[CPEO-MEF] Navy group 'uninvited' to meeting

[CPEO Moderator <cpeo@cpeo.org>]

North Carolina
WASHINGTON DAILY NEWS
Navy group 'uninvited' to meeting
By Rachel Brown Hackney
August 11, 2003

Beaufort County officials Friday withdrew an invitation to the Navy to
send representatives to a public meeting planned Monday night regarding
the Navy's plans to build an outyling landing field in Washington
County.

The decision was made after the commissioners learned that Adm. Robert
J. Natter, the commander of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet, would not be able
to attend.

The meeting will be designed solely to accept comments from members of
the public, County Manger Paul Spruill said in a telephone interview.

The new plan, he said, will be to gather all the comments and organize
them for forwarding to the acting secretary of the Navy prior to Aug. 18
-- the earliest date a decision of record can be released regarding the
basing of F/A-18 E/F Super Hornets on the East Coast. Acting Navy
Secretary Hansford T. Johnson also is expected to rule on whether an OLF
will be built in Washington County -- as Navy officials have recommended
-- to allow the jet fighter pilots to practice landings on aircraft
carriers.

The Washington County site borders Beaufort County.

There's no need to have Naval personnel there," Spruill said.

A spokesman in the Atlantic Fleet Headquarters Public Affairs office in
Norfolk, Va., had told the Daily News Thursday that the admiral would
send a representative in his place. As early as Friday morning, the
public affairs staff was working to firm up whether another high-ranking
officer would attend, along with members of the team who have worked on
the environmental impact statement regarding the Super Hornets and OLF.

However, after Spruill's call to Norfolk Friday afternoon, Lt. Scott
McIlnay said, "We're uninvited."

At any time in the future county officials would like to have Navy
representatives meet with them, McIlnay said, the Navy would be glad to
send a team to Washington.

This article can be viewed at:
http://www.wdnweb.com/articles/2003/08/09/news/news03.txt

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