To the editor,
There once was a chicken named Chicken Little who, when an acorn fell on its head, thought the sky was falling. Chicken Little ran around convincing many people that the “sky is falling, the sky is falling”. Then, many of the farm animals ran around in a tizzy yelling “the sky is falling, the sky is falling”. They ran to find the king and tell the king the sky is falling. I’m hearing much the same from so many people that it’s time to put this acorn in its proper perspective.
“They want to close the base, they want to close the base” the people cry. But the acorn that fell is no more than a request to close the Coupeville OLF, and move the Growlers to a more appropriate place. The sky isn’t falling. The Growler noise is affecting people region wide. The sky isn’t falling, just asking for peace and quiet. The base isn’t closing. The only ones to keep proclaiming that are the Chicken Littles of the island. The king, our congresspersons, know the sky isn’t falling, and that the base isn’t closing. When COER talked to Representative Rick Larsen, NO ONE mentioned closing the base!
COER has one mission, to stop the use of the Coupeville OLF, and move the Growlers, not to close the base and make the sky fall.
Please, don’t be a Chicken Little. The sky isn’t falling!
Michael Monson
President
Citizens of Ebey’s Reserve
While it is true that COER is not calling for closure of NAS Whidbey, I strongly believe this would be a good time to do a thorough economic analysis of the presence of the base. There is an ironclad assumption that Whidbey’s economy is completely dependent on the base. I hear commissioner Johnson citing the NAS payroll. What is missing from this accounting is the minus column. There are costs associated with the Navy’s presence. Making an entire region undesirable as a vacation destination or a place to live because of jet noise is one of those costs.
I dearly want to see an economist come forward who is both willing and able to do a serious economic analysis of the fiscal impact of the presence of NAS Whidbey. I think the results would surprise us all and would provide strong support for COER.