News

County drops Pinnacle property pursuit

By Bill Moss, Published: May 26, 2016

It’s looking like strike 2 for Sheriff Charlie McDonald in his hunt for a large isolated site to conduct tactical training center and target practice.

After the Board of Commissioners unanimously shot down McDonald’s effort to buy the former Flintlock summer camp property in Green River last summer, McDonald kept looking. He expressed interest in a 550-acre parcel on Pinnacle Mountain, neighboring residents said. Commissioners and County Manager Steve Wyatt said that that parcel, too, is off the table.
“We’ve had an interest ever since Flintlock in providing some kind of facility,” board Chairman Tommy Thompson said. “We never got to the stage of talking enough to make an offer. As far as I know at the present time we’re not looking at Pinnacle for that purpose. We’re not interested in purchasing that. That is not to say we’re not interested in helping the sheriff.”
Commissioner Bill Lapsley said he too was supportive of the sheriff’s training needs but also did not expect the county to pursue the Pinnacle Mountain land.
“I think the commissioners want to try to help the sheriff in every way they can,” he said. “If we’ve got a problem I want to have the best trained law enforcement person come to my house that I can get. The sheriff feels very strongly he needs that center and I think we all want to help him find the right place.”
Commissioners have informally earmarked the proceeds from the sale of the Bent Creek property on the French Broad River as the funding source for a law enforcement training center. At one point, terms of a sale were tied to a joint law enforcement center for Henderson and Haywood counties. A Pinnacle Mountain resident who opposed the latest prospective land purchase said that’s no longer in the law. Diane Johnston, a retired attorney, said she checked into it and found the money is no longer restricted.
“She’s right,” Lapsley said. “Apodaca and McGrady got a bill passed two years ago and got that law enforcement thing removed. My gut feeling is the board will use a million dollars of that to reroof the jail.”
McDonald said he remains frustrated that his effort to find a training site triggers such negative reactions.
“I honestly don’t know where that stands,” he said of the Pinnacle Mountain property. “Information gets out. A lot of times it’s wrong information but by the time it reaches its fever pitch you’re kind of talking in a whisper in a windstorm.”
“I don’t know what their feeling is at this time,” he said of the commissioners. “With everything else that’s been going on, this hasn’t come up, although it does need to be addressed at some point in time.”