[CPEO-MEF]

[kefcrowe@acs.eku.edu]

'We have been hoodwinked by the Army'

04/09/01
ROSE LIVINGSTON
Birmingham News staff writer

ANNISTON - Eli Henderson was the Army's loudest fan when it first talked of
building a giant incinerator to cremate the lethal chemical weapons
stored at the Anniston Army Depot for 40 years.

Henderson implicitly trusted the Army. When military officials came to town
to assure residents that the incinerator would be safe and to list
protective measures that would be taken, Henderson echoed their
promises. After all, he had worked for 10 years in a gas mask guarding
those sarinand mustard gas- filled munitions.

To counter anti-incineration protests, he even printed and plastered the
town with signs and bumper stickers that read, "Build it, burn it and forget
it."

Now Henderson, chairman of the Calhoun County Commission, is opposing the
Army he once championed as his hometown's savior and protector.  Henderson
charges that the Army's promises of protection have evaporated as the $1
billion incinerator prepares to start burning deadly nerve agents next
spring.....

"We have been hoodwinked by the Army," Henderson said. "Now that they've
built it, they're going to burn it and they're forgetting us."


	For the whole story see
http://www.al.com/news/birmingham/?Apr2001/9-e191783b.html.



Elizabeth Crowe
Chemical Weapons Working Group
Non-Stockpile Chemical Weapons Citizens Coalition
(859) 986-0868


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