Hearing may determine fate of gun club

City of Delafield - City officials are intending to hold a public hearing on Wednesday, May 26 that may determine the fate of the Hartland Sportsmans Club following an incident last week where a women sitting outside a nearby restuarant was struck by a bullet that police say richocet from the gun club''s firing range.

Neighbors from a nearby subdivision on the city's southeast corner asked the Common Council earlier tonight to shut down the firing range arguing that the incident was evidence that the gun club posed a threat to public health and safety and was failing to comply with the requirements of its city permit.

The Common Council referred the matter to the Plan Commission with instructions to conduct a public hearing to determine whether the gun club was in complaince with its city permit. The city could revoke the club's permit if the commission and the Common Council agreed that conditions of the permit have been violated and the gun club cannot correct the deficiencies, according to City Administrator Tim Schuenke.

Mayor Ed McAleer said gun club officials voluntarily suspended all shooting activities at the club.

Raluca E. Buznea, 31,  of Waukesha suffered minor abrasions when she struck by a spent bullet while sitting in the outside dinning area of the Delafield Brewhause  at about 6 p.m. Thursday evening. She was taken to a local hospital where she was treated and released, according to city police who later traced the shot back to a gun that had been fire by several individuals at the shooting range at the time in the incident.

The incident ironically occured less than 24 hours following nearly four hours of public hearing at a plan commission meeting last Wednesday where 44 individuals testified; many of them neighbors who said the gun club had failed to meet National Rifle Association safety standards that were required in the city permit.