Living in Arms' Way

[Aimee Houghton <aimeeh@cpeo.org>]

Read the entire article in the Washington Post. As one who lives in the
area
of WSMR, this article is either based on very old information,
or.......
it is a quaint picture from a few rural residents who remember when.

Engle is a rural crossroads, an old railroad watering stop, and is now
owned
by Ted Turner ranching operation. The only buildings, perhaps 4-5, are
ranch
headquarters buildings.

The major Citys where WSMR employees live are Las Cruces, NM, (second
largest
city in the state with a metro area which added 40,000 people in the
last 5
years,) and Alamogordo, NM, and El Paso, Texas (one of the largest
metroplexes
in the country.) The total employee numbers are I believe also outdated
or
inflated. And economic impacts are also outdated. A recent lay of off
200+
employees is having minimal to no economic impacts on local economies.
The amounts paid to WSMR adjoining property owners is also outdated, and
at
best misleading. Contracts were re-negotiated for much more than the
article
would lead one to believe. The closing of heavily used federal Hwy 70 is
now
a major inconvenience to interstate truck traffic. Trucks are now lined
up
for miles during the closings.

Painting WSMR and its impacts as being related to a rural only setting
is
misleading. Subdivisions, planned subdivisions, and trailer park type
communities are now encroaching on WSMR boundaries.

Marianne Thaeler