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McKneally saysBy BOB PAPENEWBURGHA high-level federal “committee of experts’’ will tour Stewart Air Force Base Nov. 13-14 to help determine the future of the sprawling site just west of Newburgh. Rep. Martin B. McKneally reported Monday.McKneally, of Newburgh, R-27, told a morning news conference at Stewart that he asked for the study. He then lead newsmen and local officials on a tour of the base that has been ordered closed by Dec. 31 by the defense department.“We are going through a reduction in military spending. Where it will end, nobody knows,” McKneally said.Referring to the study, he added: “This is the sort of study that should have been made a year ago.”McKneally is expected to use the results of the study in his fight to delay the closing and possibly to keep the federal government involved in the area after the shutdown, sources indicate.While not naming members of the committee, McKneally did say it would include representatives of “all phases of government,” including the departments' of Health, Education, and Welfare, and Housing and Urban Development.McKneally said the committee will study possible uses once the base is closed, plus the economic impact of the closing. He said the committee will be directed to try and “find new missions” for the facility.McKneally said he rejects, for the moment, all proposals on what the base and its grounds might be usedTHE TIMES HERALD m»OOmp Tu-Mny,n—mh.,4, iwfederal panel to visit SAFBfor once it is closed: “Those are not to be considered until certain studies are made.”The congressman is scheduled to discuss the closing with President Nixon Wednesday.Asked what be though! of keeping the base open. McKneally answered; 54-50.”Col. Charles L. Daniel, base commander, sat at McKneally’s side throughout the conference. He offered no comment on the defense department’s decision, other than to say that long-time workerss at the base were “severely shocked.”The first that base personnel knew of the closing. Col. Daniel said, was when they read about it in newspapers.Later, high atop a hill next to the control tower. Col. Daniel and McKneally argued the facility is not big enough to be converted into a commercial airport - one of the main proposals for the future of the base - without major alterations. For one thing. Daniel said, hangers at Stewart are not large enough for commercial jets.Referring to Stewart as “an enormous enterprise in our midst,” McKneally said the impact of the shutdown will be “extremely-great.”In the WashingtonviUe School District alone, he noted, about $500,000 in aid would be lost.Edward M. Docherty, supervising principal of the WashingtonviUe District, along with officials from other districts and townships near the base, attended the conference. They later piled in an Air Force bus for the tour.Hep. Morfin 0. McKneally toU newsmen at Stewart Air Forte Bose Monday that a federal committee w'M study the base's future. At hit is Col. Charles L Daniel, base commander.—Ttt-Retord photo by |ob Pope
Newspaper Details
The Times Herald Record
Middletown, New York, US
Tue, Nov 04, 1969
Page 40
Full Page
Clipped by
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NY, 16 Jun 2019
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