Activists Told To Find Other Planet

[Richard Hugus <rhugus@cape.com>]

Cape Cod Times, December 16, 1998

Vezina lobbies to save base as training area
The state National Guard leader says 'silent majority' opposes refuge plan.

 By ANNE BRENNAN
 STAFF WRITER

HYANNIS - Adj. Gen. Raymond Vezina, director of the state's National Guard,
asked a community group last night to become his ally in the fight to save
the Guard's Upper Cape training base. He urged members of the Barnstable
County Republican Club to write their legislators to demand Camp Edwards on
the Massachusetts Military Reservation remain a training facility in face
of mounting support for converting it to a wildlife refuge.

It has been only a small group of activists that is the driving force
behind the decisions made by local, state and federal legislators on the
future of the base, Vezina contended. They are using environmental
protection as a guise to get the military off Cape Cod, Vezina said.

"I'm sick and tired of dealing with four or five activists who, frankly,
ought to be on another planet," Vezina said, speaking to about 100 club
members at the VFW club in Hyannis. Judy Koenig of Sandwich, who has been
involved in base issues for about a decade, said last night that Vezina's
comments reveal a man out of touch with the will of Cape residents.

As a member of a community working group that developed a master plan for
the future of the base, Koenig said the vast majority of the group voted
overwhelmingly to make the top priority preserving the clean water
resources on the northern portion of the base, where Camp Edwards, the
National Guard training base, is located.

The working group declared that only military activities that
do not interfere with that priority would be allowed. Since the end of the
Cold War, when cuts to the military ran deep, there has been an increased
reliance on the Army Guard and Army Reserve in conflicts around the world.
So training these troops is of utmost importance, Vezina said.

Vezina's plea to keep Camp Edwards open comes as a proposal to
convert the 15,000 acres into a wildlife refuge gains steam across the
Cape. U.S. Rep. William Delahunt gave his support to the idea last summer
as a way to preserve the Upper Cape's drinking water. Pollution emanating
from the southern end of the base has polluted more than 60 billion gallons
of the region's drinking water, forcing the closure of hundreds of
municipal and private wells. Artillery and mortar training at the base was
halted almost two years ago by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
until a study of pollution in impact area is completed. Results of test
wells drilled into the area revealed explosive
contamination in samples from seven of 30 wells.

Vezina contends it was dumping and demolition activities that
caused the pollution, not Guard training. But he says that politicians are
swayed by a few people with narrow agendas when supporting a wildlife
refuge. "Politicians ... have to be in agreement with the constituency," he
said. If they only hear from a few activists, and nobody else, they are
going to agree
with that point of view.

"If more, or all, of you contacted these political officials,
you could probably turn it around. The silent majority is not being heard."
He also said the Guard has not been given a fair shake from the media. He
attacked press coverage of the artillery impact area, saying it is neither
fair nor accurate. "I marvel at the imagination of some people," he said.
"You folks down here on the Cape are subjected to coverage that boggles the
mind." But Koenig, who was the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce representative
to the community working group, bristled at Vezina's accusations, saying
there are far more than five activists who support the preservation of the
Upper Cape's drinking water. And while a vocal few take the heat, many
others are quietly working many hours on the issues.

"This (the wildlife refuge) is a growing thing." she said. "Where the heck
are these guys? Haven't they been listening? It's not five activists. It's
groups from all over the Cape." She lists as examples the Barnstable County
Commissioners, the Cape Cod Commission and the Association for the
Preservation of Cape Cod. She said the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce is
about to release a statement. "I have every reason to believe it will be
in favor of the refuge to protect the water supply."