News Brief

Camping World CEO Marcus Lemonis has announced that twenty-seven former Gander Mountain retail stores will close by the end of January. Camping World spent $100 million buying outdoor retailers in 2017 and 2018, but sold many off in 2019 as the RV industry slowed down. Now, the company says it will maintain the Gander RV as a retail brand under the Camping World portfolio, but would strategically shift away from stores that cannot sell and service RVs. Restructuring costs are estimated at $56 million. The company’s three RV sales and/or service locations will operate under three names: Camping World, Gander RV and Outdoors, and Gander RV.

With the news that the Miami Herald's new owner McClatchy Newspapers dismissed longtime outdoors writer Susan Cocking last Tuesday, the state of Florida, despite being one of the most outdoor-focused states in the country, now has only one full-time outdoor writer/editor, Terry Tomalin of the Tampa Bay Times (formerly the St. Petersburg Times).

Review-Journal reports that a shooting instructor has died at University Medical Center in Las Vegas after suffering an accidental gunshot wound to the head fired by by a 9-year-old girl at the Bullets and Burgers range in Northwestern Arizona. According to authorities no charges will be filed as a result of the accident.

Yesterday, J.R. Absher shared the story of his friend "Porky" Pocarelli, the 86-year old New Mexico hunter who received an official notification card giving him the ability to hunt with the special privileges granted to the mobility impaired. At 86, Pocarelli is definitely old enough to qualify, but a typo on his card showed his birthdate to be in 1625, not 1925. Pocarelli took it all in good humor, as did the New Mexico Game & Fish Department. After The Outdoor Wire made the rounds of the offices yesterday morning, Porcarelli was informed he was getting a new, corrected card- right away. All parties took the story in the good humor with which it was told, but we felt NMGFD deserved an attaboy for their rapid response.

Readers have the opportunity to vote for the Paralyzed Veterans of America in the Pepsi Refresh Project and secure funds for that organization. You can vote once each day through the end of September for the Paralyzed Veterans of America at http://www.refresheverything.com/paralyzedveterans. If the PVA wins, Pepsi's Good Idea organization will donate $250,000 to PVA to be used to fund a variety of outreach programs for paralyzed vets.