Bullets fly . . . family ducks

Press, 25 February 1986, Page 1

Bullets fly . . . family ducks

by

CINDY BAXTER

Nobody told the Breton family, of Waimate, that they may need bulletproof vests for their stroll on the Opihi walkway on Sunday.

The New Zealand Army’s Territorial unit was practising shooting. skills on the rifle range next door to the walkway, which is beside the Opihi River, near Fairlie. Mr Murray Breton said that at one stage, he and his family had to dive for cover beside a bank as the bullets got too close for comfort.

His brother was walking ahead, and bullets were hitting the trees between them.

“Some of the bullet holes in the trees were only one metre above the ground — and this was right on the track,” he said.

Mr Breton was stopped by an Army officer as he was approaching the walkway, and warned that the unit was practising. He arranged with the officer in charge for the family to get past the start of the walk, which was behind the range, before the firing began again. Mr Breton, his wife, two children and his brother had only just begun the walk when the action be-

gan. "There was a crack as the first shot was fired, then bullets were falling all round us. We dived down a bank and we were lying there with bullets flying over our heads.”

Mr Breton then returned to the officer to warn him of the danger, and also to find out if tratnpers coming from the opposite direction had been warned.

They had not, so Mr Breton went along the walk to make sure other trampers were told of the gunfire. An officer was then posted further along the track to watch for more people. One of those people, a British tourist, was amazed to see a branch hit by a bullet less than two metres above his head. Mr Breton said he did not think the Army personnel actually knew where the bullets were falling.

He was astounded that a walkway could be built so close to a rifle range.

“I just wanted to tell people so that we can put a stop to it before somebody gets killed.” The, Canterbury District Walkway Committee secretary, Mr Steve Shar-

man, said in Christchurch yesterday that the Lands and Survey Department was aware of the problem with the proximity of the rifle range, and had written to the police in Timaru.

"It was my understanding that it was being used only a couple of times a year,” he said. The Opihi walkway opened in October last year, and the department was told the butts at the end of the range would protect the walkers from ■ bullets.

The department was waiting for a reply from the Timaru police, who yesterday said the range would not be used until checks had been made and remedies found.

The public relations officer for the Army in Christchurch, Major Bruce Morrison, said yesterday that an official inquiry was being held into the incident.

The range was owned by the local gun club. The Territorial unit using the range had been given permission by the police, he said.

He said that until the matter was cleared up, the Army would not use the range. “It is certainly potentially dangerous,” he said.