
Some members of the neighborhood are angry: They don’t want to hear frequent gunfire near their homes and believe gunfire will drive down property values.