Maybe this group of citizens would be kind enough to send a sympathy card to all the families whose loved just arrived home this week in a flag draped casket. Perhaps this group can explain to them why they have elected to hire an attorney to fight this instead of giving testing at this sight an honest try. Be sure to tell them you don't want it because you don't want the inconvenience.
Inconvenience. Gee. Our wonderful men and women serving this great country don't complain while protecting our county and our freedom. They deserve to have the finest of equipment and I expect MY county to do ALL it can to ensure they are protected.
Not only is Hardwire LLC working so desparately to give America's military that but also opening doors so more people may gain employment. Surely this group
that has named itself Seashore NOT C-4 knows that.
Brian Shane
Staff Writer
Daily Times
NEWARK — Stacey Simpson lives about a mile from where federal law enforcement agencies have used a firing range for munitions testing the last few years.
“Any explosions have absolutely shaken our homes, rattled our windows and startled us,” she said. “In the middle of the day, you hear and feel something like that, it’s unnerving. It’s not something anybody would ever want to live with.”
And with county zoning officials now giving early approval for a local armor manufacturer to perform product testing at the same site, she’s concerned the random blasts could come much more frequently, so she and neighbors are threatening a lawsuit if county officials don’t withdraw their blessing of the tests.
Worcester County’s Board of Zoning Appeals gave preliminary approval on Sept. 8 for armor manufacturer Hardwire LLC to test its stronger-than-steel composite armor at the Langmaid Road firing range. Testing would be done using controlled explosions buried several feet underground in a steel box.
Hardwire was approved for testing on weekdays during business hours, up to six times a week and no more than twice daily, with a limit of 25 pounds of explosives per test.
Newark and South Point-area residents are organizing to fight the board. They have formed a group called Seashore NOT C-4 to oppose any testing of military-grade armor near their homes. They already have a Facebook page and are building a website.
“It’s our opinion that the (board) doesn’t have the expertise to answer a question like this in a matter of hours,” Simpson said. “It’s our belief that we absolutely need more time, more study, more questions answered.”
Simpson also said the Sept. 8 board meeting came as a surprise to her and many of her neighbors.
“We arrived at that hearing really unprepared, and we were pretty much mowed down by the two-hour testimony of the Hardwire company,” she said.
“We did not have time to prepare. We had no expert witnesses, no legal testimony. Most of us in the meeting were just folks, just neighbors, with a lot of unanswered questions.”
The residents have hired environmental law attorney Ben Wechsler to represent them. He is pushing for the board to reopen the case and allow for further citizen input, according to an Oct. 6 letter Wechsler had hand-delivered to the county’s offices. In the letter, Wechsler said he represents John and Hale Harrison — founders of the Harrison Group, which operates 10 Ocean City hotels — along with other Langmaid Road property owners.
Wechsler said he thinks the board made legal errors in granting this special exception approval for Hardwire. One of his concerns is the county decided it was OK for Hardwire to test products using explosives based on the fact that government agencies had also done explosive tests there. Government law enforcement agencies, however, are not subject to local restrictions, he said, but private companies are.
“What the county may or may not have allowed on this site is simply irrelevant to what a private, non-governmental entity, such as Hardwire, may be allowed to undertake by special exception,” he wrote.
The firing range is located in what’s known as a natural resource area. Using a provision in the code that allows for special exception approval that is very close to a permitted use, the board likened the explosive testing to the gunfire that happens at the existing firing range.
However, the residents argue there is no permitted use for a gun club in a natural resource area, meaning a firing range would be a special exception in itself, and so testing explosives would require a special exception twice removed.
The board still has to adopt findings of fact and conclusions of law in regard to the Hardwire case. After that, there will be a 30-day period for individuals to file a petition for judicial review with the Circuit Court.
Wechsler said his clients fully support Hardwire as a local business that is working to help troops overseas. “This is a question about the legality of the decision,” he said. “We don’t want this to be perceived as, ‘We don’t want Hardwire down here.’ ”
Hardwire CEO George Tunis said at the Sept. 8 meeting — a rare public appearance for a man who prefers to keep a low profile for his company — that he would consider not testing at the firing range if the neighbors objected strongly.
When reached by telephone this week, Tunis said of the Newark testing, “it will always be under consideration.”
Source; http://www.delmarvanow.com/article/20111012/NEWS01/111012002//Residents-plot-legal-action-bomb-testing?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|frontpage
3 comments:
There are some long time residents on Langmaid Rd that have been living with the county range for over 25 years and never made a political wave. During that time the county, the state and the feds have been blowing stuff up there on a daily basis. Never a peep from those folks. Why now are they blasting off about a DOD contractor doing the same thing? Ya need some ear plugs? I;m sure Hardwire can supply 'em. Need some crying towels? I'm sure that they're available too.
If you experience some structural damage, that's another matter. You deserve redress if that happens. And another look needs to happen. But, until then.... chill. Our troops deserve the best protection they can get..
Craig Theobald
Ironshire
Mr. Theobald,
Thank you for your comment. I agree with you 100%! Maybe these same residents should meet some wounded warriors face to face and discuss the issue. It could change the fear they have of having the "unnerving" feeling and the sense that "it's not something that anybody would want to live with".
Ask that soldier about "feeling something like that". But be sure you ask a soldier that has NO leg or arm! Or maybe ask a parent that received their childs body in a flag draped casket!
Ask a man or woman in the local area that has been without a job for months if they would apply for a job at Hardwire LLC if one became available.
But I'm sure the comment from the residents in the area that are apposed would be "that's not what we meant". In that case it's ok to do it- just not in my neighborhood.......
I like jmmb's idea of giving Hardwire the chance to use the range. I know from experience alot of what people worry about ends up being useless worry.
As Craig stated the range has been used by goverment LE agencies for years to observe how explosives work. This has been reported in local media and I don't recall ever seeing any negative publicity. I don't understand why now it has become an issue.
I would like to see Hardwire consider narrowing down to an approximate yearly number the amount of times they plan to detonate at the site. Also maybe Hardwire could commit to posting the date and a timeframe when they are scheduled to detonate on a website as not to alarm residents of the area.
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