Go to: valleyoutdoorswv.com

That is what Dolores Lowe did and she did not like what she found. Lowe shared her findings with the Putnam County Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) on Thursday, July 1.

Lowe said, “When I pulled up the website and the first thing that I see is an assault rifle — I have grandkids that come to my house every other week and I felt that it puts them in danger.”

The BZA was meeting to consider a request by Valley Outdoors owner Glenn Yeager for a variance to allow retail sale of firearms within 300 feet of a church, school, or residential building at 3034 Mt. Vernon Road in Hurricane.

Valley Outdoors opened its doors to sell outdoor recreation equipment, including firearms, in mid-June. Yeager reported that a former county employee gave him permission to open the business where it currently sits and to sell firearms. Officials with the Office of Planning and Infrastructure indicated the permission was given by the now former county employee, but that there was no written agreement. The former employee was terminated in March.

“When you tell somebody ‘this is how something is’ I’m the guy that, ‘that’s how it is,’” said Yeager. “You can’t let somebody go and borrow a ton of money and then change the game.”

“I have gone to extraordinary lengths to protect my community, my family, I live there. I have two little girls, you really think I’m going to drag some element into there that’s going to jeopardize that,” Yeager told members of the BZA.

Yeager stated that he had invested $150,000 to make the building more secure.

Citing the lack of a written approval by the former county employee to Yeager, the BZA denied the request to continue selling firearms in a 2-1 vote. Valley Outdoors can continue selling outdoor recreational equipment. The denial was strictly in regards to firearms.

A visit to the Valley Outdoors website on Saturday, July 3, found several assault-style weapons listed as available in the store.