The Rifle Range is Closed Monday-Thursday

We are having problems with members who do not understand what I think is 
simple English.  On the front page of the September bulletin, I wrote:

Rifle Range closure continues:  with the archeological site survey work 
still underway down-range from the rifle range, the rifle range remains 
closed until 6:00 PM each day, Monday through Thursday.  The rifle range 
opens beginning at 6:00 PM Monday through Thursday, and closes at 
sunset.   The rifle range is open Friday through Sunday, and on lab 
holidays, beginning at 8:00 AM and closes at sunset.

All other range facilities are open seven days a week.  Only the rifle 
range is impacted by the current archeological site survey work.

Now, what I was trying to communicate with these two paragraphs was a very 
complicated concept.  That complicated concept, which is apparently very 
difficult to understand for some club members, is that the Rifle Range (you 
know, the place you take rifles, the place with 100 yard, 200 yard and 300 
yard berms) is closed until 6:00 PM Monday through Thursday.  Closed means 
that you don't go down to the lab monitor sitting by the rifle range and 
ask him if the range is open at 9:00 AM, or at 11:00 AM or at 1:00 PM or 
4:00 PM.   Closed means you don't use the rifle range and you don't take 
rifles to the rifle range.  It would be fine with me if you went down to 
the rifle range and cut weeds.  It would be fine with me if you went down 
to the 200 yard gong and painted it.  But it wouldn't be fine with me if 
you took your rifle to the range at 5:00 PM and sat waiting until 6:00 PM.

If you're one of the members that goes down and asks the DOE monitor if the 
rifle range is open, let me tell you what happens.  The first thing that 
happens after you leave is that he tells the Site Survey Team Leader that a 
member of the club (or two or three, however many were in the party asking 
him) tried to shoot on the rifle range.  The next thing that happens is 
that the Site Survey Team Leader calls the project leader for the land 
transfer.  Then the project leader for the land transfer goes down to the 
range to see what is going on that members don't understand that the rifle 
range is closed.  When this happens five times in one day, then they call 
me, and want to know why the club hasn't informed the members that the 
rifle range is closed.  Then I get to explain why I can't write a clear 
notice in the bulletin that the LASC rank and file can understand or why 
some LASC members think closed means they can still shoot.

Why am I irritated?  Pretty simple.  Our current lease expires in three and 
half months.  We are trying to negotiate an extension with NNSA.  How much 
does it help our negotiations when members try to shoot on a closed range?

If we continue to have as many club members trying to use the closed rifle 
range next week as we did last week, the Site Survey Teams are likely to 
shut all the ranges down Monday through Thursday.  Part of the negotiations 
that let us open the pistol and shotguns ranges during the week were that 
we would give the field crews a 30-60 minute buffer from the time they were 
scheduled to be out of down range area (from the rifle range) until LASC 
members started to use the rifle range.  So if you go down to the rifle 
range at 5:15, the monitor will probably be gone.  That doesn't mean that 
it's OK to shoot.  What if there was a communications problem between the 
monitor and one of the survey teams and a vehicle had quit?  If a survey 
team member hears a ricochet, every range will be closed all day Monday 
through Thursday until the end of October, and after daylight savings time 
ends, we'll be closed Monday-Friday until snow drives the survey teams out 
of the field.

I would like you to help me get this message out to all members of the 
club.  Please tell any member you know that the Rifle Range is closed until 
6:00 PM Monday through Thursday.  My estimate is that the closures will 
continue until the weather forces the survey teams out of the field.

Also, effective immediately, no gates to the ranges will be left open 
Monday through Thursday.  Open the gate, drive in, and lock it behind 
you.  We do not want non-LASC members trying to sight in hunting rifles on 
the closed rifle range.

Marv Alme
President, LASC