“Shoot For Seth”

On Saturday, Oct. 22, the Stapleton family and the Lake Oconee Shooting Team will host a fundraising sporting clays shotgun event in the memory Seth Stapleton, a Morgan County teen who died in a car accident last fall. The benefit event, “Shoot For Seth,” will be held at Old Hudson Plantation in Sparta.

Seth Stapleton was a member of the Lake Oconee Shooting Team and a senior on the Morgan County football team. Seth passed away last year on the morning of Oct. 17, just hours after his senior homecoming game against Oconee County High School and the day of Morgan County’s homecoming dance. The 17-year-old was driving a Ford F-150 pickup truck just before 6:30 a.m. that Saturday morning on his way to a Lake Oconee Shooting Team practice when the truck veered off the road.

The circumstances and timing of Seth’s death brought an outpouring of support and healing from communities across northeast Georgia. Tributes poured in from schools typically athletic rivals. The entire Oconee County High School football attended a candlelight vigil, as did students from Hart, Elbert, Putnam and Jones counties. The Monday after Seth’s death, a memorial service was held at Madison First United Methodist Church. Football players wore their jerseys, and the Lake Oconee Shooting Team also attended the memorial wearing team shirts.

“The day that Seth passed, we were getting ready to have our fall fundraiser for the Lake Oconee shotgun team,” said Steve Lane, the team’s head coach. “Once the accident happened, we decided that day we would turn our fall fundraiser into a memorial shoot for Seth.”

All proceeds will go to the Seth Stapleton Memorial Scholarship Fund, and all donations are tax deductible.
“Ray and Angela (Seth’s parents) are doing scholarships for seniors in Morgan County, and from the shotgun team side of things, we also hope to offer scholarships through the foundation that will benefit kids who are involved with scholastic shooting. Hopefully it will be able to help kids throughout the state who are involved with shooting sports,” said Steve. “Ray started the 501 foundation in Seth’s memory, and we’re just taking part in hosting the shoot to raise money for that foundation.”

Registration for the shoot begins at 8:30 a.m. The sporting clays course will open at 9 a.m., and entrants must be on  the course by 3 p.m.

The shoot will feature 12 sporting clay stations with a total of 100 targets.

Registration for an adult will be $75, and children ages 18 and under will be $65. A BBQ lunch is included with the entry fee.

Attendees who are not shooting are invited, and  lunch is available for $10, with lunch for children ages 12 and under just $6.

Additional fundraising activities during the event will include a raffle for a Big Green Egg, items up for silent auction, T-shirts and special shotgun games.

Old Hudson Plantation is located at 299 Skeet Lane, Sparta, GA 31087. The plantation is off Highway 16 just 1.5 miles east of the Oconee River bridge below Wallace Dam.

For more information, call Old Hudson Plantation at (706) 467-9345.