Standard-Examiner: Weber Officials Make Pitch To Legislature For Funds To Buy Gun Range - Updated

For those WCF readers who'd like to listen in, we've helpfully linked the audio of the Weber County Commission's February 11, 2014 sales pitch

Senator Jenkins: "I'm total screwup"

As a followup to our January 24 Weber County Forum story, wherein we reported that "our purportedly 'tight fisted' Weber County Commissioners are keen on dropping a cool $3.8 million taxpayer dollars for the public acquisition of a financially troubled and currently privately owned facility which features, among other things, two indoor shooting ranges and (get this) a 'mock urban environment,' where Weber County gun fanciers can finely hone their 'urban combat' tactics," we'll shine the spotlight on this morning's Standard-Examiner story, which reports on the latest development concerning this pie in the sky boondoggle:

• Weber officials make pitch to Legislature for funds to buy gun range

For those WCF readers who'd like to listen in, we've helpfully linked the audio of the Weber County Commission's February 11, 2014 sales pitch before the Utah State Legislature's Business, Economic Development, and Labor Appropriations Subcommittee:

• Weber County Shooting Range - Sen. Jenkins (1:28:30-1:44:30) 

Surprise of surprises, we now learn that the taxpayer price tag for this proposed Weber County/State of Utah "joint venture," would actually total $7.8 million, rather that the "measly"  $3.8 million originally reported.

As an added bonus, we'll provide the online contact links for those Weber County situated state legislators who sit on the  Business, Economic Development, and Labor Appropriations Subcommittee, for the benefit of those Weber County Forum readers who'd like to bend their state legislator's ears concerning the "wisdom" of  this proposed $7.8 million boondoggle:

• Sen Scott Jenkins, R-Ogden
• Sen. Stuart Reid, R-Ogden
• Rep. Jeremy Peterson, R-Ogden
• Rep. Ryan Wilcox, R-North Ogden
• Rep. Dixon Pitcher, R-Ogden

You know what to do.  Do it on the internet... or the old fashioned way (snail-mail and/or phone).

Have at it, O Gentle Ones...

Update 2/14/14 9:29 a.m.:  Ooops.... According this morning's hot-off-the-press Standard-Examiner story, the Weber County Commission's "funding request ... for state help with the [$7.8 million] purchase of a gun range is dead for now, the victim of procedural mess-up right out of an Abbot and Costello act":

• 'Screw up' leads to Weber gun range project being cut from state priority funding list

"I screwed up. I thought it was in there. We had been over there talking about a million bucks. I knew I wouldn't get $3.7 million. We had a million and we were sitting over there talking and in the meantime we had never procedurally put it on the list and I thought we had. I just mixed up, it was a mistake," Senator Scott Jenkins admits, in a rare display of political candor.

Good goin' Senator Jenkins, we'll add.

Unfortunately, there's no word whether Senater Jenkins will succeed in having this possible multi-million dollar "handout" restored to the "sweeheart" priority list.