As first reported at heraldonline.com, the county's Zoning Board of Appeals voted 3-2 to deny Benson's request to build a shooting range and obstacle course at a 10-acre site on Ashford Road about two miles from the J.A. Cochran Bypass. The property borders Chester State Park.

"I'm happy," said Tommy Bagley, an opponent of the parkside range who is building a house on Ashford Road. "The system happened to work this time -- barely."

The board didn't offer a reason for its decision during the meeting, but the vote followed an occasionally heated debate between neighbors and officials from the sheriff's office and state parks.

The range for handguns and submachine guns had been described by the sheriff's staff as a training necessity. The county doesn't own another site where deputies can practice firing their weapons, and the state-owned range they had used was demolished last week.

After the zoning board's decision, Benson said he didn't know what he would do.

"We're just going to have to go back and look at a few things and see what we can do," he said. "We don't have any options right now, but we'll look."

The main criticism of Benson's plan was that the range would be too close to the park. The sheriff had asked the board to relax county guidelines about how far the range must be from the 523-acre park.

Zoning rules require that a range target must be followed by a mile of uninhabited land, and opponents said the sheriff's plan didn't meet that requirement.

Sheriff's officials asked the zoning board to reduce the mile requirement to around a half-mile because that area of the state park was not used by visitors.

Phil Gaines, director of South Carolina State Parks, said the sheriff had apparently met or exceeded all safety standards and the decision to allow the range was a local one, not a state matter.

Despite assurances from sheriff's officials that precautions such as high, earthy barriers and supervised training sessions would ensure safety, residents maintained that law enforcement couldn't guarantee someone would not get hurt.

"I've got guns," Bagley told the board. "I know what they're about, too."

Bagley and other opponents have said they want the sheriff to get the kind of training facility he desires, but they don't see the logic in putting such a place beside a state park.

"I hate it for the sheriff," Bagley said afterward. But, he said, "I feel that a lot of folks will be safe."