Lewiston Gun Club asks city for help in finding new home

The Lewiston Gun Club has members, it has money, and it has people willing to donate labor and materials to rebuild, but what it doesn't have is land.

"That's the only thing that's holding us back," Mike Rinard told the Lewiston City Council Monday. "Give us a place to put it; that's all I'm asking." Rinard is a gun club member and the Idaho state delegate to the national Amateur Trapshooting Association.

Mayor Pro Tem Bradley A. Cannon said the city and Nez Perce County haven't followed through on promises to help the gun club relocate when it was evicted from the jointly owned Lewiston-Nez Perce County Regional Airport.

The city lost a positive organization that brought money into town, Cannon said, and it needs to revisit those promises and see what it can do to help. To have the annual Camas Prairie Trap Shoot go to Walla Walla is a shame, he said.

Other councilors agreed, but with some reservations.

Mayor Kevin C. Poole said he's been involved with attempts to find land for the club. But it needs to come to the city with a plan that has the backing of the majority of the club and its leadership, something that has at times seemed to be missing, Poole said.

There also needs to be a realization that the gun club will not find a site inside the city limits, Councilor James Kleeburg said. The city can get behind its search, "but it won't be our decision."

After the meeting, Rinard said he doesn't think it's true that a gun club can't be located inside a city. It's happened in other places, he said, but there's no obvious 50-acre site inside Lewiston.

What he's hoping for, Rinard said, is that the city will use its resources to help identify a site with a willing seller. "After that, we're pretty self-sufficient."

The ideal, he said, is near the valley floor where the weather is mild and 1,300 feet by 2,300 feet, or about 51 to 53 acres. But getting something that precise will be difficult, and the club is willing to look at a variety of locations, he said.

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Lee may be contacted at slee@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2266.