New pistol range is a good-news testament of cooperation

Business closings. Strife at City Hall. High unemployment. Rising national debt. It’s enough to challenge even the president of the Optimists Club.

Then, every once in awhile, something happens to restore our faith. And, it seems to come just when we need the antidote for the blues the most. It’s a shot in the arm.

Most often, for me, it’s a story of unity, a saga of accomplishment — a tale of sides coming together to achieve a goal for the common good.

That’s the story with the Libby Rod & Gun Club’s new pistol range.

From what I understand from Club President Don Clark, there are times when the handgun gurus were rubbing elbows with the long-gun experts on the rifle range. 

So, Clark and Dan Ackerman approached Libby District Ranger Malcolm Edwards about expanding the lease at the Lincoln Country Shooting Range to include the development of a pistol range. 

To hear Ackerman as he pitched the idea to Edwards was almost comical. 

Ackerman described a stoic, stone-faced Edwards as he pitched the deal. Says Ackerman, “He didn’t flinch; hardly blinked. I didn’t know what to think. And then when I was finished with my presentation, I almost expected a ‘No.’ Well, that’s not what I got. He turned to his two foresters who were listening and said, ‘Make it happen.’”

That was about five months ago. Last Thursday, the Libby Rod & Gun Club, Edwards, U.S. Forest Service officials, Presiding Commissioner Tony Berget, County Road Supervisor Marc McCully and other dignitaries attended the formal dedication of the new pistol range, which is a bermed enclosure located adjacent to the rifle range just east of the Jim Willman Lodge.

More than anything, it was a coming together of all these entities for the benefit of many, regardless of  political affiliation.

No politics here, folks. Just accomplishment.

“We are so grateful that the Forest Service put this on the fast track,” said Clark, president of the Rod & Gun Club. “Tony Berget made calls and asked the road crews to help. It’s just great the way everyone came together to make this happen.”

Clark specifically thanked Jon Moe, Steve Cady, Craig Schultz, Dave Sichting, Cole Spencer, Ron Halverson, and, of course, Edwards, Berget and McCully.

McCully said the effort was aided by a mild winter.

“We were only able to help as much as we did because of the slow winter. Had it been more severe we could not have assisted as we did. It all just came together.”

Sometimes, that’s just what it takes.

Great job, everyone!

(Alan Lewis Gerstenecker is editor of The Western News.)