Despite it being pulled from

the agenda at the last minute, the Coweta County Commission denied a conditional

use permit for a sporting shooting complex on Reese Road near Turin.

The issue, according to Commissioner

Vernon "Mutt" Hunter, has been one of the most contentious since

he's been in office.

"It was brought up and

dropped before my heart surgery, and now it's back again and pulled

at the last minute. I don't want to see this again for a year,"

he said.

Owners John Harris and Virginia

Holley Harris Milam wanted to build the facility on a 13-acre section

of a 179-acre tract.

They wanted the range opened

from 9 a.m. until sundown and stipulated no alcohol sales would be allowed.

But during an earlier public

hearing on the issue, Senoia city administrator Murray McAfee said the

city's water supply could be at risk if the shooting range was approved.

McAfee said the lead shot from

the range could seep into the city's watershed area.

But Milam argued there was

no evidence the lead could contaminate water sources.

The matter was supposed to

be decided by the County Commission Tuesday, but the owners asked the

issue be removed from the agenda at the last minute.

County attorney Mitch Powell

said the issue could not be brought up again for six months, since the

public hearing had been held on the matter.

But Hunter wanted to get his

message out loud and clear to the county and still asked for it to be

denied, which the other commissioners gave him with a unanimous vote.