In an effort to continue improving the training of his deputies, Lincoln County Sheriff Steve Rushing wants to move the sheriff’s office’s firing range.

     The sheriff informed Lincoln County supervisors of his plan to utilize the former firing range for the Mississippi Highway Patrol on Opelousas Road during the board’s meeting Monday.

     Rushing said his department currently uses the Brookhaven Police Department’s firing range to conduct their training, and would like to get their own facility to have better access and be able to use it more.

     “We’d like to get our own facility so we can better train the deputies,” said Rushing. “We’ve been looking for another place to use for about two years now. It would give us access to a larger area for training.”

     The sheriff’s office has 20 full-time deputies and 20 reservists, according to Rushing.

     “We try to qualify our deputies on the range every three to four months,” Rushing said.

     The property hasn’t been used in around 20 years and would require some work to get it back in usable shape.

     “We could do most of the work ourselves and the funding would come from inside our budget,” said Rushing. “It would come at no additional cost to the taxpayers.”

     Rushing gave no timetable for the move and said it’s still in its planning phase.

     In other sheriff’s office news, the second litter collection crew started working last week. Rushing said they’re off to a strong start.

     The work crew covered between 15 and 20 roads in the county with three inmates in the early part of the week and two in the latter part of the week, according to Rushing.

     “They picked up 140 bags last week throughout the county,” said Rushing. “We concentrated on the bigger roads and then we’ll go back and get the smaller roads. The grass is going to be cut soon, so we wanted to get the trash out of the way before that.”

     Rushing said his goal is to have four inmates on the work crew in total.

     “Most of the 140 bags were between the two guys,” said Rushing. “We’re trying to increase our numbers of inmates as we go.”

     Rushing said litter was picked up along roads in every district of the county last week, including the entire length of Jackson-Liberty Drive in Lincoln County from the Copiah County line to the Pike County line, which is around 23 miles.