The Daily Breeze again gives me a topic. Rancho Palos Verdes is one of the wealthy communities just up the hill from where I live. Apparently the possibility that Marines might conduct live-fire training on an abandoned theme park there…as they have done many times in the past…is just too anxiety-provoking for them to deal with.
Even though they would have notice of the multiple-day ‘window’ during which the Corps would be conducting the training, the City leadership feel that the residents will be unnerved ‘at this times of a possible war with Iraq and the potential for terrorism.’
So the real solution – well-trained Marines – can’t be used, because the symbolic solution – not disturbing these little babies in their sleep – seems like a better idea.
Someone needs to rent a clue.
Folks, that’s the sound of freedom.
Camp Pendleton Marines have been denied permission to conduct night training exercises in June at the defunct Marineland theme park, but Rancho Palos Verdes officials say it’s a lack of disclosure – not patriotism – that is prompting the move.
“I think the city and our citizens can see the need for that kind of exercise, but what I find it hard to understand is why we can’t tell people in advance that it’s going to happen,” City Manager Les Evans said. “Everybody has to know what’s going on down there.”
Marines have used the vacant 102-acre Long Point property – which boasts dilapidated buildings ideal for urban warfare training, an isolated beach to practice landings on and towering cliffs – as many as four times a year over the past five years.
But Evans said the Marine Corps is less than forthcoming about when its training exercises will occur.
Consequently, residents are often startled by the clattering of large helicopters coming in off the ocean and gunfire and loud explosions emanating from Long Point in the middle of the night. In the past, city officials – and, on occasion, council members – have been left to field telephone calls from angry or scared residents demanding to know what’s going on.
With people unnerved by a possible war in Iraq and the potential for terrorism, Evans said it’s more important than ever that residents are kept abreast of such activities.
[Update: Check out the comments for an email response from City Manager Les Evans. I’m unimpressed, to quote:“Thanks to the misleading caption “Permission for Training Denied” and the emphasis on denial rather than the “notification to residents” issues…” (emphasis mine) Um, Les, you denied or you didn’t. The issue wasn’t “City Manager Requests Assistance with Notification,” it was that the City Manager denied the request, and then offered to reconsider if notification issues could be resolved.]
…
This time around, the First Marine Expeditionary Force was seeking to train at Long Point sometime between June 15 and 18, Evans said. He said an FBI agent who heads up the local Special Weapons Team and who contacted him about the exercise initially indicated the Marines may go ahead with it anyway since they have the property owner’s permission.
In case you have some concrete suggestions about this, here are some people to contact:
Douglas W. Stern – Mayor
E-mail: Douglas.Stern@cox.net
Barbara Ferraro – Mayor Pro Tem
E-mail: mrsrpv@aol.com
Larry Clark – Councilmember
Email: clark@palosverdes.com
John McTaggart – Councilmember
E-mail: mrrpv@palosverdes.com
Peter C. Gardiner – Councilmember
Office of the City Manager
Les Evans, City Manager
Carolynn Petru, Asst. City Manager
phone: (310) 544-5205
fax: (310) 544-5291
E-mail: citymanager@rpv.com
The kind of language MB might wish to use about those scumbags is so far beyond acceptable she can only suggest you dig in your own minds to express what she will not write in public!!
Someone should inform Mr. Evans that the Corps is less than forthcoming about when its training exercises will occur with its own jarheads, so he shouldn’t feel he or the Panseys of Palos Verdes are being treated any worse.
As soon as I can get Mr. Evans e-mail, I will pass it on so we can all share our feelings with the oh so sensitive Mr. Evans.
From: Les Evans
Date: Thu Mar 13, 2003 8:37:45 AM US/Pacific
To: “Richard A. Heddleson”
Subject: Re: Marine Corps Training
At 08:11 AM 3/13/2003 -0800, you wrote:
> A blog, [winds of change.net URL]
> is stating that the city of Rancho Palos
> Verdes is attempting to prevent the USMC
> from preparing for combat as we are on the
> brink of war. Can this be true?
Mr. Heddleson: I have received considerable comment on Nick Green’s article already this morning. So far the tally of comments is running 3 to 1 that I am an anti-military pacificist wimp. The message below is my response to the article:
Thanks to the misleading caption “Permission for Training Denied” and the emphasis on denial rather than the “notification to residents” issues, the article in todayís Daily Breeze has generated verbal and written comments (unedited name of author withheld) similar to the one below:
—
Mister Mayor, I suggest you walk down the hall and escort Mr. Les Evans to the parking lot for denying the US Marines use of the Marineland facilities. The Marines are giving notice in March for a June exercise. What more does this Les Evans need to know? Has he gone nuts? Does he have a hidden motive?
I lived next door to Marineland and consider the noise, the helicopters, the lights, the traffic congestion and the training exercise a comforting and reassuring intrusion on the hill. You should invite the US Marine to train whenever they deem it appropriate.
God Bless USA and President Bush
—
For those who took the time to read the entire article, I hope the fact that Colonel Pat O’Donogue and I intend to meet in April to discuss how we can insure that our residents will not be frightened, when six Cobra helicoptors sweep in off the ocean and explosions and firing are heard and seen at Long Point, is considered. Nickís article has probably already provided much of the wide-spread notice I was hoping to achieve. Now I need to do something controversial on the day of the exercise (assuming it happens) to make sure Nick picks it up again and our residents won’t think they are under attack. Sorry for the uproar.
Sincerely,
Les Evans,
City Manager
Captain, US Navy (ret.)
Now lemmesee here… these exercises take place about 4 times a year and the locals get ‘skeered’… Great Munge, I hope none of them live below the approaches to an airport, no telling what the sounds from a large heavy aircraft overhead might do to their digestion…
More than that, Les’ response is somewhat misleading in that in the article they state that there would be a window within which the exercises would take place; June 15 – 18.
How hard is it to notify residents that there will be an exercise between those days, and things will go bang??
A.L.
Apparently way too fucking difficult for tiny little minds to retain two thoughts at the same time – I find it funny that they might be a’skeert by the sound and fury and assume it’s a terrorist attack. How is it that they can remember that whole terrorist thang yet forget that Marines train nearby periodically?
Just in case there’s someone out there who doesn’t understand this already – military exercises are started with no forewarning to the personnel involved because we rather expect that, like Dec 7, 1941, our enemies won’t notify us in advance so our military personnel can prepare for a real attack. They have to be ready to respond at any time – because whenever they are least ready is just when trouble is most likely to start.
I was in the Air Force for nine years. I’ve been through dozens of exercises. About two of them were pre-scheduled. For the rest, we didn’t have any advance notification of a 4-day window, let alone an exact schedule – not before the exercise, and not during it, either. They blew the whistle and started recalling everyone to their duty station at a random time, and then the general overseeing the exercise would keep jiggering up the schedules and plans to see if we could adapt. So we’re supposed to be loading up three transports at 2100, 2300, and 0100? Oops, the first one’s landing at 1800 and can’t stay more than an hour, the second one is two days late, and we don’t know if the third one will arrive before the war is over. Get enough gear onto the first one to do the job for a few days…
If they had notified the town mayor of when things would be happening so he could reassure the citizens, the whole base would have known what was coming. In fact, they had considerable difficulty keeping the exercises a surprise as it was – someone spots a bunch of officers from HQ, matching no announced visit, and in half an hour everyone would know the exercise evaluators have arrived.
This is an area of multimillion dollar mansions by the sea. Not the sort of people who would tolerate noise if you get my drift.