Clairton Sportsmen's Club is one of the biggest, busiest and best gun-related associations in Western Pennsylvania. Apparently being so busy is one big reason why good fortune recently smiled on the club.
With the help of club officers and directors, four congressmen and a former congressman and member, the Route 43 project has changed its direction from going through the club to going around the club.
Club president Bill Sellitto said the Pennsylvania Turnpike commission made the decision after four local meetings during August. The commission started negotiating with the club in 2004, when the project was not funded. That year, the commission said it would go around the club. The next year, it said it wanted to go through the club to save money. It would have required at least 30 acres, disjointing the club and destroying its rifle field. Sellitto estimates the club would have lost 30 percent to 60 percent of its members.
Sellitto and Perry Wancheck, a director in charge of the rifle range, are credited with making presentations that apparently helped change the commission's mind.
“We told them all the good things the club does,” Sellitto said. “They didn't have a good idea of what the club does or what the loss of members would have done to us.”
The club is not just a bunch of shooting ranges. Three regional police and sheriff departments train there, plus officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Homeland Security. The club supports Toys for Tots, Junior Olympic Archery Development, Youth Day, Keystone Paralyzed Veterans Trap Shoot, Civilian Marksmanship Program and the state High School Clay Target League tournament. It recently had around 50 women in a pistol class, and approximately 110 youths participated in their annual training day.
“They finally realized we're not a bunch of guys shooting beer cans,” Sellitto said. “We didn't think it would be that easy.”
The club was founded in 1930 and incorporated in 1940 off Coal Valley Road in Jefferson Hills and West Mifflin boroughs.
The Route 43 project is part of the Mon Valley/Fayette Expressway. The proposed route will begin on Route 51 in Jefferson Hills and include interchanges at Camp Hollow Road in Dravosburg, Route 837 in Duquesne and near East Pittsburgh-McKeesport Boulevard in Turtle Creek.
Estimates are that it will require 650 properties and cost $1.7 billion for 14 miles of tollroad and be completed in 2022.
“My goal was to save the club,” Stellitto said. He credits a devoted group of officers, directors and members with making the club a success. It has many activities on its 180 acres with 1,925 members. “We have a lot of very good people … running their own functions,” Stellitto said, adding that a core of people make activities work “because we can't get enough good help.”
A mechanical engineer at Bechtel Marine Propulsion Corporation's Bettis Laboratory in West Mifflin since 1974, Stellitto has been president for four years. Since 2006, he has been on the board of directors and vice president.
What does he think of the Route 43 expansion?
“My general opinion is we don't need another road coming into Pittsburgh. We need a beltway around it. I live in North Huntingdon, and I can't get to the airport without going through the middle of Pittsburgh,” he said.
Since the commission settled on the new direction, Clairton will have more time for shooting events and less time spent on paperwork defending its existence. Still, the turnpike commission has announced it will conduct a review of all its projects spread over the next 10 years, including raising toll road fees.
Stellitto remains a little skeptical.
“I'm not convinced it's completely over yet. They could change their mind.”
Charles Rondinelli is a freelance writer. Reach him at straightshooter@tribweb.com.
