Neighbors file suit to stop gun club

The suit, filed Jan. 16 by Neighbors for Responsive Action, was weeks in the making, said attorney Rick Crabtree, who filed on behalf of the plaintiffs. It alleges that the county Board of Supervisors violated the California Environmental Quality Act when it allowed the project to go forward without a full report on its effects on the surrounding environment.

It asks a Superior Court judge to grant a restraining order on the opening of the range until a full report can be put together.

Even so, Ron Fry, President of the Paradise Rod and Gun Club, said that he still has plans to start construction “as soon as the weather clears up.”

“The suit doesn’t say we can’t build,” he said. “It just asks a judge to tell us not to. … But we want to get this thing going as soon as we can. We’ve been waiting for years.”

The Board of Supervisors approved a use permit for the gun club on Dec. 11, on a 3-2 vote. Supervisors Mary Anne Houx and Jane Dolan opposed the use permit, while Curt Josiassen, Kim Yamaguchi and Bob Beeler supported it.

The club, which would be open for members only and located on the Skyway about three miles southwest of Paradise, also has the support of most of Butte County’s law enforcement community, who would use it regularly for practice.

The matter is set for conference on April 29.