|
|
|
| Wed, Dec. 02 - - Mobile - RSS | |
|
|
'Tickled pink' at Dahlgren lab
Local officials applaud BRAC vote to keep jobs at Dahlgren.
Date published: 8/27/2005
By JEFF BRANSCOME King George County Supervisor Dale Sisson celebrated his son's 11th birthday Thursday by taking him to Cameron Hills Golf Links for a surprise round of golf. The next day, Sisson flipped on the radio and got a pleasant surprise of his own. He learned that the Base Realignment and Closure Commission had voted to keep more than 300 jobs from moving out of the Dahlgren naval base in King George. The Pentagon's original recommendations for Dahlgren would have resulted in a net loss of 351 jobs. If the commission's recommendations stand, the base would lose only 21. The jobs saved include 131 in the base's chemical and biological research and development program and 83 in guns and ammunition research. Sisson works at Dahlgren and said he "played a big role" in its chemical and biological research for seven years. And although he didn't want to speak on behalf of base officials, he said the commission's decisions would "bode well for the long-term health of [Dahlgren]." Currently, military personnel are not authorized to comment on BRAC, said Dahlgren spokesman Russ Coons. Many local officials, however, breathed a collective sigh of relief over the latest BRAC development. Ted Hontz and Ted Williams--both members of the Fredericksburg Regional Chamber of Commerce's Military Affairs Committee--met with the commission's staff twice in recent months. While the commission seemed to understand their briefings, "we were not at all sure that we would win the way we did," said Hontz, who works for a Dahlgren contractor. But as Hontz watched the BRAC hearings from his computer at work, he said he became encouraged when the commission began to shoot down some of the Pentagon's suggestions. And as the panel voted on the various proposals for Dahlgren, Williams--who worked on the base for 37 years--said he received excited phone calls from his Navy friends. "It showed the earnest effort on the part of the BRAC commission to look at the issues and reverse those that didn't have merit," he said. About 300 families were "tickled pink," Williams said, when they learned they wouldn't have to move to New Jersey or Maryland. "When you have both parents working, to have one get transferred 300 or 400 miles really creates havoc in the family," he said.
Date published: 8/27/2005
|
 |
|||
|
|||
