GARDINER — The silence at Security Services Northwest’s Fort Discovery compound is broken more by warbling goldfinch songs than gunfire these days.
One range is occasionally used to keep security employees state-certified in gun handling or for private shooting practice.
The other range, once used to train federal Department of Defense personnel in automatic gunfire, sits dormant.
The empty range’s wooden structures are faded and weather-beaten.
Three cedar-sided buildings — a bunkhouse, bathhouse and classroom that founder and president Joe D’Amico admits were built without county permits — sit empty near a canvas green military-style tent.
It is a scene appreciated by many Gardiner and Discovery Bay residents wanting peace and quiet appreciate.
But D’Amico said it has come at a price that nearly killed the security-patrol and K-9 company founded in 1977.
