The Army's back for more, sir

Thursday, the Army will once again make an appearance at Middletown's City Hall to present, one would hope, alternative choices for the Army Reserve Training Center, most recently proposed for a site on Freeman Road. The dog and pony show begins at 7. A good turnout will keep the Army on its toes. No early indications about which site they've chosen, but a great letter from a Freeman Road resident appeared in Sunday's Middletown Press:

It seems that being a part of the federal bureaucracy means you never have to say you're sorry. Just about everybody in town agrees that the Department of the Army made a bad decision about planning a military facility for the Freeman Road meadow and woods. Instead of acknowledging that the decision was flawed both in its process and in its conclusion, the Army put on an arrogant performance two weeks ago at a public meeting here and stubbornly maintained that the Freeman Road plan was a good one.

Spending taxpayers' money to bring several persons involved in the planning to Middletown and flanking them with soldiers dressed in fatigues, the Army PR person, designated as a Project Manager, ignored logic and facts to insist that Freeman Road is a suitable site. As one member of the overflow audience commented, "Couldn't the Department of Defense have used the money (for the presentation) a lot better in Iraq?" And the Army still will only say that they will "consider other possibilities." They are planning to return to Middletown soon, possibly with a similar road show, to announce their current choice for a site. It may not be Freeman Road, but they may well covet another site in Maromas.

There still are some in town who don't understand that the objection to the Army's plan is not simply a matter of residents not wanting a big military base in their backyard. At the meeting, over 200 citizens from all parts of the city demonstrated their strenuous objection to the destruction of open space in any part of Maromas. It seems to me that the persons who prize commercial development above everything else are the ones pursuing selfish agendas. Those who would start the domino of commercializing Maromas are salivating over the presumed benefit of short-term jobs. But for Middletown to prosper in the long-term, it must remain an attractive place for people to live. Replacing open land in Maromas with sprawl is not the way to do this.

Paul Torop
Freeman Road