Living in Arms' Way article

[Center for Public Environmental Oversight <cpeo@cpeo.org>]

Living in Arms' Way
Near this New Mexico Missile Range Evacuations Come With the Territory
By Sue Anne Pressley
Washington Post---March 18, 1998

Summary

In Engle, New Mexico, 80 families routinely leave home once or twice a
month while a missile goes off at White Sands Missile Range. The Sands
Missile Range is roughly 3200 square miles, which is equivalent to the
area of Rhode Island and the District of Columbia combined. Base
officials are allowed to evacuate residents for 12 hour periods usually
beginning at 5 am. The facility has been the test site for the Viking,
Nike, Lance missiles and other bombs. Between 1945 and 1996 there were
41,593 missiles fired.

The residents have learned to live with the dangers of missiles and
bombs since the first atomic bomb was detonated on July 16, 1945.
People living around the Range have no choice but to abandon their daily
routine and evacuate the area when a test is conducted. White Sands
employs about 6700 people which makes it a major employer in Southern
New Mexico. The state depends heavily on the presence of the federal
government because there are no other significant industries in New
Mexico.

'We have no logging, we have no oil and gas drilling, and the cattle
industry is dying--that makes us entirely dependent on defense' said Jim
Catron, the county attorney for Catron, Sierra and Socorro counties.

For many people it may seem like a great nuisance but to the residents
of Engle, the evacuations have become a part of their life and they
think 'It's only a little trouble,...'