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Your ViewNo! To Rail Garrison(EDITOR’S NOTE: Mr. Downing is a reporter for the Courier News. That fact does not exempt him from the same right we offer our readers to express their views through Letters to the Editor. The comments here are his own andnot those of the Courier News.)*•*BLYTHEVILLE - I had gone to the monthly School Board meeting at 7 p.m., the same time the Peacekeeper Scoping hearing was set to begin. I snapped a couple of pictures, took a few notes, clocked out as a reporter and as a private citizen arrived at the Ritz shortly after 8 p.m. I had some thoughts about the Peacekeeper rail garrison and its proposed deployment at Blytheville AirForce Base, and I wanted to make these thoughts known not only to Col. Peter Walsh and the military establishment present but also to the 400-500 gathered in the auditorium, a group that included public officials and private citizens, Congressman Bill Alexander and reps from Senators David Pryor and Dale Bumpers, reporters and cameramen of every description.An Air Force captain in the lobby' gave me a card to fill out. 1wrote my name on the card and indicated I wanted to speak. I then walked into the auditorium. All the seats seemed to be taken, so I positioned myself at the entry ramp, and braced myself for the long line of mayors, judges, justices, aldermen and others to chorus their praises of the rail garrison and support of Blytheville Air Force Base. Somewhere in the midst of one of the choral solos, the same captain told me there would be 20 or more public officials speaking followed by more than 40 private citizens. You might have a long wait, she said, or might not get to speak at all. Was my card at the bottom of the pile, I asked her. Not necessarity, she said. The cards had been shuffled and all, including my own were in the hands of the colonel.Surely, I thought, the colonel would allow all those who wanted to speak their right to do so, even if doing so would keep the meeting in session longer than planned. I was prepared to stay at the Ritz all night and say what I wanted to say, even if there was no one left to hear me. The colonel was not. A little after 10 p.m., the colonel announced there was no more time, and no other speakers would be allowed.“I’m mad as hell,” I said to Friends of the Ritz President Jonathon Abbott after making a quick exit from the auditorium. “I had some things I wanted to say.” An officer who was standing nearby gave me a “comment sheet” and said I could mail it to the Environmental Planning Division at Norton Air Force Base. I wanted to tell him that filling out the sheet just wasn’t the same thing, but by that point I just wanted to go kick a few garbage cans and pound on the walls. So, I left.I am a native of Mississippi County. I was born in Manila, wasreared at Lost Cane and moved to Blytheville with my family when I was 11. BAFB was reactivated in 1955, I believe. Since the base’s closing at the end of World War II, the facilities had been put to varied uses. I know that Randall Co., then called Central Metals, started there in 1954. There may have been other factories there as well.For most of my life, therefore, certainly since coming to Blytheville, the existence of BAFB, first as an installation of the Tactical Air Command and later of the Strategic Air Command, had colored my perception of what reality should be. Through the years, I’ve had many friends and acquaintances who were either military dependents or active military. They came to Blytheville from everywhere else in the country and the world, and still do. This diversity of cultural outlooks that has converged on the area hasgiven Blytheville a melting pot of talents to draw upon, not only from airmen and dependents but from retirees as well, for many have retired or left the military after a hitch or two and taken up residence in the Blytheville area. Many of our prominent businessmen and public officials were formerly affiliated with BAFB. In spite of this closeness with the military, however, 1 think it is still important that we be objective and not emotional about matters that concern the base.As a CN reporter, I have often written stories quoting opinions and “facts” with which I do not always agree. I have written a number of stories about the Peacekeeper Rail Garrison and its possible deployment at BAFB. I have quoted figures and reported or the economic impact Air Force officials say construction of the garrison would have on the area. It occurs to me that my stories may have roped in supporters for the garrison. It’s a bit ironic since I myself am not a supporter of either the concept or the deployment.The Chamber of Commerce hadsaid they wanted to till the auditorium during the scoping meeting. Of course, they wanted to fill the room with supporters, and I was afraid there would be no dissenters. I’m glad I was wrong. There were a lot of people present representing peace and environmental movements, groups from Memphis, Little Rock, Jonesboro and elsewhere, and I thought they raised some good points about the risk of nuclear accidents, the immorality of nude* r arms. They pointed out that Blytheville is not the only town that should have a voice in the decision to build a garrison at BAFB. .All the towns and cities along the rail network have a stake in whatever decision might be made. I agree with all of them, but there were other objections that were not addressed.First of all, I don’t think the the system would work. When a warning of imminent attack is sounded, about five hours is needed to get the trains out of their igloos on the rails and away, aim and fire the missiles. By the time all this is done, much of this country would resemble the landscape of the moon. Much is made of of the trains leaving the base “in times of international tension” and it is pointed out that all the nation’s railways cannot be pinpointed. Still a great deal of the tracks can be destroyed. It seems like a black comedy when I imagine it. I think of the missile train falling into a river somewhere because the railroad bridge has been destroyed.Secondly, I don’t think this country can afford to spend the billions of dollars needed for the missiles, the trains, the construction, the maintenance, the studies and the journeys to nowhere. As Senator Bumpers pointed out during a recent visit here, the national debt has doubled since 1980 — more than $10,000 for each man, woman and child in this country. That deficit is the major problem confronting this nation today, says Bumpers, who notes that if the debt is not brought under control, the Black Monday will pale beside the black days to come. This country, he says is on the verge of an economic “holacaust.” While unemployment in Blytheville and Mississippi County is certainly high, it is absurd to waste billions for a system that will not work.BAFB has not yet been approved as a site for the rail garrison, and even if BAFB is selected, the money for the Peacekeeper has not yet been appropriated by Congress. I do not want the rail garrison at Blytheville Air Force Base; I do not want the rail garrison at iittle Rock Air Force Base; I do not want the rail garrison anywhere in this country. And sometimes wishes come true. Yours truly,Ben Downing Blytheville
Newspaper Details
Blytheville Courier News
Blytheville, Arkansas, US
Thu, Apr 14, 1988
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Arkansas S.
AR, USA 26 Aug 2021
Other Publications Near Blytheville, Arkansas
Blytheville Army Air Corps News
Blytheville Courier News
