Work beginning Monday on new HPD gun range

With some easement issues now resolved, work on the Hannibal Police Department’s new gun range is scheduled to begin Monday, Oct. 13, according to Police Chief Lyndell Davis.
The HPD has been without a gun range of its own for approximately 1 1/2 years when property development around its former range, located off of Paris Gravel Road, raised serious safety questions.
HPD officers must qualify twice a year in accordance with guidelines set by the city’s insurance carrier - MIRMA. For practice and qualification purposes an arrangement with the Mississippi Gun Club was worked out. However, the design of that facility is not fully conducive to police firearms training.
The new gun range will be located on city-owned property adjacent to the city’s old landfill in Ralls County. Because of its proximity to a closed landfill, the prospects of future development at the site is not great.
The cost of the project is $165,755. The department has $200,000 budgeted for the gun range.
A portion of the construction cost will be paid for with money left the HPD by the estate of Ellabelle Yohn, who died in 2004. Yohn left $133,631 to both the police and fire departments of Hannibal. The fire department used Yohn’s donation to help pay for its new rescue truck which went into service in October 2007.
Once the HPD’s gun range is completed a plaque in memory of Yohn will be put in place.
Bill Sullivan Excavation is the contractor for the project. The company was able to lower the total cost of the project by $2,100 through some lighting modifications.