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Virginians Against the Outlying Landing Field
Mill affects OLF debate
Humble chief gains national attention
Virginians Against the Outlying Landing Field
Virginians Against the Outlying Landing Field
Post Office Box 112 ~ Capron, Virginia 23829
Dear Friends,
Delegate William K. Barlow (D-64) and Senator Frederick M. Quayle (R-13) have announced they will each be introducing legislation in the upcoming General Assembly session which is designed to assist localities in their fight against an outlying landing field.
Click here to view the summary and full text of Senator Quayle's legislation (SB 6) on the General Assembly's Legislative Information System. The text and summary of Delegate Barlow's legislation is not yet available on the LIS. Please check back to www.novaolf.com for updates, as we will post a link to Delegate Barlow's legislation when it becomes available for public viewing.
Thanks go to both Senator Quayle and Delegate Barlow for their continued support of our efforts. Their contact information is listed on the "Contact" page of our website, and I'm sure they would appreciate hearing any words of encouragement or support.
As always, please pass this message along to your friends and neighbors, and encourage them to sign up at our official website to receive breaking news updates and to stay informed of the latest developments.
Warmest regards,
Tony Clark
Chairman, Virginians Against the Outlying Landing Field
Mill affects OLF debate
Some urge opponents to keep an open mind to proposal
By Charlie Passut / Tidewater News
Published Saturday, January 9 2010
FRANKLIN—Against the backdrop of the looming closure of the International Paper Co. mill at Franklin, some in the community — but not all — are rethinking opposition to a possible Navy outlying landing field in the region.
Some want to discuss options
Jerry Flowers lives in Virginia Beach but was born and raised in Drewryville and owns parts of two farms in Southampton County and Bill’s Grill in Courtland. He believes local and state elected officials should meet with Navy officials and U.S. Sens. Mark Warner and Jim Webb, both D-Va., to discuss compensation for hosting an OLF.
“The OLF may be the worst thing in the world for the area,” Flowers said Friday. “But it’s hard to weigh all of the pros and the cons until you find out what the Navy and the federal government are willing to guarantee the citizens of Southampton County and Franklin.”
Flowers said the possibilities include a revenue-sharing agreement between the City of Virginia Beach, which is the home of Naval Air Station Oceana, and the localities that serve as host to the OLF, which would support the master jet base.
Flowers acknowledged that a guarantee to provide a large number of jobs is unlikely.
“It won’t be the salvation for jobs,” Flowers said of the OLF. “But it may be a salvation for the community based on what the federal government and the Navy are willing to give.”
Without a meeting ahead of time, Flowers argues, the Navy could use eminent domain to take the land needed for an OLF “and just come in and dictate what the community is and is not going to get.”
“I would vote against an OLF if, when the meeting was over, we decided that it was just not enough for us to entertain it,” he said. “But until you have that meeting and find out what is available, you really don’t know what you’re saying ‘no’ to.”
Harold Blythe, a retired president of James River Bank and a resident of Walters, also supports dialog with military and political leaders.
“I don’t see a thing in the world wrong with trying to make the best deal for the area that we can,” Blythe said Friday. “It makes sense to rethink the whole process, particularly in view of what’s going on (with the closure of the IP mill). I don’t think we can afford to not look at any opportunity that comes along. I know this one is controversial, but the economic situation dictates that we ought to look at it.”
Blythe added, “I’ve always felt that our government officials were a little bit quick to jump on the bandwagon not to support it, or at least not to look at it more openly. I think that over the long term there will be economic benefits derived from it.”
OLF foes still opposed
One of those government officials, Franklin City Councilman Benny Burgess, who represents Ward 2 in the city, said he is still opposed to the OLF.
“I don’t think (the mill closure) changes the debate over the OLF as it is currently presented,” Burgess said Friday. “If that were to change significantly, then we would have to take another look at it. But right now we need to think about the people that this would affect the most, and those people are opposed to it. The OLF literally does not bring any jobs, and we don’t need just the noise.”
Burgess added that a revenue-sharing agreement with Virginia Beach wouldn’t affect his position.
“It’s not the revenue given to a locality that I’m primarily interested in but the revenue from jobs that are created here so that people can afford to spend money in stores and buy and keep houses here. I’ll take the money if I have to, but I want businesses to thrive here. I don’t know how we’re going to be able to do that just by bringing in revenue, but maybe we could put it into a pool to support economic development and small businesses.
“But just on first blush, I would not be in favor of a revenue-sharing agreement.”
Bruce Phillips, who farms 300 acres near Sebrell and serves as environmental chairman for the group Virginians Against the Outlying Landing Field, said Friday that he didn’t believe resistance to an OLF was softening.
“Not at all,” Phillips said. “But I think the mill closure has rekindled the issue. We want to expand our economic base, but the Navy doesn’t want industries around the area of the OLF. They don’t want the lights from businesses. They don’t want any of the restrictions that they are under in Virginia Beach when they come out here. They want a rural area with no lights and no rules.”
VAOLF Chairman Tony Clark said the idea of meeting with the Navy and members of Congress would not solve the problem.
“We have met with both of them separately, not collectively,” Clark said Friday. “The Navy has told us that there is nothing to offer, and the federal government has said that the money is hardly even there to build the landing field.”
Clark added that the Navy “does not have the power or the authority to make any sort of financial commitment to our community whatsoever,” and he questioned how a revenue-sharing agreement would be crafted.
“I’m all for finding out what’s available. But we have said no because nothing has been offered. That leads me to believe that if there was something that could be offered, it would have been offered already.”
Asked if the closure of the IP mill is having a detrimental effect on the VAOLF’s cause, Clark said, “I don’t think it’s made our job more difficult, (but) we have to make sure that people understand what this thing is and what it is not. We have to be more consistent with communicating the facts.”
He added, “Given the uncertainty in the local economy, people are certainly looking at every opportunity that is available. I think we’re all in agreement on that. The folks that oppose the OLF do not oppose economic development. But are we willing to trade 30,000 acres of private, taxable land to bring in 62 jobs? And by giving up those acres, how many agricultural-based jobs are we losing?”
OLF effect on economic development
Local economic development officials agreed that an OLF would probably not help their efforts — but for different reasons.
“The OLF does not lend much economic development potential for the areas of Southampton County and Franklin,” John Smolak, president and CEO of Franklin Southampton Economic Development Inc., said Friday.
Asked if an OLF would possibly dissuade businesses from coming to the area, Smolak said, “I can’t speak toward what firms might think about that. It may be a neutral influence, but I don’t think it lends a lot of positive influence for companies to locate here.”
Lisa Perry, director of Isle of Wight County’s Department of Economic Development, said Friday that the OLF likely would not discourage companies from coming to the county, but another factor — noise — makes the facility unattractive.
“Our main concern will be the noise,” Perry said. “We understand the flight path is projected to go over Isle of Wight County if the OLF is located in Surry County.”
Noise would be a detriment to Isle of Wight’s tourism industry, which, according to Perry, increased 91 percent in 2009 from the previous year.
“Tourism is a huge part of our economic development efforts,” she said. “It is a tremendous revenue generator for this community. If there were to be noise in the middle of the night, that would impact our tourism business, and we would definitely have to take issue with that.”
Navy: OLF will bring 62 civilian jobs
According to Ted Brown, media relations officer for the Navy’s Fleet Public Affairs Office, the OLF would provide 62 full-time permanent jobs for civilians that would pay $4.2 million a year in wages and benefits. That’s an average of $67,742 per employee.
“These jobs are not necessarily highly technical either,” Brown said Friday. “These are jobs that many people would likely be able to qualify for.”
Among the jobs: one airfield administrator; five air traffic controllers; 10 positions in aviation fuel support; five positions in ground electronics; 18 fire and emergency personnel; six law enforcement officers; one physical security officer; nine positions in security operations; one Navy occupational safety and health position, and one position in information technology.
“We would like to enter into some sort of an agreement with area community colleges in setting up a training program where local residents could be qualified to fill as many of these jobs as possible,” Brown said.
In addition to the 62 full-time permanent jobs for civilians, Brown said the OLF would employ an undetermined number of workers through contract employment. Those workers would perform maintenance and landscaping duties.
The Navy has identified five sites, three in Virginia and two in North Carolina, for the proposed OLF. The three Virginia sites are Cabin Point, Dory and Mason. The Cabin Point site is near the confluence of Surry, Prince George and Sussex counties, while the Dory and Mason sites straddle both Sussex and Southampton counties.
In North Carolina, the Sandbanks site is mostly in Gates County, but part of Hertford County would also be affected. The Hale’s Lake site comprises parts of Camden and Currituck counties
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Humble chief Gains national attention
Posted 11/10/2006 Updated 11/10/2006
by Staff Sgt. Jeremy Larlee
Air Force Print News
11/10/2006 - MCCONNELL AIR FORCE BASE, Kan. (AFPN) -- All of the attention embarrasses him, but as this chief master sergeant learned recently, a lifetime of caring and good deeds is bound to catch up with you eventually.
Chief Master Sgt. John Gebhardt, superintendent of the 22nd Wing Medical Group here, recently gained worldwide attention for a photo of him holding an injured Iraqi child. The photo was taken about a month ago, while he was deployed to Balad Air Base in Iraq.
The young infant had received extensive gunshot injuries to her head when insurgents attacked her family killing both of her parents and many of her siblings. The chief had a knack for comforting her and they often would catch a cat nap together in a chair.
Now, he is back at home in Wichita, Kan., with his wife, Mindy. They have a warm, hospitable home five minutes away from McConnell Air Force Base. His son Ryan, 25, and daughter Amber, 23, have long since outgrown being cradled and he said he thought about them constantly while he held the Iraqi child.
"I got as much enjoyment out of it as the baby did," he said. "I reflected on my own family and life and thought about how lucky I have been."
His affection for children is no secret to his wife, Mindy. While dating John in high school, she watched how he bonded with the child of a coach of one of his athletic teams. That softer side of him is one of the reasons she married him.
"People see him as this tough guy," she said, "but I always see that other side of him that is full of compassion."
The chief, who grew up in Jordan, New York, is not at home in the spotlight. When asked to talk about himself, he always tries to switch the focus to the other military people who served with him at Balad.
While deployed to Iraq, the chief tried to help out any way he could. He figured holding a baby that needed comforting that would free up one more set of arms that could be providing care to more critical patients.
"If I have an opportunity to help out, I look for that opportunity," he said. "They had more than enough to do."
The chief was not alone in volunteering at the hospital. There were more than 800 different volunteers at the hospital during the time he was deployed to Iraq, he said. Some of them volunteered so much that he mistakenly thought they were assigned to the hospital.
When Mindy describes the best qualities of her husband, the first word out of her mouth is integrity. She said the photo of her husband and the Iraqi child truly represents him. She believes he has been so successful because he is such a straight-shooter and puts others' welfare ahead of his own.
"He never leads anyone astray," she said. "He will never do something for himself that would have a negative effect on someone else. He always tells it like it is."
But, the chief attributes his success to his family.
"Without their support I don't know where I would be," he said. "I definitely wouldn't be in the position I am."
And it is the chief's hope that families in Iraq will receive the same kind of support in the future. They are just like American families, Chief Gebhardt said.
"I pray for the best for the Iraqi children," he said. "I can't tell the difference between their kids and our kids. The Iraqi parents have the same care and compassion for their children as any American."
Life is calmer for Chief Gebhardt now that he is back home, and even though his recent "fame" has highlighted an eventful 27-year career, he said he wouldn't change a thing.
"If I had to do it over again, I would sign up and give it another ride," he said.Reprinted from http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123031670
