Newspaper Page Text
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 28, 2009
THE JACKSON HERALD
PAGE 3A
Taking aim: Army Rangers fire at Braselton shooting range
Almost 40 federal, state and local agencies use WJ facility
TRAINING GROUND
Army Rangers take aim at a Braselton firing range. A shoot house in Braselton
includes a mock residence where trainees can learn how to safely enter a room that
may include a potential threat. Photo by Kerri Testement
BY KERRI TESTEMENT
THE ARMY Rangers say
Braselton’s firing range and
shoot house is right on target
for its needs.
That’s why a platoon of
35 Rangers spent Thursday
and Friday firing rifles at
Braselton’s Sgt. Todd Helcher
Firing Range, located within
the gates of the town’s water
reclamation facility off Josh
Pirkle Road.
“We love it here,’’ said
Staff Sgt. Brandon O’Malley
between breaks of firing
weapons. “It’s big enough
for what we’ve got.’’
The 5th Ranger Battalion
typically trains in the
Chattahoochee National
Forest around Blairsville,
Suches and Dahlonega and
travels to Ft. Benning, near
Columbus.
But for the second time
in three months, the Army
Rangers have opted to train
in Braselton.
And the firing range
and nearby shoot house in
Braselton is attracting plen
ty of area law enforcement
agencies, too.
Since the facility opened in
2007, it has hosted 39 agen
cies — including the FBI,
DEA and police departments
around Northeast Georgia
and Metro Atlanta.
“Every month, we have
someone out here,” said
Braselton assistant police
chief Lou Solis, a retired
Army Ranger with 20 years
of experience.
Most agencies fire pis
tols at the firing range, but
for last week’s training, the
Army Rangers used rifles.
State law requires that
police officers get eight
hours of training a year at
a shooting range. The bet
ter trained officers are to
handle their weapons, the
better public safety officers
they become, Solis said.
“This is the best place to
mess up,” Solis said of the
training grounds.
At the Braselton facility,
officers are trained on how
to shoot targets that may be
a threat. The trick is learning
which targets are threats and
which are not.
Solis said a typical offi
cer-involved shooting takes
place within three feet of a
suspect. In those incidents,
quick thinking and accurate
shooting is a critical skill for
officers.
“We shoot to stop the
threat,” he said. “We don’t
shoot to kill.”
A 10-lane firing range
uses state-of-the-art tech
nology to have targets move
or remain stationary as offi
cers fire at them. A supervi
sor can control the targets
in a command booth at the
firing range.
During training, officers
are also tested on their
timing, shooting accuracy
and ability to handle stress
under fire.
For the Army Rangers,
training includes dragging
a 180-pound dummy almost
the length of a football field
to the firing range, where
soldiers fire 20 shots at a
target. They also have to
handle a misfired weapon
during the training exercise.
Gwinnett County’s SWAT
team also uses the firing
range, where officers shoot
targets from a wooded area
about 250 yards away, Solis
said.
At the shoot house, offi
cers train in a mock resi
dence complete with dum
mies posing as potential
shooters. Above the shoot
house, supervisors walk
along a catwalk — where
they instruct officers on the
best methods of entering a
room, firing their weapons
and clearing the area.
Outside the shoot house,
officers use a mock area
to plan their moves inside
the facility. Once inside, the
training can include officers
dressed in their complete
gear with blank ammuni
tion. A “run” phase includes
using live ammunition.
Solis said safety is a prior
ity at the Braselton facility,
where officers can learn the
best training practices.
Typically, the first shots
begin after 9 a.m. and end
by 5 p.m., he said. On eve
nings that night-time train
ing is required, police try to
notify area residents.
Braselton built its
$297,000 firing range
using seized drug money.
Homeland Security also paid
about $50,000 in equipment
at the firing range.
The firing range is named
in honor of Braselton officer
Todd Helcher, who died dur
ing a car accident in 2005.
The FBI built the shoot
house and paid about
$350,000 for the project,
according to town manager
Jennifer Dees.
After it was built, the
FBI gave the shoot house
to the Braselton Police
Department.
Barrow Regional asks court to deny appeal
Legal dispute centers on proposed Braselton hospital
BY KERRI TESTEMENT
BARROW Regional Medical
Center is asking an appeals
court to deny Northeast Georgia
Medical Center’s request for a
hearing centering on a proposed
new hospital in Braselton.
Former state attorney Mike
Bowers — on behalf of the
Winder-based hospital — fded
a response on Monday with
the Georgia Court of Appeals
on the proposed Braselton hos
pital.
Northeast Georgia wants to
open a 100-bed hospital on
Thompson Mill Road, near
Chateau Elan. The Georgia
Department of Community
Health approved a Certificate
of Need (CON) application for
the medical campus in 2007,
but Barrow Regional has fought
plans for the South Hall hospi
tal in court.
Superior Court Judge Bob
Adamson ruled in December
that the state department abused
its discretion in approving the
CON and reversed the CON
approval.
Northeast Georgia filed a
request on Jan. 14 to have the
Georgia Court of Appeals hear
its case.
However, Bowers argued
in court documents filed this
week that the state Court of
Appeals doesn’t have the
jurisdiction to hear Northeast
Georgia’s request. Instead, the
Superior Court ruled that the
DCH should consider new
evidence when applying its
adverse impact analysis of the
proposed hospital. The state
agency should also reconsider
the issues in a new application,
Bowers wrote.
Barrow Regional also says
that the DCH failed to consider
an adverse impact analysis on
how a new hospital in Braselton
would affect the Winder hos
pital.
“Instead, DCH ‘guessed’
and ‘assumed’ regarding the
adverse impact analysis and
permitted Northeast Georgia
to rush through its ‘amended’
CON application without the
consideration required,” Bowers
wrote.
Barrow Regional is a finan
cially struggling, but critical,
56-bed hospital in Winder,
Bowers wrote. The hospital
recently invested $3.5 million
in capital improvements and
equipment purchases.
But opening a compet
ing hospital 11 miles away
in Braselton would decrease
Barrow Regional’s patient vol
ume and its ability to attract
patients with insurance.
Indigent patients — who often
don’t have the ability to pay
for medical care — would also
increase at Barrow Regional,
Bowers wrote.
“Obviously, this will have a
substantial, negative financial
impact on Barrow Regional,”
he continued. “Not only will
Barrow Regional’s inpatient
and outpatient revenues be cut,
it will lose a large part of its
insured Barrow County patients
to the South Hall Hospital.”
Barrow Regional says
the DCH “blindly accepted”
Northeast Georgia’s analysis of
market share in the area and
gave little time for the Winder
hospital to contest the CON
application.
BEGAN IN 2006
Northeast Georgia submitted
its CON application in 2006,
when the health system was plan
ning to close the 96-bed Lanier
Park hospital in Gainesville.
In its CON application, the
Braselton hospital was consid
ered a “replacement” facility.
During a state-mandated hear
ing in February 2007, Northeast
Georgia says the DCH said it
didn’t consider the Braselton
hospital a “replacement” facil
ity — regardless whether Lanier
r
City of Nicholson
NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC
The City of Nicholson will hold a General Election
on Tuesday, November 3, 2009. The offices to be
filled are:
Mayor
Councilmember 1, 2, 3 and 4
The qualifying fee for each elected position will be
$10.00 for Mayor and $5.00 for councilmember.
To be eligible to vote in the November General
Election you must be registered to vote by October
5, 2009.
Park was closed. The DCH also
said there was a need for 127
hospital beds in South Hall,
court documents say.
In April 2007, Northeast
Georgia submitted additional
information and amendments
to its CON application.
Attorneys for Northeast
Georgia say those amend
ments didn’t alter the scope of
the Braselton hospital project.
However, Bowers contends in
court documents that the DCH
ignored its own rules about
an amended application and
Northeast Georgia should have
submitted a new application
when the scope of the project
changed. Northeast Georgia is
now planning to keep its Lanier
Park hospital open.
Additional information
related to Northeast Georgia’s
ability to fund the project and
a county-level adverse impact
analysis were also submitted in
April 2007.
Barrow Regional later
appealed the CON approval of
the Braselton facility. A hear
ing officer ruled in favor of
the CON approval in December
2007 and a review board in
February 2008 favored the hear
ing officer’s decision.
Barrow Regional asked for a
judicial review in March 2008.
Judge Adamson issued his rul
ing in December 2008.
Northeast Georgia opened its
first building on the proposed
medical campus — Medical
Plaza I — in September 2008.
Officials have said they antici
pated Barrow Regional to
appeal its proposed Braselton
hospital and considered the
legal process in its construction
timeline.
BEACON RELOCATED
This rotating beacon at the Jackson County Airport was relocated last week from
the east side of the runway to the west side to facilitate with ongoing construc
tion. The relocation was coordinated by the Jackson County building and grounds
department and by Pirate Airlift. Photo by Dan Elliott
We offer personal loans
from $150.00 to $500.00."
Telephone Applications Welcome.
Call or Come Visit Us Today!
rgj 1816 N. Broad Street
SECURITY Commerce, GA 30529
FINANCE
(706)335-3551
'More if you qualify. All loans are subject to our
iberal credit policy and credit limitations, if any.
www.JacksonHeraldTODAY.com
JEFFERSON TIRE
& BATTERY
367-9210
Has Complete Car Care
• Oil Change • Tune-ups
• Brake Work • A/C Service Repair
• Complete Tire Service
• Replace CY Joints
• Front-end Alignment
HOURS:
Mon.-Fri. 7:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.
Sat. & Sun. Closed