Olympic shooting venue may be on its last legs

ATLANTA - Nearly 50 countries sent 500 competitors and coaches to this week&#39;s ISSF Atlanta World Cup shooting tournament at the Tom Lowe Shooting Grounds on the outskirts of Atlanta. It&#39;s a good thing the tournament was held in May. In a few months, the nation&#39;s only world-class shooting facility probably will be closed. <br> <br> Local officials say the range, which Olympic organizers predicted would be profitable for years after the 1996 Games, cost taxpayers in financially strapped Fulton County $600,000 over the past two years. That&#39;s on top of the $18 million originally spent to renovate the range -- which was losing about five-thousand dollars a year before the Olympics. <br> <br> It is one of only four facilities of its kind in the world, with the other three also in Olympic cities -- Barcelona, Spain, Sydney, Australia, and Munich, Germany. <br> <br> But when the current contract with National Shooting Sports Foundation ends on August 6, the county will consider other uses for the grounds. Among the possibilities: an amphitheater, a botanical garden, giving it to the state wildlife agency or building a public safety complex for fire, police and 911 service. <br> <br> John Culbreth, director of the Fulton County Parks and Recreation Department, plans to present the options to the Board of Commissioners in June. He said expenses at the grounds have been double revenues. <br> <br> The Tom Lowe Shooting Grounds is hampered somewhat by its location in the far reaches of the county. DeKalb and Clayton counties are nearby, and that limits the economic impact of events like the World Cup on the home county. <br> <br> Scott Pilkington, the gunsmith for the USA Shooting team, says, ``The event generates about seven million dollars in tourism dollars from what I&#39;ve been told. Unfortunately for Fulton County, some of those dollars are spent in the other counties, just because of the location.&#39;&#39;

http://accesswdun.com/article/2002/5/194345