Another story from my past.................

[Bob Wright]

Many years ago I spent many Saturday morning at the old Shelby County Rifle and Pistol range near Memphis.  One of the regulars was an older gentleman who came out pretty regularly.  He was straight and lean, but walked sort of halt.  He always wore khakis, shirt and pants, and wore a cap that bore some kind of Navy emblem.  He shot an older Colt M1911, which he told me his father had carried in World War I and he had carried in World War II.  He also had a similar vintage S&W Combat Masterpiece.  He drove a fairly new Ford pick-up truck, plain Jane otherwise.

 

Now the range was closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and one day he asked the range officer, Mr. Bobby Keen, if he and his wife would drive him up to Hohenwald, Tennessee so he could do some banking business, as he had gotten to the age he no longer felt safe driving on the highway.  He would furnish them lunch.  They agreed, and on the morning appointed, he picked them up and Bobby got behind the wheel.  After having driven a while, he pointed out a roadside park, and they pulled over.  This gent pulled out three brown bags, each with two cheese and baloney sandwiches, a piece of fruit, some chips and napkins.  Also there was a jug of sweet iced tea.  Well they all ate their lunch and drove on into town.

Bobby and his wife waited while he conducted his business and then he returned ready to drive back to Memphis.  Out of curiosity, pone of them asked why he did business with a bank so far from Memphis.

 

"Why," he replied, "this is the bank I own."

 

At his death the obituary noted he was a chief financial officer of Union Planters Bank of Memphis.

 

 

Bob Wright

Edited October 30, 2017 by Bob Wright

[bersaguy]

Sounds like another Sam Walton. He would walk into one of his Walmart stores and buy something and walk to check out and pay for it and it was very seldom any clerk that checked him out new who he was. He also drove an old Chevy pickup truck.............

[KahrMan]

Union Planters.  Now there is a name I have not heard in a while.

[MP5_Rizzo]

4 hours ago, Bob Wright said:

Many years ago I spent many Saturday morning at the old Shelby County Rifle and Pistol range near Memphis. 

Is this the one that was on top of a land fill and all the range workers (Except the RO's) were inmates from the Shelby county jail?

[Bob Wright]

7 minutes ago, MP5_Rizzo said:

Is this the one that was on top of a land fill and all the range workers (Except the RO's) were inmates from the Shelby county jail?

Yes and no.  The inmates served as range attendants.  But the landfill was further west.  And before any angst arises, the inmates were either awaiting trial or were convicted of misdemeanors,  mostly DUI, failed to pay traffic fines, behind on child support.  No felons were allowed on the range or other work details.

 

If you're thinking of the landfill I think you are, that was near the airport, where FedEx parking is now.

 

Bob Wright

Edited October 30, 2017 by Bob Wright

[MP5_Rizzo]

I was never a Shelby County resident but two of my college buddies went to med school in Memphis.  I spent a many of weekends visiting during that time and almost always included a trip to a range near an old landfill.  Inmates in prison stripes were there working.  I guess your term of range attendants is more fitting. We sent a lot of lead into the backstop at that range until one weekend they told us we had to give them the make, model and serial number of everything we plan to use on the range form then on.  We did not stay and never went back.

[Almond27]

Thanks for sharing. Different times these days for sure.


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[Will Carry]

I love those "slice of life" stories! Tennessee has changed so much in the last 30 years that it is important to write these stories lest they be forgotten. If things had been different, I would still be in Tennessee. Instead of the New New Jersey, suburban hell I live in now. They are gobbling up farmland at an alarming rate. Poor country folk are selling their land to the gentry and moving to the cities to find work. In Scotland, 97% of the land is owned by 3% of the people. North Carolina is doing the same. Tennessee ain't far behind. The Cumberland Plateau was once inhabited by poor country folk, now I see a lot of retirement communities of retired Yankees and Country Clubs. I want to tell a story now! I'll write it this evening and post it. 

[Grayfox54]

I was a long time regular at the old Shelby County range. Bobby Keen was a good friend of mine as were Tom and Richard after Bobby retired. For many years, my work had me off on Tues and Weds. Quite often I'd go to the range on Weds and stay all day. Yes, it was next door to the old Shelby County land Fill which is now full and closed. As Bob said, the inmates were all minor offenders and Trustees. They did clean up, repaired target stands and generally kept an eye on shooters. However, they were absolutely forbidden to touch a firearm. 

Its a sad tale about how it all ended. While the range technically was part of Shelby Farms, it had always been treated as a separate entity with its own set of books which always had shown the range turning a small, but steady profit.   In the late 1980s, maybe 1990, Shelby Farms got a new director, who's name I have forgotten. He was anti-gun and hated the range. He was determined to close it down. First thing he did was put the range into the general park fund. From there he cooked the books to show the range loosing money.

There were also problems when developers started building big subdivisions behind the range. Residents complained about the noise and on very rare occasions (two, maybe three times)  a bullet would hit a house. No one was ever hurt and any damage was minor at best. I must point out that every incident of a bullet hitting a house was investigated and not once was it ever proven that the round came from the range. I every case the conclusion was that the round came from a poacher illegally hunting in the Wolf River bottoms. However, that didn't seem to matter. 

Anyway, in 1992 this weasel park director went to his bosses and with the rigged books, noise complaints and the imaginary danger and got his wish. The range was closed. There was a fairly large group of us who tried to put up a fight to save the place, but our pleas fell on deaf ears. Now the place sits empty and abandoned. The ground is so full of lead that the cost of cleaning it up would be outrageous. They can't use it or sell it. Although I do understand that the Sheriff's dept and the County Police at least did make use of it once or twice a year for a while. But I don't think they do anymore. Nobody can seem to remember exactly when that range opened. Best guess was sometime around the mid-1950s. It served the shooters of this area quite well for many years until one anti-gunner in the right position lied his way into closing it.