Mike Giles
Stepping to the shooting station, Mike Heard loaded his shotgun and searched the skies for birds. Suddenly two birds flew into range and Heard quickly dispatched both. Following close behind came Bob Martin. Martin quickly busted five out of five birds.
Shortly thereafter Nina Martin stepped up to the plate and busted bird after bird. It was obvious that this lady was an expert wing shot rivaling any other shooter that I observed during the afternoon. As it turned out, Bob and Nina Martin rarely missed any birds or clay pigeons on this fine afternoon.
Thanks to the Meridian Police Benevolent Association and the Meridian Shooting Club, the Jackie Abercrombie Memorial Shoot was a rousing success. Though the shoot was initially threatened by showers during the midday hours, the event went off really well. According to Meridian Shooting Club President Jimmy Sides the event progressed without any problems. And that’s a credit to Sides and all of the volunteers that helped make the memorial shoot a success.
Many shooters
Each participant was able to shoot a round of 25 clay pigeons from a variety of locations and some shot multiple rounds. “I don’t know exactly how many shooters we had but we shot 55 rounds,” said Jimmy Sides. Though the number of folks varied slightly from round to round, there were usually about five or six shooters per round, which equates to about 300 shooting participants on the day!
“Sharon Allen said that this was our best turnout yet,” related Sides.
By the sights and sounds of the participants everyone seemed to genuinely enjoy shooting with fellow gun lovers. And all were doing it with Jackie Abercrombie at the forefront of their thoughts. Abercrombie was a Meridian Policeman that passed away not too long ago. In addition to raising money for an excellent cause the shooters had a chance to hone their skills and get their eyes sharpened for opening day of dove season.
The Meridian Police Benevolent Association assists law enforcement personnel in times of sickness or accidents, and helps out with their families when they are in need as well. In addition to the participants who sharpened their shooting skills, others were key volunteers for the event like Jimmy Sides, Allen Harwell, Phillip Jerguson, Keith McCary and Sharon Allen.
Additional shooting events that will also serve as fundraisers are the pistol shoot on September 19 and the rifle shoot on the 30th. For more information on upcoming events go online to Meridianshooting club.org.
