Posted on 08/20/2002 8:44:02 AM PDT by Pat Bateman
The future barrels down on gun club
By Steve Corrigan
Savannah Morning News
Gary Ogden is cussing mad.
He's hotter than a two-dollar pistol that the Truman Parkway will soon cut a swath through Forest City Gun Club.
He chomps a half-smoked cigar and spits profanities as he wheels his pickup truck around the club's 595 acres.
Problem is, those acres sit in the middle of the intersection of future and progress.
Ogden's angry that Phase IV of the Parkway will cut club property nearly in half and eliminate nearly a third of the club's skeet and trap fields.
He's also incensed major shooting events - long a staple at the club - probably won't be held there again.
In 2000, for example, eight major shooting events were held at the club. Seven were held there in 2001, including the U.S. Open.
The club has 42 skeet fields and is the largest facility of its kind in the United States. It's recognized internationally as offering the best in trap, skeet and sporting clay competition.
The Club's Rub
Ogden is a past president of the club and a teacher at St. Vincent's Academy, the Catholic girls high school in Savannah.
And he's also a pretty good shot.
Last Wednesday in the club's locker room, Ogden leaned over an enlarged aerial photograph of the area. The club was easy to spot, a lone building surrounded by acres of open space, woods and ponds.
Ogden used the stub of his cigar to point out the path of the Parkway. He offered alternate routes that would have bypassed the club. Gary Allen, Tommy Thompson and other members joined in.
But in the end, all that talk didn't amount to a spent shell. The road's coming, and it's going right through the club.
And the overhead aerial shows why: all that open land.
After decades of talking about a North-South connector, officials began construction on the Parkway in 1990. The project has since linked the President Street Extension near downtown Savannah to DeRenne.
Phase III, a 3-mile stretch between DeRenne and Montgomery Crossroad, is scheduled for completion by Sept. 28, 2003.
Phase IV - a nearly 2.3 mile segment running from Montgomery Crossroad to Whitfield Avenue - is expected to be completed by Aug. 31, 2004.
A proposed fifth leg would run between Whitfield and Abercorn Extension.
Ready, Aim, ...
Forest City Gun Club has 700 members. Another 100 are on a waiting list. It was founded in 1883.
Since the 1960s, it has occupied a large chunk of land off Ferguson Avenue just down the road from Sand Fly.
Much of the land was donated by Dr. Frank Cheatham Wilson. He was serious about the club. His grave sits at the entrance to the clubhouse.
Wilson willed 500 acres to the club more than 50 years ago.
The late, legendary Frederick D. Missiledine was a member of the club.
Last Wednesday, Breck Whiddon, a Savannah financial analyst; Keith Colgan, a vice president at Choate Construction; and Jack Armstrong, a painting contractor, were skeet shooting.
Nearby, a group of crack trap shooters were blowing targets apart.
And not far away, a father and son were shooting. The father stopped often to show the boy how to improve.
And over near a pond, the remains of an eagle nest can still be seen in a pine tree. Darkness is closing in, but shooting continues under the lights. The shotguns make quite a racket.
Once the Truman is finished, the sound of roaring engines and rolling tires may drown that racket out.
Steve Corrigan is the assistant government team leader. He can be reached at 652-0318 or corrigan@savannahnow.com
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