VIDEO STORY: See and Hear the First Shot Fired at the New Kane County Regional Training Center
It wasn’t the shot heard round the world, but it was a shot of some significance Thursday, Sept. 25, 2014, when retired Lt. Ron Grommes fired a weapon for the first time in the $1.8 million, state-of-the-art training facility at the Kane County Judicial Center.
“Ron spearheaded this for our agency,” Kane County Sheriff Pat Perez said during a brief grand-opening ceremony statement Thursday morning, which you can watch in the video embedded in this article. “Even though I’m standing here to address you, Ron Grommes is going to take the first shot — and he deserves this.”
Grommes shepherded the project from conception through County Board approval and donated his time and energy even after his retirement to see the construction that led to Thursday’s grand opening.
“In the beginning, some of the people who were against the project ended up being for it,” Perez said. “I think common sense prevailed on this, and I want to thank Kane County Board Chairman Chris Lauzen and the Kane County Board for supporting us on this project.”
Kane County Sheriff Pat Perez said the regional training center and shooting range will provide services that Kane County presently is outsourcing. Perez said 244 Kane County employees will use the range twice a year for state-mandated firearms certification. The facility also will be a regional training center that will provide value to police departments throughout Kane County and beyond.
The Sheriff’s Office shooting range previously had been located at the former county jail site on Fabyan Parkway near Settler’s Hill Landfill. That facility fell into disrepair due to age and flooding, and the county training in recent months has been done at St. Charles’ and other departments’ shooting ranges.
The county broke ground on the project on May 9, and it was completed about a month ahead of schedule, Perez said.
For mor information, please read the related article: Take a Tour of the New, $1.8 Million Sheriff’s Shooting Range.
Norm you are so right. I also believe that GAT Guns offered to let the county use their range…but it wasn’t “good enough” for our Sheriff’s office.
Many federal agencies use the range I belong to. Kane county could have saved 1.8 million dollars by doing the same.
[…] “They absolutely knocked it out of the park,” he said. “I am extremely happy with the quality of the construction of this building, and shortly, we’re going to have the first shot fired.” […]
Really? 244 Kane County employees all require training? Since when? And have any other law enforcement agencies in Kane signed on to use this range? At what cost?