Editor’s note: The embedded video in this article contains strong language. Viewers should use their own discretion.

FAIRFIELD — Keith Life shot a video that shows a man drawing a handgun and firing it from a neighboring gun club in what clearly is in the direction of Life’s property – a fence line about 150 yards away.

While shooting the video, Life talks about how close the bullets come to his position, his anxiety rising with each shot, as sounds of the gunfire can be heard in the background.

The shooting stand that was being used was taken down this week after the Solano County Sheriff’s Office responded to the complaint.

Life also claims that he has had a high-powered rifle pointed at him, and said errant shots have whistled over his head. It has gotten so bad, he said, that people he has had working at his home have left because they did not feel safe.

“This is not about gun rights. It is not about property owners not being able to shoot on their property. This is about a business that is in the wrong place,” said Life, who is a member of the National Rifle Association. He describes himself as a “gun person.”

Repeated calls seeking comment from the club owner, Thomas Bock, have not been returned. At times, the voicemail has been full and messages were not able to be left, including Monday when an attempt was made seeking specific comment on Life’s video. Attempts to reach gun club officials at the site were also not successful.

In the meantime, area residents are collecting signatures on a petition asking the county to put a muzzle on Twin Sisters.

Solano County sorting out issues

Solano County planning officials are wading through a quagmire of issues surrounding the Twin Sisters Gun Club – including a current application by Bock for a business license and a county evaluation of zoning regulations and the possible need for a conditional use permit.

“There is just a dearth of information,” said Michael Yankovich, planning manager for the county.

County records show there has never been a business license attached to that specific 160 acres, nor any use permit or other related permit of any kind. All tax assessments have been based on the foundational zoning as rangeland and watershed.

Then there is the issue of whether there is a historical use on that property, and what that would mean for legal uses now.

Those kind of grandfathered uses, however, are limited to current uses that are basically the same as the previous uses, and uses that have not expanded, county officials said.

Neighbors said things have definitely changed at Twin Sisters.

Kathleen Bauer, a 31-year resident at the north end of Green Valley on the other side of the mountain from the gun club, said she hardly heard anything from the gun club until about three years ago, and it has gotten particularly bad in the past six months.

“It was just a few pops with local people,” said Bauer, who sent a letter complaining about the escalation of noise and safety concerns to several county officials, Fairfield officials, U.S. Rep. John Garamendi and state Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom. “Now it is constant . . . and much, much louder.”

She said the only response to her letter came from Fairfield City Manager David White.

“They have increased their membership; they have increased the fire power and they even shoot at targets that explode,” Bauer said.

Neighbors also note that the shooting takes place during all daylight hours during the week and is worse during the weekends.

In essence, they contend the club is keeping them from enjoying the quiet country lifestyle they chose when they purchased their homes and property. Moreover, they complain the constant noise is terrifying their dogs and horses.

The petition reflects that escalation, with signatures from as far away as Larry’s Produce and Gomer School, to residents at Manka’s Corner, on Suisun Valley Road and even at Rancho Solano. Most recently, residents of Napa County have joined the protest.

Bauer’s letter strongly opposes the issuance of a business license.

History of Twin Sisters

Twin Sisters Park was established by Ted Rush in 1955 as a place where area residents enjoyed afternoon picnics and horseback riding. The local Boy Scouts used to camp up on the ranch, Fairfield Mayor Harry Price said.

“We used to go there a lot. No one had swimming pools at that time . . . and (Rush) had a big pond that he had cemented,” said Mike Vincent, a 47-year resident in the area and a friend of Rush.

He said Rush allowed deer hunters on the property, which at one time he believed was 1,000 acres or more and actually extended into Napa County. He is not sure when the first shooting range was put in, but is convinced that came after the Bock family became owners of what is now a 160-acre site.

Vincent does recall that Rush and some pals fired off cannons in the canyons deep into the property.

Price, however, does think there was target shooting on the property when Rush owned it, but he thinks it was limited to an area far from the park area, and may actually have been in Napa County.

The Solano Gun Club, a black powder group formed in the 1940s, has been using the property for decades, said Dexter Lopez, a member of the Twin Sisters club for the past five or six years and an officer with the Twin Sisters Action Pistol Club, a U.S. Practical Shooting Association competition group formed in January that pays a fee to use the club site.

Rush deeded the property over to his second wife, Dorothy Rush, on July 9, 1970, according to the county Assessor’s Office.

There were a number of quick deed transactions, and eventually the 160-acre parcel fell to her daughter, Sharon Chaney, in December 1990. Two smaller parcels, one less than an acre and the other 1.43 acres, also transferred.

One area resident remembers there was a campground on the site from about 1995 to 2005. He said his family would get reservations and use the facility quite often. Again, the county records do not show any license or permit for a commercial campground.

Chaney had married William Bock in October 1981.

“I know (William Bock) wanted to put a motocross thing up there, but never did,” Vincent said.

In 1990, Chaney put 98 percent of the property in a trust under her name. One percent was given to Thomas Bock and 1 percent was given to Craig Bock. Their shares were outside the trust.

A year after Chaney’s death in 2008, the brothers split the trust property so each had 49 percent, land that remained in the trust, and still does today.

“And that is the last document that has been filed on that particular parcel,” said Don Vig, a mapping technician for the county.

At some point, Craig Bock began operating the gun club on the property. After he died in a motorcycle accident in 2015, his brother took over operations, expanded membership and the club activities.

Law enforcement chimes in

While noise travels, so do bullets, Life said. He points to Google Earth photos that he says show there is not a single shooting range at the club that is not directed at someone’s property or across a public road.

“It is only 160 acres. We are not talking about a huge ranch and bullets can travel miles,” said Life, who has complained to the Sheriff’s Office about some of the activities, including claims of stray bullets hitting his property.

So far, Life said, nothing has been done to curb the problems, and he and his neighbors believe the situation is getting worse, not better.

More than a few of the area residents believe the lack of action by the Sheriff’s Office is because members of the department are also members of the gun club. They also contend the department’s tactical team trains at the club.

Sheriff Thomas Ferrara said that is simply not the case.

He said he is not aware of any member of the department who is a member of the club, and said the sheriff’s tactical team trains at two other sites, one in the county and the other outside.

Ferrara said one of the problems with enforcement at this or any other club is that the deputies must witness the violation, and obviously they receive the complaints after the incidents.

“This has been a problem for a while,” Ferrara said. “I think they have probably gotten too big for where they are at.”

Lopez said the safety concerns are exaggerated.

“I’ve been a member here for five or six years . . . and we have never had an accident over here,” Lopez said.

A out-of-county police tactical team and other law enforcement groups do use the club for training, he said, but he was not sure which agencies are involved.

Lopez understands the noise issues by neighbors, and said it is his understanding the exploding targets are no longer being used. But Life said the targets have been in use as recently as this past week.

County has decisions to make

The petition, with more than 300 names as of this week, will soon be delivered to the Solano County planning offices demanding something be done about the constant and increased noise issues created by the gun club activities.

Yankovich said the county is formulating a plan, but wants to talk to Bock first.

“We are anxiously waiting for a call back from Mr. Bock so we can talk to him,” Yankovich said this week.

Yankovich said a meeting had been set up with Bock, but Bock had a personal matter that came up that forced cancellation.

Reach Todd R. Hansen at 427-6932 or [email protected].