[CPEO-MEF] NOISE: Eglin Air Force Base (FL)

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

May 5, 2009
In Fighting Noisy Jets, Mayor Divides His Town
By DAMIEN CAVE

VALPARAISO, Fla. - In his 45th year as mayor, John B. Arnold Jr. picked 
a fight with the biggest patron and largest landowner in this small town 
about 40 miles east of Pensacola. In February, he led Valparaiso to sue 
his former employer, the Defense Department, demanding a better fix for 
noise from F-35 fighter jets scheduled to start arriving next year at 
Eglin Air Force Base.

"The survivability of this town is at stake," said Mr. Arnold, 79, 
arguing that property values would collapse because of overflights. 
"It's David vs. Goliath."

Critics, however, say Mr. Arnold looks more like Judas. Fearing that 
even a slight delay in the arrival of the F-35s would destroy a regional 
economy already bruised by the recession, Mr. Arnold's own county, 
Okaloosa, has countersued to stop him. Residents are calling the mayor a 
dictator and hanging signs across the Gulf Coast with messages like "We 
support Eglin F-35 - The Sound of Freedom."

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/05/us/05mayor.html?_r=1&ref=global-home

--


Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org



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