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About 150 people packed the Port Royal Volunteer Fire Department building last night to weigh in on the Army's plans to move demolition ranges closer to the Caroline County town. Date published: 1/8/2010
By RUSTY DENNEN About 150 people packed the Port Royal Volunteer Fire Department building last night to weigh in on the Army's plans to move demolition ranges closer to the Caroline County town. But before the scheduled public hearing even began, Maj. Gen. Karl R. Horst, who oversees Fort A.P. Hill as commander of the Army Military District of Washington, said those plans may change to be more accommodating to the town and surrounding community. Horst introduced himself and outlined the Army's training mission. He said that after reviewing the relocation plans, "I, too, question some of these initiatives." He said he's asked the base to look into moving the proposed demolition ranges farther into the 76,000-acre base's interior, reducing the size of explosive charges to minimize noise, and other ways to ease the impact on the community. A.P. Hill was selected for the demolition ranges as a result of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission. Soldiers from Fort Lee, south of Richmond, will be bused in to use them because there's no suitable space at Fort Lee. Initially, the ranges were to be positioned on an artillery range on the southeast part of A.P. Hill. That was changed when the Army determined that the ranges would conflict with a planned battle area complex there. Over the summer, when the sites were repositioned several miles north and east along North Range Road and closer to the base boundary and Port Royal, town residents became alarmed. The Army's initial finding was that there would be no significant impact to the environment or base neighbors. The Town Council in October passed a resolution "vehemently" opposing the move, saying saying it could affect the "health, safety and welfare" of those living in Port Royal, nearby Portobago, and even King George County across the Rappahannock River. Mayor Nancy Long, who spoke briefly last night, sent a voluminous response to the Army's environmental assessment of the project. The theme was evident on the cover page: a reproduction of Norweigian Expressionist artist Edvard Munch's "The Scream."
Port Royal and Bowling Green both founded years ago, so what. AP Hill has been in the county for years as well. They have to train & the base is here for that reason. We need to stop trying to control everything, what can & cannot be done. I hear noise from there as well but I realize that I live near Fort AP Hill. It's a Military Base & I support the base, the soldiers to train & my freedom.
Many of the home there were build before the Civil War. People didn't neccasarily build them there, but putting that aside, AP Hill wants to start detonating larger explosives more often. People have the right be upset about that.
don't build a home near a US Army base. You have a choice...our enemies thankfully don't.
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